imited. Undeterred by this, Armstrong set up his own station that opened in July 1939. Soon other stations saw the possibilities of improved reception and within six months over 140 applications had been submitted in the USA for new VHF FM stations. The Second World War delayed the spread of wideband FM, and it was not until 1954 that, the BBC launched its first FM service in the UK. Since then the growth of wideband FM has been enormous. It now attracts greater audiences than the traditional AM broadcasts because of its improved sound reproduction and resilience to noise and fading. Communications will always be a very important use for radio. During 1946, the scientist and science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke published a revolutionary article in the magazine Wireless World. In this he proposed the use of three orbiting satellites to give worldwide communication. While his ideas were remarkably sound, the technology did not exist to put them into practice. However, during the Second World War the Germans had made major advances into rocket technology. These were the first steps that enabled rockets to put satellites into space, and during the 1950s many further advances were made. Many of the first attempts at putting satellites into space failed dramatically. However, on 4 October 1957 the Russians succeeded in placing a football-sized satellite into a low orbit. Named Sputnik 1 it radiated a distinctive bleep that was heard by many professional and amateur listeners all over the world. Sputnik was the first major milestone in the satellite age. Soon others followed. In 1960 America launched Echo, a 33 metre diameter alumin- ium coated balloon. This could easily be seen from earth as it passed overhead and it enabled radio signals to be reflected to provide extended distances for radio communications. This was only the first step in making a proper communications satellite. In 1962 Telstar was launched. This was a private venture funded by AT&T and on 23 July 1962 it succeeded in providing the first live tra