I BUILT my own TELECOMMUNICATIONS Network!

How did we get the internet and phones today? In this video I explore and recreate the very first technology that paved the way: the telegraph network.
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▼ Credits ▼
Created and Hosted by @AndyGeorge
Primary Editing by Emerson Rice
HTME Assistance by Elliot Krueger and Theo Melchoir
Music by Taylor Lewin: taylorlewin.com...

[@riuphane]

As a long time follower and admirer of your work, I'm struck by how much nicer and more professional your final products are these days. This is an incredible project and leap in technology

[@PatrickMatheson-tq3yf]

Same

[@puremilkgenius]

I'm actually struck by the opposite, how he 'unlocks' technologies to jump centuries ahead without having mastered a damn thing.

[@Davedave000]

@@puremilkgenius To be fair, mastery takes decades to achieve and a KZbin series just doesn't have a time for that. No one's going to watch you make clay pots over and over again.

[@dakotareid1566]

@@puremilkgeniusI’m not a fan of how he doesn’t refine the things he builds, the “saw mill” is a great example of what looks like cobbled together pieces of wood doing a crappy job lol

[@dakotareid1566]

@@Davedave000he could at least refine the things he makes

[@ericapelz260]

As a Ham radio operator, I can say that Morse Code (CW for Carrier Wave) is alive and well. It's a great deal of fun, and when you become proficient, you can "hear" words. At speed, it's musical, and you can definitely hear the rhythm of another operator and recognize their fist.

[@Jesse-ri5ud]

that's so fascinating and entertaining!! i love music so much and I've always thought it would be fun to learn morse code. i also think those HAM radios are cool, so maybe i could try those as a good medium to learn morse code on/for!

[@evansentnote]

That is super cool.

[@danquigg8311]

CW =[ Continuous Wave not carrier wave.

[@ericapelz260]

@@danquigg8311 It's both, but I hope correcting me made you feel better about something.

[@LittleInsulator101]

Continuous wave !!!

[@linecraftman3907]

i like how you guys jump back and forth from sawmills to chemistry and telegraph lines, really keeps the series fresh!

[@seanbucklar7527]

I’ve been reading about WWII Morse code operators, and how they could recognise the “fist” of a Morse code operator using the radio by the way they pressed the key. Like recognising someone’s handwriting, but they called it an operator’s fist. They even allegedly used concert pianists for “funkenspiel” or radio games, where things would happen like using specially trained concert pianists to replicate an enemy radio operator’s fist to insert counterfeit messages using broken cryptography for intelligence and counter intelligence purposes. Radio Morse code is obviously a different t beast - but people would tap communications lines to introduce a sounder and relay so they could listen to messages, or insert their own. It was an unbelievably wild time to be alive and the real dawn of the nerd.

[@kensmith5694]

As I understand it, the US rail lines had the batteries at the receiver end. This way, just a key to ground could send a message. The trains carried a key with them. If something went wrong between stations, with just a key, you could climb a pole and send a message. I believe they used a fairly high voltage. I also think that the system was likely a "positive ground" system. The had some method of heat treating wire to keep it soft as they went smaller and smaller. Wire was often wrapped with thread. Unlike the goo insulation you were using, cotton would hold up under pressure. On the sounder, the clearances were very small to take advantage of the fact that the force created by an electromagnet are greatest just before the armature hits the pole piece.

[@stamasd8500]

Further refinement of the receiver/sounder: attach a pencil lead to it and pass a strip of paper moving at constant speed under it, this way you get a printout of the message without someone having to manually write down the dots and lines

[@krisdjames]

If this channel teaches me anything, it's that there is good reason why so many trades have long held traditions. Nothing came easy and each skill took generations to master,

[@MuadDib2347]

As an electrical engineer I’m overjoyed that you’ve gotten to this stage. On the same vein of early communication, with the amount of copper wire you have available it’s well within the realm of you making your first crystal radio receiver and /or crude spark gap transmitter. The future is exciting and I can’t wait to see how this branch of HTME progresses!

[@A_youtube_channel_]

for crystal radio they need a diode though which requires chemicals they likely don't have. Also with such crude technology it would be hard to sync the frequencys.

[@jrhusney]

Among the first semiconductors circuits were galena “cat’s whisker” diodes that just used a very thin piece of wire to find and use a crystalline rectification junction to demodulate an AM radio signal. This was first done in the late 19th century. I agree, an AM radio receiver would be rad. Although… if we are talking about building a wireless telegraph as a next step you don’t need a semiconductor. Marconi just used a “spark gap” and an antenna as the transmitter and early receivers (like magnetic detectors) weren’t that much more sophisticated

[@MuadDib2347]

@@A_youtube_channel_ just like the reply above,a detector diode can be made very easily with crystals found in nature already from Galena to Iron/Copper pyrites. The hardest part is getting enough wire for a coil and potentially making an earpiece from scratch- that would be the hardest given to crystal radios you’d need a high impedance load sensitive enough for the weak signal.

[@陳冠維-f7i]

Should we remind them that Spark gap radio cannot be operated legally now.

[@MuadDib2347]

@@陳冠維-f7i I’m sure that for educational purposes and limited power this won’t be an issue as much as people making their own transmitters for science fairs etc… we’re not talking kilowatts of power or extended periods of transmission. For the purposes of a video it should be fine. I’m no legal expert but for all intents and purposes a primitive transmitter one can assume would be built would surely put out less interference than some switch mode power supplies or whatnot.

[@kittyprydekissme]

Stone tools to digital communication in four years. That is very impressive.

[@plvmbvm513]

Technically it isn't digital, since there's not any transistor technology involved. It works on analog! But telecommunications from scratch is still amazing!

[@kittyprydekissme]

@@plvmbvm513 It uses a binary code. The circuit is either open or closed. That sounds digital to me.

[@Theinatoriinator]

@@plvmbvm513 It's digital, as there are only two states used to transmit information (On or off). Analog systems have a range of states.

[@samuraiBSD]

@@Theinatoriinator This debate has raged for decades in amateur radio spaces. The US FCC, though, doesn't classify CW/Morse code as a digital communications mode, however. The reasoning I've heard goes that it's not operating on on/off signals only, as the duration and spacing of the pulses is also necessary to carry useful information. Something like Baudot code used for 2-FSK is where it becomes more "digital" (it's very similar to modern ASCII)

[@EggplantHarmesan]

​@@Theinatoriinator Morse code is more about length of pulse and not off and on

[@XenXenOfficial]

Been watching since the sandwich trailer. I'd like to say, after the unfortunate situations that occurred during your time on KZbin, you have drastically refined your skill. It's almost like not having access to the tools you used to have has increased your skills for the greater good. You have progressed immensely!!

[@schoktra]

8:55 Were you all remembering to anneal between each draw through the die? That you can maybe add a couple of grooved wheels to keep the copper where it is pulled through the die perfectly perpendicularly or as close to it as you can manage.

[@theomelchior2739]

yes we were annealing it, the reason it looked like it was twisted up was so we could give it an even heat.

[@Fyr365]

I've seen this being said quite a few times now, why keeping it perpendicular would help? Is it to lessen stress on the material as much as possible?

[@schoktra]

@@Fyr365 Well when the material comes through the hole if you don't pull it directly perpendicular, the stress will be focused to one side of the wire and can cause more stress in a smaller space making it easier to snap. If you pull it perpendicular the whole wire takes the force equally around its circumference.

[@Fyr365]

​@@schoktra Ah I see now! It makes so much sense. Thanks for the reply! 😊

[@anthonypfahl2877]

Follow up on the annealing question, did you use anything to reduce friction like a beeswax rub on the plate?

[@ivanhorban340]

Lard on the wire as lubricant before pulling. Heat wire red hot occasionally to reduce copper hardness. Makes for less breaking and easier pulling.

[@joaovitormatos8147]

I think the ground-return path is area-based, from what I know, telegraph stations used to bury huge squares of metal to achieve ground return, so maybe that's it

[@oasntet]

It's also the lack of a relay acting as a weak signal amplifier. Telegraph stations could receive extremely weak signals, measured as voltage potential, and boost them high enough to operate the noise-maker at the other end, but without that you need a ton of voltage to arrive at the end and 20v minus voltage loss over that thin wire just isn't going to cut it.

[@nuassul]

@@oasntet This is what I thought when they assembled all the wiring, an intermediate relay as an amplifier would have solved the problem of the lack of power in the signal.

[@RetroOnSpeedDial]

It's so weird that you uploaded this now. I became a radio amateur in 2018 in the UK and learnt morse in 2019. This weekend I picked up the ARRL's technician license book to re-learn and get a license to operate in the US. This is awesome stuff. Thanks for the video

[@MasterMadLad]

Iam also a Ham , 73

[@durfkludge]

Man I love it when you bust out the treadwheel for some good old fashioned pullin'

[@backonlazer791]

The thumbnail I got in my notifications was so small that it looked like a mouse trap. I'm going to assume it's not a mouse trap.

[@raphaelturcotte9638]

I thought it was Gustav the railway cannon 🤣

[@AdamsWorlds]

I remember learning with cups and string in school between doors lol. Always amazed me.

[@Jacob-yg7lz]

Are you guys going to do a video on how your refined your zinc? You kinda glossed over it last time and I really want to know since that would be the biggest hurdle for me if I was a time traveler.

[@kittyprydekissme]

He shows the smelting technique in the Voltaic Pile video.

[@beautifulsmall]

Stunning bringing together of techniques and technologies, asphalt, linseed oil, sounds like Japanning recipie. making an insulated coil put a tear in my eye, that was an achievement still used today. Super impressed by the whole build. You made a machine that can transport truth and lies.

[@explosify5035]

I am impressed with how much patience you guys have. With that many turns on the electromagnet I would have already wanted to take a drill out

[@MisterChappy]

please continue with this video style. it was very engaging and easy to follow with the structure that you applied to it!!

[@BDJones055]

I build antennas for a living and I can't wait to see your creations!

[@arkanglegeibriel]

I passed by this video in my feed SO MANY TIMES because....honestly idgaf about a history of the telegraph. it took me a while to remember that this is "How To Make Everything" and then was like "holy jesus that's right this is about the FUN parts of things LET'S GOOOO pass the popcorn"

[@gooball2005]

Absolutely incredible! The entire team's commitment to this series is astonishing! ❤

[@Zach010ROBLOX]

Andy's incoherent talking while he ran was very relatable

[@Konischiwa]

One of the coolest Channel Concepts of all Time. Love everything about this Project and Thank you for keeping on going for such a long time.

[@I2ed3ye]

"Ahoy! I have discovered electricity!" - "Dear heavens, what shall we do with it?" - "Iunno wanna zap some turkeys?" You can take the modernity out of man, but you can't take the man out of modernity.

[@ptah956]

Do you need to anneal the wire between pulls? In case I ever need to make my own wire.

[@ElliotKrueger]

Indeed! I believe it varies on the material you're working with, but we found with copper wire that annealing after every two to three passes was ideal to keep the copper from getting too brittle.

[@graeme.davidson]

I think so because they seem to be getting breaks it looks to me like the copper is work hardening after a few pulls. I would at least have it warmed through a fire before being drawn. Also the angle. They pulling the wire up at an angle instead of straight through. 9:42. HTME has always been a great, but Andy has always been messy. It has improved since the early days.

[@jakeeasterday1663]

For copper, every 3 pulls is a good rule, as most available plates are meant to be used with the hands or a draw-bench. You can get away with 4 on silver and sterling, and for iron, it really depends on the alloy!

[@dmf81]

would it not also have less chance of breakage if you wind it onto a spool close to the draw plate instead of pulling an ever longer piece of wire.

[@isaacm1929]

Is there any way to anneal while pulling? Like, continuosly, instead of doing one step after another? And is there a way to pull continuosly? Like, whitout the need to take the entire wire out, to start squishing the rest?

[@suddenwall]

This is amazing! I'm floored by how far you've come, and impressed how you've kept high standards consistently all these years. Here's wishing everyone at HTME many more!

[@nathanpfirman625]

You should get the book called “How to rebuild Civilization” also known as “The Book”. It has a ton of information on things very similarly to what you’re doing. It’s got things like ancient battle tactics, herbalism, useful inventions, farming, etc. I think has around 400 pages of information.

[@marthflores3515]

LOVE how good it looks

[@zeldaevolve]

I remember that paper which contained how to make cellular networks... it wasn't easy to make it but it did make that village have their own sim cards and network

[@noamstanger]

Gerber gave me more therapy then Betterhelp can wrap their malicious minds around.

[@shearnos]

huh

[@linuxstreamer8910]

like in Gerber multitool?

[@keptleroymg6877]

Baby food

[@noamstanger]

@@keptleroymg6877 betterhelp is also shit, thats the whole point

[@garethbaus5471]

There is more than one major company named Gerber and they are very different.

[@danielemur]

Super cool project! The race at the end was a fun way of demonstrating the technology!

[@PC49_lives]

Jules Verne described the sending signatures via the telegraph in the novel Propeller Island, also known as Floating Island. In the book, the rich inhabitants of the island ordered goods from the islands stores using the telegraph and also signed for them via the telegraph. The idea was based on a real invention for sending handwriting via the telegraph, but it wasn't compatible with morse code. So it was never adopted.

[@JerryAGreene]

As a ham that does CW (Morse code) regularly, I appreciate the effort put into this! Need two hams to man both sides. :)

[@soxy1200]

Still one of the best channels out there ;3 Great work!

[@jercos]

A type of "sounder" with another set of key contacts built-in is the simplest way to re-amplify and relay a telegraph signal... thus the modern device, the electromechanical relay.

[@captain34ca]

the ground return system works better if the ground rods are deeper and further apart, because ground currents are analogous to many parallel conductors. I have done earth conductivity tests for transmission systems and large scale industrial projects that require cathodic protection for underground steel structures, and would suggest 15 foot rods placed a quarter mile apart as a minimum for a 24V ground return with a resistance less than 3 Ohms in sand/loam/clay soils. I have had results of less than 50 milliohms in 100 m of depleted tarsand based soil, which makes sense because bitumen is pretty much a semi conductor and the other ingredients are mafic sands

[@GodsBadAssBlade]

Amazing work lads, now we just need to figure out wirelees, and intra/internet

[@jakepassolt9640]

As an electrical engineer, earth return probably wouldn't ever work with your setup, you would likely need a much longer earth rod and a higher battery voltage for it to work. Even with that you would probably need a better optimized sounder to be able to receive the signal. Either way this is an awesome accomplishment.

[@rkirke1]

Ground return wouldn't have worked in that scenario because the earth resistance is usually in the order of 10s-100s of ohms (depends on geology of the area), so at that voltage, not enough current would get through to actuate the solenoid in the sounder. In older telegraph systems, I think they would probably have used a lot higher voltage, and probably more elaborate grounding systems.

[@_B_K_]

I'm not an expert, but I have extensive experience with installing electrical fences on my properties... you needed more ground rods probably (and longer ones).

[@nasonguy]

Eerie moment on the channel. I work in telecommunications. I cut my teeth on telephones, POTS phones. Which work with a twisted pair of wires and battery voltage. If that doesn’t sound much different than a telegraph, it’s because it isn’t much different at all. This channel has worked its way through the history of human technology and landed squarely at the here and now (at least for me).

[@sojiro288]

Thanks for letting me play with this at open sauce! Getting to meet all of you there was great! It's impressive what you've been able to accomplish and i can't wait to see what you do next!

[@ElliotKrueger]

That's awesome! Glad you were able to stop by the table.

[@jorgelotr3752]

Now you only need to finish that camera to complete the side goals (or at least those that I'm aware of).

[@Mrjrich37055]

Next you sound try a phone system. Like the phone over fence wire that they used to use in rural areas

[@ahmedshaharyarejaz9886]

I wonder if you will also make a Solar Telegraph system. That was once the best long range communication system. It is still the system used to signal for SOS.

[@withered_dragon_head]

Thanks for dropping BH!

[@demetriuswright9982]

this is the coolest channel ive ever seen

[@jarrodcomins2399]

I'm an electrician by trade, I'm pretty sure you need an alternating current power source to get the earth return to work. The direct current batteries produce doesn't really "go to ground" the way AC power does.

[@Rusty_Raine]

I was wondering if you are quenching your copper wire while you are pulling it? Copper work hardens and unlike steel when you quench it, it gets softer. If you are not heating it up and quickly cooling it down, that may be the reason it keeps breaking. I know that it will add another dynamic/complexity in making the wire and you risk burning the wire.

[@harrisontasoff8724]

I loved seeing the build in this video

[@andrewharper7518]

i would imagine that the locations you hammered in the grounding rods have slightly different potentials

[@nekomakhea9440]

the copper wire might have broken so much when drawing into wire if you forget to anneal it, it work hardens and gets brittle

[@TimMyersR]

I appreciate you and your team making such an informative and fun video! This was so cool!

[@jackalenterprisesofohio]

That was possibly the first actual telegraph message sent via actual telegraph since 2013, as that was the year the last actual wire telegraph sent in India and the world.

[@NirvanaFan5000]

amazing work and content, as always

[@benjaminsolsvig5584]

I’ve been to the pavek museum. So much fun!

[@mikeyjohnson5888]

Did yall ever anneal the wire? As you draw the wire through it becomes work hardened, making it more rigid and brittle. A small blowtorch would make it significantly easier to draw.

[@FyaaahS]

You need 2 really good ground rods. They act as return paths

[@TheOriginalEviltech]

Your problem was too low of a voltage and too high of a current, the ground has quite high resistance. Modern wire pulling uses geared rollers that very precisely exert force on a small part of the pulled wire and right after they anneal it so it doesn't become brittle on the next pull. That's how we can end up with such thin copper strands. Also adding some resistors in parallel with the both ends of the cable would terminate some of the undesired self induction of the transmission wire and sounder coil which will increase signal quality and speed up coil reaction time due to decreased electrical ringing in the system. By the way what this system did could probably be detected by radio receivers miles away because of all the sparking and inductive load with a big antenna you had. You should bring in a ham radio operator with a frequency analyser to check out what kind of a signal that contraption generated.

[@TheRealWulfderay]

What a milestone! 🎉🥳🎈

[@JustIsold]

I kinda wish the team would go a little deeper into things like fiberarts and ceramics again, but I recognise its probably not where people's interest lies

[@matthewnett]

Next step is to research Guglielmo Marconi the father of radio. I would love to see your take on this and building an early day radio.

[@rzeka]

I wonder if that electromagnet you made would work as a guitar pickup

[@daanrademaker6099]

Epic this is definitely a milestone

[@_aullik]

Honestly the telegraph is only a "small step" forward from the optical telegraph of the french which again is only a small step forward from the flag signaling of ships. Obviously those small steps aren't that small but they are all manageable. IMO the semaphore towers where probably the biggest step up. Like a ll technologies a step up in one often relies on improvements in others. The optical telegraphs only made sense with widespread use of telescopes. The electrical only with good enough electronics.

[@Dark_Matter2]

When you enter wireless era I hope you'll make spark gap transmitter and coherer detector

[@exalandrop]

OMG You took the word "scratch" very seriously LMAO

[@qwerty975311]

Are you guys annealing the wire between pulls? I feel like that could reduce the odds of it breaking

[@joelsoncdma]

Hi, at 6:07 your pile volta is wrong; need a zinc and copper together and felt in next, zinc and copper together and felt next. A lot works...thank´s for share! like!!!

[@billdomb]

Trying to figure out if it's possible to find equipment to set up a LOCAL cell network so that those in just a relatively short range like, say, five miles can communicate independently.

[@levoniust]

I'm loving the music this episode!

[@hydealmen5280]

To Anil Copper, what you need to do is you heat it up and then dunk it in water and it softens it unlike steel that hardens

[@DH-xw6jp]

Anneal*

[@DontarrestmePLZ]

Copper work hardens. Try heating it up to anneal it every 4 holes or so.

[@nbarrager]

There's asking your apprentice to hand you the wire stretcher, this guy made him GET ON the wire stretcher

[@scrunchgumpgins4711]

Will you eventually be making a wire recorder?

[@Skypl3x]

The tree in the backyard watching him make everything out of his brothers

[@septemberpanda9948]

Great video, didn’t think it was possible to communicate across the world without using internet/electricity. Great video as always.

[@ASlickNamedPimpback]

telegraph is electric though

[@zachmoyer1849]

@@TheDimsml how are the beams generated?

[@flyingdutchman28]

9:25 great! Now all you need to do it repeat this process another 300 times.

[@Frustratedfool]

I recall a scam was run with the semi fore arms where information was stolen or delayed and affected share prices? Can’t remember the full details.

[@jakepassolt9640]

I live like a minute away from the Pavek Museum

[@vorg_]

This guy was melting dirt like two years ago and now he's invented telecommunication. At this rate he will exceed humanity's inventions by February.

[@SimplyStuart94]

Does anyone know more about how pulling wire was done early on when electricity was first being discovered/explored?

[@allen_steel1236]

The days of Western union, it was on common to find Battery rooms, that would have hundreds of Daniel Crowfoot gravity batteries. And usually anyone from 1 to 20 men Manning these rooms constantly watering and testing the batteries to make sure that they were constantly energized. Also they would rotate the battery electrodes on a regular basis. So they would wear evenly. For the purposes of your experiment it would have been just as easy to use steel electric fence wire, and Associated electric fence porcelain insulators. As they are direct descendants of the original Telegraph circuit. The reasons why you guys decided to try to pull your own steel wire is unknown considering the message you were using which is cold rolling. Was not in use of the time that wire would have been hot pulled, for at least the first two or three passes. And it would have been through a sizing roller set then into the final mandrel to pull to size. On a continuous coil we've been making wire that way oh since the 1840s. And also it was a high carbon steel content that was used in the wire. It was never a forged blacksmith steel. Your wires use on your sounders, we're not originally insulated with a locker compound they were a wire made from copper, not steel or iron. That was reserved specifically due to the links needed for telegraph lines. Interconnections in the telegraph stations, and between instruments in the station were all made with copper lead. Or actually copper bus bar.. the wire used inside the Sounder was a copper wire it was either insulated with cotton, or a lack of beeswax mixture. You guys have your history a little twisted around.

[@ChaseFreedomMusician]

This was amazing!

[@jimmystikx]

You need to anneal the wire, after pulling it. Copper work hardens.

[@KadeStringer2.0]

Nice work

[@Twitchi]

Read the thumbnail backward, "Grandpa's Internet"

[@sirfer6969]

This is how I explained the internet to my 80yo dad in 2005, superfast morse code.... and he got it right away

[@linuxstreamer8910]

i just looked at a vid of someone where sms via morse & that guy was a telegraph operator

[@DylanMatthewTurner]

Waiting for transistor

[@Leo99929]

Copper work hardens. Were you periodically annealing it?

[@pseudopseudo3679]

This guy would love the dr stone anime

[@Jakewheather]

You gotta anneal the wire so it doesn’t work harden and break.

[@nonsequitor]

*"Shrank"* is the word you're looking for there mate 🙏

[@James-hy8gu]

Morse code (CW) is still actively used on HF ham radio

[@TheOriginalJphyper]

Early on (1840s), someone even managed to figure out how to send images via telegraph. It was an early form of fax machine.

[@IIGrayfoxII]

Make an antenna instead of running a wire 400m. Then you have the Marconi Wireless