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The sound barrier

Suppose you lived in a world with no telephone, e-mail, TV or radio where the only way of sending messages was to send a runner, blow a bugle or shout!

It was like that for thousands of years and many people tried to crack the problem. But none of them really succeeded ...

The sound barrier

In the beginning was the word

In the beginning was the wordThe human voice is our most useful and persuasive communications tool - we use it to express our hopes and fears, love and hate, joys and sorrows.

For most of our ...

Getting the message

Getting the messageThe first writing materials were developed in 4000 BC but how did you get your letter to its destination?

The fastest way of travel was on horseback - so the only ...

Line of sight communications

Line of sight communicationsMost primitive distance communications used visual devices that on a clear day could be seen up to 25 miles away.

If you wanted to send a message further than that, you needed a chain ...

The telecommunications breakthrough

The telecommunications breakthroughThe Industrial Revolution (steam power and mechanical engineering) provided the basic ingredients of the telecommunications breakthrough.

Scientific advances of the ...

The communications time-line

The communications time-lineIf the whole history of human civilisation was a day, modern telecommunications (the telegraph and all that followed) would only represent our last 30 seconds. That's how recent all of this has been.