Beyond the Ultra-Short Waves

This article reviews briefly the work done many years ago by the pioneering physicists with the so-called electric waves as well as the more recent efforts by engineers to put these waves to practical use. It also describes some of the expedients and changes of technic used to overcome difficulties as this work progressed to higher and higher frequencies. One, of fairly recent origin, is the wave-guide or hollow-pipe technic. The latter not only provides a simple and efficient way of propagating microwave power from one point to another but there have also grown from it some very interesting counterparts of the tuned circuits, the matching transformers, and the filters that have been in common use for some time at the lower frequencies. The possible bearing of this new technic on the future of electrical communications, as, for example, television, is pointed out.