Dr. A. Hoyt Taylor: Staff at Belmar
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Dr. A. Hoyt Taylor:
"Staff at Belmar" 

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Staff at Belmar

Some particularly outstanding operators I would like to mention by name: Miller was perhaps the best, because he could copy forty words a minute on a typewriter and carry on a conversation with a bystander at the same tune. Pfeifer, Snell, Heberling and Stokes were all good. After the Belmar Station was closed up, Snell and Pfeifer remained in the Navy, on duty at the Naval Communications Center, Navy Department, Washington. They both became officers in the Naval Reserve; Snell served as a captain during the late war, and Pfeifer as a commander. Meinholz, now with the New York Times, was head of our wire line department. Irving Vermilya, who claims to be the No. 1 amateur in the United States, was also in this department. Woods, now deceased, later became the Manager of RCA Radio Central, in New York. "Pop" Weaver and Bill Taylor also joined RCA and were on duty at the same office. Many others ought to be mentioned, but the list can’t go on indefinitely.

I found early in my stay at Belmar that good radiomen could usually be separated into two groups; first, expert operators, second, material men who were mainly interested in the technical side of radio. It is not efficient to try to make an operator out of a technical man and it is usually impossible to make a technical man out of one who is primarily interested in operating. Snell was an exception to this - he was equally at home in either field. We found it best not to burden the operating people with the adjustment and upkeep of the equipment. I appointed a permanent material watch, headed by L. C. Young and L. A. Gebhard and assisted by Dutton, Jeffries, Bartsch and L. M. Clausing, to.look after equipment. One of these material men was on watch at all times, day or night. They tuned in signals at the beginning of the watch and periodically plugged in head telephones, listening to the quality of the signals, making minor adjustments, or changing batteries without interrupting the copy.
Page updated December 30, 2003  page created September 02, 2000

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