Spark-gap transmitter

Type of radio transmitter

Low-power inductively coupled spark-gap transmitter on display in Electric Museum, Frastanz, Austria. The spark gap is inside the box with the transparent cover at top center.

A spark-gap transmitter is an obsolete type of radio transmitter which generates radio waves by means of an electric spark.^[1][2] Spark-gap transmitters were the first type of radio transmitter, and were the main type used during the wireless telegraphy or "spark" era, the first three decades of radio, from 1887 to the end of World War I.^[3][4] German physicist Heinrich Hertz built the first experimental spark-gap transmitters in 1887, with which he proved the existence of radio waves and studied their properties.

A fundamental limitation of spark-gap transmitters is that they generate a series of brief transient pulses of radio waves called damped waves; they are unable to produce the continuous waves used to carry audio (sound) in modern AM or FM radio transmission. So spark-gap transmitters could not transmit audio, and instead transmitted information by radiotelegraphy; the operator switched the transmitter on and off with a telegraph key, creating pulses of radio waves to spell out text messages in Morse code.

The first practical spark gap transmitters and receivers for radiotelegraphy communication were developed by Guglielmo Marconi around 1896. One of the first uses for spark-gap transmitters was on ships, to communicate with shore and broadcast a distress call if the ship was sinking. They played a crucial role in maritime rescues such as the 1912 RMS Titanic disaster. After World War I, vacuum tube transmitters were developed, which were less expensive and produced continuous waves which had a greater range, produced less interference, and could also carry audio, making spark transmitters obsolete by 1920. The radio signals produced by spark-gap transmitters are electrically "noisy"; they have a wide bandwidth, creating radio frequency interference (RFI) that can disrupt other radio transmissions. This type of radio emission has been prohibited by international law since 1934.^[5][6]

Theory of operation

Electromagnetic waves are radiated by electric charges when they are accelerated.^[7][8] Radio waves, electromagnetic waves of radio frequency, can be generated by time-varying electric currents, consisting of electrons flowing through a conductor which suddenly change their velocity, thus accelerating.^[8][9]

An electrically charged capacitance discharged through an electric spark across a spark gap between two conductors was the first device known which could generate radio waves.^[10]: p.3 The spark itself doesn't produce the radio waves, it merely serves as a fast acting switch to excite resonant radio frequency oscillating electric currents in the conductors of the attached circuit. The conductors radiate the energy in this oscillating current as radio waves.

Due to the inherent inductance of circuit conductors, the discharge of a capacitor through a low enough resistance (such as a spark) is oscillatory; the charge flows rapidly back and forth through the spark gap for a brief period, charging the conductors on each side alternately positive and negative, until the oscillations die away.^[11][12]

Pictorial diagram of a simple spark-gap transmitter from a 1917 boy's hobby book, showing examples of the early electronic components used. It is typical of the low-power transmitters homebuilt by thousands of amateurs during this period to explore the exciting new technology of radio.

A practical spark gap transmitter consists of these parts:^{[11][13][14][15]}

• A high-voltage transformer, to transform the low-voltage electricity from the power source, a battery or electric outlet, to a high enough voltage (from a few kilovolts to 75-100 kilovolts in powerful transmitters) to jump across the spark gap. The transformer charges the capacitor. In low-power transmitters powered by batteries this was usually an induction coil (Ruhmkorff coil).
• One or more resonant circuits (tuned circuits or tank circuits) which create radio frequency electrical oscillations when excited by the spark. A resonant circuit consists of a capacitor (in early days a type called a Leyden jar) which stores high-voltage electricity from the transformer, and a coil of wire called an inductor or tuning coil, connected together. The values of the capacitance and inductance determine the frequency of the radio waves produced.
  • The earliest spark-gap transmitters before 1897 did not have a resonant circuit; the antenna performed this function, acting as a resonator. However, this meant that the electromagnetic energy produced by the transmitter was dissipated across a wide band, thereby limiting its effective range to a few kilometers at most.
  • Most spark transmitters had two resonant circuits coupled together with an air core transformer called a resonant transformer or oscillation transformer.^[11] This was called an inductively-coupled transmitter. The spark gap and capacitor connected to the primary winding of the transformer made one resonant circuit, which generated the oscillating current. The oscillating current in the primary winding created an oscillating magnetic field that induced current in the secondary winding. The antenna and ground were connected to the secondary winding. The capacitance of the antenna resonated with the secondary winding to make a second resonant circuit. The two resonant circuits were tuned to the same resonant frequency. The advantage of this circuit was that the oscillating current persisted in the antenna circuit even after the spark stopped, creating long, ringing, lightly damped waves, in which the energy was concentrated in a narrower bandwidth, creating less interference to other transmitters.
• A spark gap which acts as a voltage-controlled switch in the resonant circuit, discharging the capacitor through the coil.
• An antenna, a metal conductor such as an elevated wire, that radiates the power in the oscillating electric currents from the resonant circuit into space as radio waves.
• A telegraph key to switch the transmitter on and off to communicate messages by Morse code

Operation cycle

The transmitter works in a rapid repeating cycle in which the capacitor is charged to a high voltage by the transformer and discharged through the coil by a spark across the spark gap.^[11][16] The impulsive spark excites the resonant circuit to "ring" like a bell, producing a brief oscillating current which is radiated as electromagnetic waves by the antenna.^[11] The transmitter repeats this cycle at a rapid rate, so the spark appeared continuous, and the radio signal sounded like a whine or buzz in a radio receiver.

Demonstration of the restored 1907 Massie Wireless Station spark gap transmitter

Audio of Massie spark gap transmission

Morse code of "CQ DE PJ"

1. The cycle begins when current from the transformer charges up the capacitor, storing positive electric charge on one of its plates and negative charge on the other. While the capacitor is charging the spark gap is in its nonconductive state, preventing the charge from escaping through the coil.
2. When the voltage on the capacitor reaches the breakdown voltage of the spark gap, the air in the gap ionizes, starting an electric spark, reducing its resistance to a very low level (usually less than one ohm). This closes the circuit between the capacitor and the coil.
3. The charge on the capacitor discharges as a current through the coil and spark gap. Due to the inductance of the coil when the capacitor voltage reaches zero the current doesn't stop but keeps flowing, charging the capacitor plates with an opposite polarity, until the charge is stored in the capacitor again, on the opposite plates. Then the process repeats, with the charge flowing in the opposite direction through the coil. This continues, resulting in oscillating currents flowing rapidly back and forth between the plates of the capacitor through the coil and spark gap.
4. The resonant circuit is connected to the antenna, so these oscillating currents also flow in the antenna, charging and discharging it. The current creates an oscillating magnetic field around the antenna, while the voltage creates an oscillating electric field. These oscillating fields radiate away from the antenna into space as an electromagnetic wave; a radio wave.
5. The energy in the resonant circuit is limited to the amount of energy originally stored in the capacitor. The radiated radio waves, along with the heat generated by the spark, uses up this energy, causing the oscillations to decrease quickly in amplitude to zero. When the oscillating electric current in the primary circuit has decreased to a point where it is insufficient to keep the air in the spark gap ionized, the spark stops, opening the resonant circuit, and stopping the oscillations. In a transmitter with two resonant circuits, the oscillations in the secondary circuit and antenna may continue some time after the spark has terminated. Then the transformer begins charging the capacitor again, and the whole cycle repeats.

The cycle is very rapid, taking less than a millisecond. With each spark, this cycle produces a radio signal consisting of an oscillating sinusoidal wave that increases rapidly to a high amplitude and decreases exponentially to zero, called a damped wave.^[11] The frequency ${\displaystyle f}$ of the oscillations, which is the frequency of the emitted radio waves, is equal to the resonant frequency of the resonant circuit, determined by the capacitance ${\displaystyle C}$ of the capacitor and the inductance ${\displaystyle L}$ of the coil:

${\displaystyle f={\frac {1}{2\pi }}{\sqrt {\frac {1}{LC}}}\,}$

The transmitter repeats this cycle rapidly, so the output is a repeating string of damped waves. This is equivalent to a radio signal amplitude modulated with a steady frequency, so it could be demodulated in a radio receiver by a rectifying AM detector, such as the crystal detector or Fleming valve used during the wireless telegraphy era. The frequency of repetition (spark rate) is in the audio range, typically 50 to 1000 sparks per second, so in a receiver's earphones the signal sounds like a steady tone, whine, or buzz.^[13]

In order to transmit information with this signal, the operator turns the transmitter on and off rapidly by tapping on a switch called a telegraph key in the primary circuit of the transformer, producing sequences of short (dot) and long (dash) strings of damped waves, to spell out messages in Morse code. As long as the key is pressed the spark gap fires repetitively, creating a string of pulses of radio waves, so in a receiver the keypress sounds like a buzz; the entire Morse code message sounds like a sequence of buzzes separated by pauses. In low-power transmitters the key directly breaks the primary circuit of the supply transformer, while in high-power transmitters the key operates a heavy duty relay that breaks the primary circuit.

Charging circuit and spark rate

The circuit which charges the capacitors, along with the spark gap itself, determines the spark rate of the transmitter, the number of sparks and resulting damped wave pulses it produces per second, which determines the tone of the signal heard in the receiver. The spark rate should not be confused with the frequency of the transmitter, which is the number of sinusoidal oscillations per second in each damped wave. Since the transmitter produces one pulse of radio waves per spark, the output power of the transmitter was proportional to the spark rate, so higher rates were favored. Spark transmitters generally used one of three types of power circuits:^{[11][13][17]: p.359–362}

Induction coil

An induction coil (Ruhmkorff coil) was used in low-power transmitters, usually less than 500 watts, often battery-powered. An induction coil is a type of transformer powered by DC, in which a vibrating arm switch contact on the coil called an interrupter repeatedly breaks the circuit that provides current to the primary winding, causing the coil to generate pulses of high voltage. When the primary current to the coil is turned on, the primary winding creates a magnetic field in the iron core which pulls the springy interrupter arm away from its contact, opening the switch and cutting off the primary current. Then the magnetic field collapses, creating a pulse of high voltage in the secondary winding, and the interrupter arm springs back to close the contact again, and the cycle repeats. Each pulse of high voltage charged up the capacitor until the spark gap fired, resulting in one spark per pulse. Interrupters were limited to low spark rates of 20–100 Hz, sounding like a low buzz in the receiver. In powerful induction coil transmitters, instead of a vibrating interrupter, a mercury turbine interrupter was used. This could break the current at rates up to several thousand hertz, and the rate could be adjusted to produce the best tone.

AC transformer

In higher power transmitters powered by AC, a transformer steps the input voltage up to the high voltage needed. The sinusoidal voltage from the transformer is applied directly to the capacitor, so the voltage on the capacitor varies from a high positive voltage, to zero, to a high negative voltage. The spark gap is adjusted so sparks only occur near the maximum voltage, at peaks of the AC sine wave, when the capacitor was fully charged. Since the AC sine wave has two peaks per cycle, ideally two sparks occurred during each cycle, so the spark rate was equal to twice the frequency of the AC power^[15] (often multiple sparks occurred during the peak of each half cycle). The spark rate of transmitters powered by 50 or 60 Hz mains power was thus 100 or 120 Hz. However higher audio frequencies cut through interference better, so in many transmitters the transformer was powered by a motor–alternator set, an electric motor with its shaft turning an alternator, that produced AC at a higher frequency, usually 500 Hz, resulting in a spark rate of 1000 Hz.^[15]

Quenched spark gap

The speed at which signals may be transmitted is naturally limited by the time taken for the spark to be extinguished. If, as described above, the conductive plasma does not, during the zero points of the alternating current, cool enough to extinguish the spark, a 'persistent spark' is maintained until the stored energy is dissipated, permitting practical operation only up to around 60 signals per second.^{[citation needed]} If active measures are taken to break the arc (either by blowing air through the spark or by lengthening the spark gap), a much shorter "quenched spark" may be obtained.^{[citation needed]} A simple quenched spark system still permits several oscillations of the capacitor circuit in the time taken for the spark to be quenched. With the spark circuit broken, the transmission frequency is solely determined by the antenna resonant circuit, which permits simpler tuning.

Rotary spark gap

In a transmitter with a "rotary" spark gap (below), the capacitor was charged by AC from a high-voltage transformer as above, and discharged by a spark gap consisting of electrodes spaced around a wheel which was spun by an electric motor, which produced sparks as they passed by a stationary electrode.^[11][15] The spark rate was equal to the rotations per second times the number of spark electrodes on the wheel. It could produce spark rates up to several thousand hertz, and the rate could be adjusted by changing the speed of the motor. The rotation of the wheel was usually synchronized to the AC sine wave so the moving electrode passed by the stationary one at the peak of the sine wave, initiating the spark when the capacitor was fully charged, which produced a musical tone in the receiver. When tuned correctly in this manner, the need for external cooling or quenching airflow was eliminated, as was the loss of power directly from the charging circuit (parallel to the capacitor) through the spark.

History

The invention of the radio transmitter resulted from the convergence of two lines of research.

One was efforts by inventors to devise a system to transmit telegraph signals without wires. Experiments by a number of inventors had shown that electrical disturbances could be transmitted short distances through the air. However most of these systems worked not by radio waves but by electrostatic induction or electromagnetic induction, which had too short a range to be practical.^[18] In 1866 Mahlon Loomis claimed to have transmitted an electrical signal through the atmosphere between two 600 foot wires held aloft by kites on mountaintops 14 miles apart.^[18] Thomas Edison had come close to discovering radio in 1875; he had generated and detected radio waves which he called "etheric currents" experimenting with high-voltage spark circuits, but due to lack of time did not pursue the matter.^{[17]: p.259–261} David Edward Hughes in 1879 had also stumbled on radio wave transmission which he received with his carbon microphone detector, however he was persuaded that what he observed was induction.^{[17]: p.259–261} Neither of these individuals are usually credited with the discovery of radio, because they did not understand the significance of their observations and did not publish their work before Hertz.

The other was research by physicists to confirm the theory of electromagnetism proposed in 1864 by Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell, now called Maxwell's equations. Maxwell's theory predicted that a combination of oscillating electric and magnetic fields could travel through space as an "electromagnetic wave". Maxwell proposed that light consisted of electromagnetic waves of short wavelength, but no one knew how to confirm this, or generate or detect electromagnetic waves of other wavelengths. By 1883 it was theorized that accelerated electric charges could produce electromagnetic waves, and George Fitzgerald had calculated the output power of a loop antenna.^[19] Fitzgerald in a brief note published in 1883 suggested that electromagnetic waves could be generated practically by discharging a capacitor rapidly; the method used in spark transmitters,^[20][21] however there is no indication that this inspired other inventors.

The division of the history of spark transmitters into the different types below follows the organization of the subject used in many wireless textbooks.^[22]

Hertzian oscillators

German physicist Heinrich Hertz in 1887 built the first experimental spark gap transmitters during his historic experiments to demonstrate the existence of electromagnetic waves predicted by James Clerk Maxwell in 1864, in which he discovered radio waves,^{[23][24]: p.3-4 [25][17]: p.19, 260, 331–332} which were called "Hertzian waves" until about 1910. Hertz was inspired to try spark excited circuits by experiments with "Reiss spirals", a pair of flat spiral inductors with their conductors ending in spark gaps. A Leyden jar capacitor discharged through one spiral, would cause sparks in the gap of the other spiral.

• 
  Heinrich Hertz discovering radio waves with his spark oscillator (at rear)
• 
  Hertz's drawing of one of his spark oscillators. (A,A') antenna, (J) induction coil