This chapter focuses on C. Francis Jenkins' demonstrations of RadioVision and his radio-pictures technology. The earliest “official demonstration,” as Jenkins called it, of radio transmission of photographs took place on December 12, 1922, with leaders of the military and the motion-picture industry in attendance. Jenkins transmitted still pictures between his lab and the Anacostia naval radio station NOF in Washington, D.C. On March 3, 1923, under the auspices of the North American Newspaper Alliance, radio photos were publically demonstrated, this time transmitting over a distance of 130 miles from NOF in Anacostia to the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin's newspaper building. This chapter discusses Jenkins' other demonstrations of his pictorial transmissions, along with his establishment of the Radio Pictures Corporation. It also considers Jenkins' participation in a project with a network of scientists from the U.S. Signal Corps, who were listening for radio signals from Mars; his collaboration with the American Radio Relay League; and his wireless transmission of weather maps.
Getting the message through: a branch history of the U.S. Army Signal Corps