PRACTICE ESSENTIAL

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 125, 24 February 1928, Page 12

PRACTICE ESSENTIAL

MR. O’MEARA ON RADIO Why does Mr. I. O’Meara, the wellknown Gisborne radio man, get better results from listening-in than any other amateur in New Zealand? Mr. O'Meara declares that it is the result of experience and a certain degree of intuition. Practice is all-im-portant. It is, he says, somewhat like a motor-car which a mechanic can keep tuned up and handle easily, while the other man cannot. Mr. O’Meara uses the short-wave type of receiver that many listeners-in possess, and has some remarkable performances to his credit. With the aid of Morse code he has been in touch with 59 countries. He was one of the pioneer hsteners-in for long-distance communication, and has received a cup for being the first person to pick up South America, G5OO miles away. Today this record appears small, for international radio communications are so frequent that even the remotest part of the globe may be picked up. Mr. O’Meara, for instance, even got into touch with the McMillan expedition to the North Pole, and has relayed messages from Paris to Shanghai very frequently. One of his recent feats was to work New York, a distance of 17,000 miles, on 20 metres, at 8 o’clock in the morning. This route is known to enthusiasts as “the long way of the world.” During the past fortnight Mr. O'Meara has been a competitor in a contest between transmitters in all parts of the world, which has just concluded, and for which valuable prizes were offered. Although Mr. O’Meara was able to complete only seven days of the fourteen days’ test he worked 102 American and Canadian stations in that time and answered some hundreds of technical questions. Tn an interview Mr. O’Meara stated that he,thought New Zealand was as liberal in her attitude towards radio amateurs as any other country, with the exception of the United States. The recent conference of radio men in America had restricted amateurs on short wavelengths as much as possible, and they were lucky to be able to carry on.