SERVICE TO RADIO LISTENERS

Hokitika Guardian, 22 September 1930, Page 7

SERVICE TO RADIO LISTENERS

LACK OE EQUIPMENT,

NO MEANS OF DETECTING

INTERFERENCE

CHRISTCHURCH, September 20.

To cover the whole of Canterbury and West and there is only one radio inspector, and, according to a city radio deader, he is without a great deal of the equipment necessary to carry out his duties.

The duties of the inspector require him to watch the interests of approximately 10,000 listeners in Canterbury and Westland, and lie is expected to see that the whole of these listeners have Licenses and that no one operates a set without a license.

Another duty which he has to carry out is to investigate complaints regarding faulty apparatus, such as leaky insulators on power lines, faulty transformer stations, and other causes of interference. It was claimed by a radio dealer yesterday that the inspector had not been furnished by the Post and Telegraph Department with the necessary equipment to detect the causes of interference and was thus uliable to discharge one of his Jliost important duties. It ' was pointed out that ill Canterbury and Westland there were dozens of causes of interference and that quite a number of these caused considerable annoyance to listeners. In some cases it was quite impossible to get good reception at any time, even from 2YA or 3YA, on account of the disturbances artifica'.ly created. Some time ago there was a van in use -bv the Post and Telegraph Depart in Wellington, equipped with the necessary apparatus for detecting ciauses of interference, and this van was reported to have done good work. It bad never been brought to the South Island, said the dealer, but there was plenty of work awaiting it.

He said that the listeners were paying the Government fop this service, but were not getting it. In the Canterbury and Westland areas, about £2500 was obtained annually as the Post Office portion of the license fees, and he estimated that, allowing £IOOO for the expenses of issuing licences and the necessary bookkeeping, and another £SOO for the salary of the inspector and his travelling expenses, the Government was making a profit of £IOOO a year from listeners and giving them nothing in return.