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Since the dawn of Amateur Radio, the handling of messages in an accurate and timely manner has been held in very high esteem. In the early days, the range of the average spark gap transmitter varied from 5 to 10 miles. As better antenna systems, receivers, and higher power rotary spark-gap transmitters evolved, distances of 400 miles and more could be achieved by stations operating 200 meters and down as early as 1914.
Obviously, longer distance communications could not be achieved reliably without relays. The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) was founded by Hiram Percy Maxim primarily as a long distance radio relay system. By the end of 1915, over 600 stations in almost every state and province had been appointed as Official Relay Stations whose operating standards were maintained at a very high level. The technical capability had been present for a long time before, but it is most defiantly the organizational structure created by the ARRL that quickly increased the distance that a message could travel from 50 miles in 1914 to reliable transcontinental messages by 1917.
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"The Rest Of The Story" ( History of the NTS )
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