Captain Peter Pendleton Eckersley, a prominent engineer and broadcaster in the early days of British Radio. Indeed, he can be regarded as the first engineer, working with Marconi at station 2MT, based at Writtle. He later worked for the BBC but was dismissed due to his divorce. He contributed to wireless magazines, supplying designs for home construction. He led the International Broadcasting Union team which introduced the Geneva Plan which allocated frequencies for wireless transmitters to ensure minimal interference. At that time transmitters had low power and reception was mainly by way of crystal sets, which had very broad tuning and which offered no amplification. With the introduction of the Lucerne Plan, in 1934, Eckersley produced a wireless receiver design, for home construction, called the Lucerne Ranger. Somewhere, I have the plan for this radio, which I believe was a 1-v-1, but could have been 0-v-1 or similar, where v is the detector valve. It was becoming fashionable to fit an untuned - aperiodic - R.F. stage before the detector to avoid the transmission of heterodyne whistles and to protect the reacting detector from the loading effects of the aerial. This amplifier provided zero gain due to the low efficiency of the valves available. Probably through his second wife, Dorothy, Peter Eckersley became involved with Oswald Mosley and other right-wing groups, yet worked for MI6 in attempts to counter Nazi propaganda.
Captain Eckersley was born in Mexico, where his father was working as a railway engineer. He was at Bedales boarding school in Petersfield, Hampshire. It was he that set up the transmitter used by the Nazi Propagandist William Joyce - 'Lord Haw-Haw' - in the Second World War, but this must surely be co-incidental as it could not be foreseen that the Nazis would take over that transmitter, which would have been part of what was a successful venture to transmit commercial broadcasts to Britain from the Continent.
During the First World War, Eckersley served as a wireless engineer in The Royal Flying Corps, 17th Squadron, reaching, as we have seen, the rank of Captain.
Captain Eckersley was born in Mexico, where his father was working as a railway engineer. He was at Bedales boarding school in Petersfield, Hampshire. It was he that set up the transmitter used by the Nazi Propagandist William Joyce - 'Lord Haw-Haw' - in the Second World War, but this must surely be co-incidental as it could not be foreseen that the Nazis would take over that transmitter, which would have been part of what was a successful venture to transmit commercial broadcasts to Britain from the Continent.
During the First World War, Eckersley served as a wireless engineer in The Royal Flying Corps, 17th Squadron, reaching, as we have seen, the rank of Captain.
Captain Peter Pendleton Eckersley, a prominent engineer and broadcaster in the early days of British Radio. Indeed, he can be regarded as the first engineer, working with Marconi at station 2MT, based at Writtle. He later worked for the BBC but was dismissed due to his divorce. He contributed to wireless magazines, supplying designs for home construction. He led the International Broadcasting Union team which introduced the Geneva Plan which allocated frequencies for wireless transmitters to ensure minimal interference. At that time transmitters had low power and reception was mainly by way of crystal sets, which had very broad tuning and which offered no amplification. With the introduction of the Lucerne Plan, in 1934, Eckersley produced a wireless receiver design, for home construction, called the Lucerne Ranger. Somewhere, I have the plan for this radio, which I believe was a 1-v-1, but could have been 0-v-1 or similar, where v is the detector valve. It was becoming fashionable to fit an untuned - aperiodic - R.F. stage before the detector to avoid the transmission of heterodyne whistles and to protect the reacting detector from the loading effects of the aerial. This amplifier provided zero gain due to the low efficiency of the valves available. Probably through his second wife, Dorothy, Peter Eckersley became involved with Oswald Mosley and other right-wing groups, yet worked for MI6 in attempts to counter Nazi propaganda.
Captain Eckersley was born in Mexico, where his father was working as a railway engineer. He was at Bedales boarding school in Petersfield, Hampshire. It was he that set up the transmitter used by the Nazi Propagandist William Joyce - 'Lord Haw-Haw' - in the Second World War, but this must surely be co-incidental as it could not be foreseen that the Nazis would take over that transmitter, which would have been part of what was a successful venture to transmit commercial broadcasts to Britain from the Continent.
During the First World War, Eckersley served as a wireless engineer in The Royal Flying Corps, 17th Squadron, reaching, as we have seen, the rank of Captain.
Captain Eckersley was born in Mexico, where his father was working as a railway engineer. He was at Bedales boarding school in Petersfield, Hampshire. It was he that set up the transmitter used by the Nazi Propagandist William Joyce - 'Lord Haw-Haw' - in the Second World War, but this must surely be co-incidental as it could not be foreseen that the Nazis would take over that transmitter, which would have been part of what was a successful venture to transmit commercial broadcasts to Britain from the Continent.
During the First World War, Eckersley served as a wireless engineer in The Royal Flying Corps, 17th Squadron, reaching, as we have seen, the rank of Captain.
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