Online Chat in the Year 1903

Alien54 writes "Irving Vermilya is one of the legendary geeks from the dawn of the electric age. Beginning in 1903, at the age of 13, he helped set up an extensive private telegraph line in his hometown of Mount Vernon, New York. In order to use the line, individuals had to learn to send the dots-and-dashes of Morse code, and also interpret the clicks of the telegraph receiver. (The receiver clicks were loud enough to be heard throughout a room, so you could constantly monitor the traffic on the line.) By around 1907, this telegraph setup had been extended to 42 locations, forming a kind of party line, where everyone connected could listen in as they wished to the two-way telegraphic conversations. See the original full article here. Sounds vaguely similar to guys running around setting up wifi networks."

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A short biography of Irving Vermilya

[a-aiyar]

The article is not a fake. Irving Vermilya was a pioneer in the formative years of amateur radio in the US. He caught the bug after listening to talk by Marconi when he was twelve. He was one of the first members of the Radio Club of America, using the call sign VN, and was the first licensed amateur radio operator in the US. Later in life he switched to the callsign W1-ZE. Here's a short biography of this remarkable man.