The Telecommunication Portal
Telecommunication, often used in its plural form, is the transmission of information with an immediacy comparable to face-to-face communication. As such, slow communications technologies like postal mail and pneumatic tubes are excluded from the definition. Many transmission media have been used for telecommunications throughout history, from smoke signals, beacons, semaphore telegraphs, signal flags, and optical heliographs to wires and empty space made to carry electromagnetic signals. These paths of transmission may be divided into communication channels for multiplexing, allowing for a single medium to transmit several concurrent communication sessions. Several methods of long-distance communication before the modern era used sounds like coded drumbeats, the blowing of horns, and whistles. Long-distance technologies invented during the 20th and 21st centuries generally use electric power, and include the telegraph, telephone, television, and radio.
Early telecommunication networks used metal wires as the medium for transmitting signals. These networks were used for telegraphy and telephony for many decades. In the first decade of the 20th century, a revolution in wireless communication began with breakthroughs including those made in radio communications by Guglielmo Marconi, who won the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics. Other early pioneers in electrical and electronic telecommunications include co-inventors of the telegraph Charles Wheatstone and Samuel Morse, numerous inventors and developers of the telephone including Antonio Meucci and Alexander Graham Bell, inventors of radio Edwin Armstrong and Lee de Forest, as well as inventors of television like Vladimir K. Zworykin, John Logie Baird and Philo Farnsworth.
Since the 1960s, the proliferation of digital technologies has meant that voice communications have gradually been supplemented by data. The physical limitations of metallic media prompted the development of optical fibre. The Internet, a technology independent of any given medium, has provided global access to services for individual users and further reduced location and time limitations on communications. (Full article...)
Selected article -
Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) is a set of communication standards for simultaneous digital transmission of voice, video, data, and other network services over the digitalised circuits of the public switched telephone network. Work on the standard began in 1980 at Bell Labs and was formally standardized in 1988 in the CCITT "Red Book". By the time the standard was released, newer networking systems with much greater speeds were available, and ISDN saw relatively little uptake in the wider market. One estimate suggests ISDN use peaked at a worldwide total of 25 million subscribers at a time when 1.3 billion analog lines were in use. ISDN has largely been replaced with digital subscriber line (DSL) systems of much higher performance.
Prior to ISDN, the telephone system consisted of digital links like T1/E1 on the long-distance lines between telephone company offices and analog signals on copper telephone wires to the customers, the "last mile". At the time, the network was viewed as a way to transport voice, with some special services available for data using additional equipment like modems or by providing a T1 on the customer's location. What became ISDN started as an effort to digitize the last mile, originally under the name "Public Switched Digital Capacity" (PSDC). This would allow call routing to be completed in an all-digital system, while also offering a separate data line. The Basic Rate Interface, or BRI, is the standard last-mile connection in the ISDN system, offering two 64 kbit/s "bearer" lines and a single 16 kbit/s "data" channel for commands and data. (Full article...)General images
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Broadcasting pioneer Frank Conrad in a 1921 portrait (from History of broadcasting) -
Right side view, housing removed, one of its printed circuit boards exposed (courtesy: Richard Diehl) (from History of videotelephony) -
Thomas Edison invented the carbon microphone which produced a strong telephone signal. (from History of the telephone) -
Old Receiver schematic, c.1906 (from History of the telephone) -
The first mass-produced Czechoslovak TV-set Tesla 4001A (1953–57) (from History of television) -
In the 1920s, the United States government publication, "Construction and Operation of a Simple Homemade Radio Receiving Outfit", showed how almost any person handy with simple tools could a build an effective crystal radio receiver. (from History of radio) -
The French Matra videophone (1970) (from History of videotelephony) -
The "Kerbango Internet Radio" was the first stand-alone product that let users listen to Internet radio without a computer. (from History of broadcasting) -
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Antonio Meucci's telephone. (from History of the telephone) -
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation logo, first introduced in 1975 and based on the Lissajous curve (from History of broadcasting) -
Historical marker commemorating the first telephone central office in New York State (1878) (from History of the telephone) -
An early Smart TV from 2012 running the discontinued Orsay platform (from History of television) -
AT&T magazine advertisement announcing commercial launch of Picturephone service. (from History of videotelephony) -
A French Gower telephone of 1912 at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris (from History of the telephone) -
1917 wall telephone, open to show magneto and local battery (from History of the telephone) -
DBS satellite dishes (from History of television) -
Actor portraying Alexander Graham Bell in a 1932 silent film. Shows Bell's second telephone transmitter (microphone), invented 1876 and first displayed at the Centennial Exposition, Philadelphia. (from History of the telephone) -
Alexander Graham Bell was awarded the first U.S. patent for the invention of the telephone in 1876. (from History of the telephone) -
The British Broadcasting Corporation's landmark and iconic London headquarters, Broadcasting House, opened in 1932. At right is the 2005 eastern extension, the John Peel wing. (from History of broadcasting) -
The master telephone patent, 174465, granted to Bell, March 7, 1876 (from History of telecommunication) -
Australian radio sets usually had the positions of radio stations marked on their dials. The illustration is a dial from a transistorised, mains-operated Calstan radio, circa 1960s. (Click image for a high resolution view, with readable callsigns.) (from History of broadcasting) -
Around 1920, radio broadcasting started to get popular. The Brox Sisters, a popular singing group, gathered around the radio at the time. (from History of radio) -
Charles Logwood broadcasting at station 2XG, New York City, circa November, 1916 (from History of broadcasting) -
Swedish Prime Minister Tage Erlander using an Ericsson videophone to speak with Lennart Hyland, a popular TV show host (1969) (from History of videotelephony) -
Family watching TV, 1958 (from History of television) -
"Doc" Herrold is shown at the microphone of KQW, early 1920s. (from History of broadcasting) -
Baird in 1925 with his televisor equipment and dummies "James" and "Stooky Bill" (right) (from History of television) -
Ad for the beginning of experimental television broadcasting in New York City by RCA in 1939 (from History of television) -
A replica of one of Claude Chappe's semaphore towers (optical telegraph) in Nalbach, Germany (from History of telecommunication) -
Bell prototype telephone stamp(from History of the telephone)
Centennial Issue of 1976 -
The Marconi Company was formed in England in 1910. The photo shows a typical early scene, from 1906, with Marconi employee Donald Manson at right. (from History of broadcasting) -
Typical low-cost webcam used with many personal computers (from History of videotelephony) -
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Philo Farnsworth in 1924 (from History of television) -
Color bars used in a test pattern, sometimes used when no program material is available (from History of television) -
Elisha Gray, 1876, designed a telephone using a water microphone in Highland Park, Illinois. (from History of the telephone) -
Public television in France uses 819 line b&w high definition, from 1959 until 1983 (TF1). (from History of television) -
The master telephone patent granted to Bell, 174465, March 10, 1876 (from History of the telephone)
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Donald Manson working as an employee of the Marconi Company (England, 1906) (from History of radio)
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The Kyocera VP-210 Visual Phone was the first commercial mobile videophone. The Personal Handy-phone System (PHS) phone was introduced in Japan (1999). (from History of videotelephony) -
AT&T Picturephone (Mod II) fully enclosed in its housing, control pad at bottom (courtesy: Richard Diehl) (from History of videotelephony) -
Reginald Fessenden (around 1906) (from History of radio) -
Guglielmo Marconi (from History of broadcasting) -
Apple iPhone smartphone (from History of the telephone) -
1896 Telephone (Sweden) (from History of the telephone) -
RCA 630-TS, the first mass-produced television set, which sold in 1946–1947 (from History of television) -
British Post Office engineers inspect Guglielmo Marconi's wireless telegraphy (radio) equipment in 1897. (from History of radio) -
Reginald Fessenden, the "father" of radio broadcasting in the US (from History of broadcasting) -
The Philco Predicta, 1958. In the collection of The Children's Museum of Indianapolis (from History of television) -
Private conversation, 1910 (from History of the telephone) -
The 1969 AT&T Mod II Picturephone, the result of decades long R&D at a cost of over $500M. (from History of telecommunication)
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Philipp Reis, 1861, constructed the first telephone, today called the Reis telephone. (from History of the telephone) -
Manfred von Ardenne in 1933 (from History of television) -
Code of letters and symbols for Chappe telegraph (Rees's Cyclopaedia) (from History of telecommunication) -
An exposed view of the Picturephone's rear circuit board (courtesy: Richard Diehl) (from History of videotelephony) -
Emil Voigt, founder of 2KY on behalf of the Labor Council of New South Wales. This photo was taken in earlier days when Voight was a prominent British athlete, and winner of the Gold Medal for the five mile race at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London. (from History of broadcasting) -
First television test broadcast transmitted by the NHK Broadcasting Technology Research Institute in May 1939 (from History of television) -
Heinrich Rudolf Hertz (1856–1894) proved the existence of electromagnetic radiation. (from History of radio) -
Early experiment demonstrating refraction of microwaves by a paraffin lens by John Ambrose Fleming in 1897 (from History of radio) -
The first commercial AM Audion vacuum tube radio transmitter, built in 1914 by Lee De Forest who invented the Audion (triode) in 1906 (from History of radio) -
Naomi ("Joan") Melwit and Norman Banks at the 3KZ microphone, in the late 1930s (from History of broadcasting) -
Lee DeForest broadcasting Columbia phonograph records on pioneering New York station 2XG, in 1916 (from History of broadcasting) -
Caricature of Sir John Reith, by Wooding (from History of broadcasting) -
"Fiction becomes fact": Imaginary "Edison" combination videophone-television, conceptualized by George du Maurier and published in Punch magazine. The drawing also depicts then-contemporary speaking tubes, used by the parents in the foreground and their daughter on the viewing display (1878). (from History of videotelephony) -
Antonio Meucci, 1854, constructed telephone-like devices. (from History of the telephone) -
Top of cellular telephone tower (from History of the telephone) -
Artist's conception: 21st-century videotelephony imagined in the early 20th century (1910) (from History of videotelephony) -
The Regency TR-1, which used Texas Instruments' NPN transistors, was the world's first commercially produced transistor radio in 1954. (from History of radio) -
Oliver Lodge's 1894 lectures on Hertz demonstrated how to transmit and detect radio waves. (from History of radio) -
A 19th century acoustic tin can or "lovers' telephone" (from History of the telephone) -
The Nipkow disk. This schematic shows the circular paths traced by the holes, which may also be square for greater precision. The area of the disk outlined in black shows the region scanned. (from History of television)
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Selected biography -
Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventions, which include the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and early versions of the electric light bulb, have had a widespread impact on the modern industrialized world. He was one of the first inventors to apply the principles of organized science and teamwork to the process of invention, working with many researchers and employees. He established the first industrial research laboratory.
Edison was raised in the American Midwest. Early in his career he worked as a telegraph operator, which inspired some of his earliest inventions. In 1876, he established his first laboratory facility in Menlo Park, New Jersey, where many of his early inventions were developed. He later established a botanical laboratory in Fort Myers, Florida, in collaboration with businessmen Henry Ford and Harvey S. Firestone, and a laboratory in West Orange, New Jersey, that featured the world's first film studio, the Black Maria. With 1,093 US patents in his name, as well as patents in other countries, Edison is regarded as the most prolific inventor in American history. Edison married twice and fathered six children. He died in 1931 due to complications from diabetes. (Full article...)Did you know (auto-generated) -
- ... that It Sticks Out Half a Mile is a radio sequel series to Dad's Army that follows three of the main characters in their attempts to renovate a seaside pier in post-war Britain?
- ... that a Nevada radio station named "Sexy" blew into town with a windstorm?
- ... that IBM spent US$50 million to develop the PCradio and expected to sell 100,000 units, but ended up selling just under 10,000?
- ... that an episode of the children's TV show Arthur featuring a same-sex wedding was not aired on Alabama's PBS network?
- ... that a Federal Communications Commission examiner found that billing fraud at a South Carolina radio station "merited the severest sanctions"?
- ... that in the same year, an Illinois radio station lost its station manager in a car crash and its advertising revenue to flooding?
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