RADIO NOTES

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLV, Issue 119, 22 April 1925, Page 11

RADIO NOTES

(By “Q.R.M.”) THE ELECTRON THEORY. The charges on bodies, or substances, may b© explained by means of the electron theory. To do this we must first define an atom. An atom is tho smallest part' into which matter can b© divided by chemical moans. An electron consists of tho minutest particle of negative electricity. It is the smallest known component of matter. An atom oonsists of a mass of positive electrioity, each atom aho having a certain number of electrons associateed with it. Tho electrons from different materials are all alike, and cannot act chemically with other electrons of a different matter. They are nothing more than definite amounts of electrioity which never change. They are many thousands of times smaller than atoms. An atom has enough electrons flowing around it to neutralise its own positive charge. A positively charged body has fewer electrons and it therefore tries to draw other electrons from neighbouring bodies to it. On the other hand, a negatively charged body has a Superfluity of electrons, and it tends to reject any electrons coining near it. The negatively charged body, owing to the law that unlike bodies attract, tries to move toward a positively charged body. The space surrounding- a charged body has an electric held, and another electrified body in this field tends to be moved, away, if it hus a similar charge, or nearer, if it has an unlike charge.

STATIC DEFINED. Ordinarily, • tho electric charges or currents are not visible, but if a very large number of them a.re accumulated they will produce a number of fiery sharp points, accompanied by an audible crackling sound. If a great many charges are collected, or if they are very large, they will produce an electric spark several inches in length. From this theory it seems that the charges on drop* of rain water and moisture in tho air combine to form the huge charges necessary to produce n flash of lightning. Therefore, even on a clear night tho very small charges on the particles of moisture are sufficiently strong enough to cause annoying crackling noises •in radio receiving sets. This crackling usually goes by the name of static or atmospherics. During the summer months there is much more moisture in tho air than at any other tin!© of the year. Statio during this period is always a very great deal stronger than in winter. Especially in tho tropical regions is the statio a great deal stronger than elsewhere. Evon when a lightning flash occurs below tho horizon there may be a considerable disturbance in the receiving eet. No reliable device has as yet been found for eliminating static, though a person’s fortuao would be made in a very short time if lie could find a suitable device lor any set at a reasonable figure.

RECORD WIRELESS FEAT IN PACIFIC. The Government radio station on Esteban Island, British Columbia, has established a. new record for communication with ships crossing- the Pacific. It maintained twoway communication with the Royal Mail steamship Makura throughout her entire voyage of 6657 miles from Victoria to Sydney. Australia. MISCELLANEOUS. Spain was practically the last nation to take up radio seriously. It has now over 100,000 licenses issued for the installing of receiving sets. There are many amateur broadcasting stations scattered over the country using the maximum power which is 100 watts. Their regulations forbid an amateur to use a set with a wave-length below 120 metres, so short-wave reception is impossible for them. All amateur transmitting sets are taxed by the Spanish Government at the rate of 200 pesetas annually, which Js something like £7 a year. The military post at Tunis has been continuing its experiments in transmitting on short wave-lengths. They _ broadcast regularly on 92 metres, including music lectures and Morse signals in their programmes. A special wireless set for receiving all stations in the capitals of Europe has been presented to His Holiness the Pope, through his Secretary of State. Cardinal Gasparri, by a company. The apparatus consists of a receiver and loud speaker combined and is one of the finest ever made. The set is installed in the Vatican, in one of the best drawing rooms. Mr J. C. Bingham, A.M. Inst. R.E., has now taken over the whole of the technical control of IYB, Auckland. IYB is to transmit on 260 metres in the future. Mr Max Howden, Australia, is being congratulated on his recent achievement of working 2NM, Finland. Interest is being shown in the coming radio conference in Wellington on the 26th inst., and it is hoped something definite will be arranged for the controlling of the new broadcasting scheme. Sir Oliver Lodge has been elected president of the Radio Society of Great Britain. Dr. W. H. Eccles the retiring president, said that Sir Oliver could be described as the first radio amateur. Certainly, ho has done a great deal towards furthering the ends of the amateur radio “fiend.”

2FC has been coming in well during the past week. Some of the items from the Wentworth Hotel have been especially good. CONDUCTORS.

A good conductor of electricity is a substance that -will allow a current to pass easily through, and which offers very little opposition to the flow of electricity through it. Among the many materials which will conduct electricity are certain kinds which are much better than others. These are silver, copper, gold, alimunlum, zinc, brass, phosphor-bronze, platinum, tin, nickel, lead, German silver, steel, iron, mercury, carbon and water. Silver and gold are both excellent conductors, but being very expensive -are never used. Copper, _ being plentiful and comparatively cheap, is very widely used. Aluminium is also used a great" deal, where light weight is essential. INSULATORS. An insulator is a material which offers so much opposition to a current of electricity that practically no electricity can pass through. The best insulators are g?ass, porcelain, rubber, mica,.- ebonite, parafmed wood, asbestos, asphalt, air, and all oils. It is important to note that all materials conduct electricity to a certain extent; they only offer a resistance, this being high or low, according to the material. HEARING THE STARS. Making the stars- work is the latest notion of French scientists. 'The invention will shortly bo tested at the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The inventor suggests that aa the light from the star passes over the eyepiece of a telescope it should be made to operate a selenium cell. This in its turn could lie made to broadcast a musical note, so that the listeners-in would actually “hoar” tho star. Broadcasting in this way without human intervention, this time signal would be correct to within one millionith of a second. Tho time signals frcm Wellington are correct to one fifteenth of a second. STATION ON MOUNTAIN TOP. The first radio brondcasting station to be located on a mountain peak was recently opened on top of Pic du Midi, in the Pyrenees, at the groat height of 9,330 feet above sea-level. 'Phis station will broadcast mainly weather reports for tho farmers in tho south of France, and it is expected that it will bo heard by crystal receivers over a very large area. It will make a special study of fading. ODDS AND ENDS. Travellers on the trains of one of _ tho largo railroads in France are to be notified of the next stop by means of loud speakers. The main hotel at that stop will also be given out. The work of construction of the new tower in Berlin is being connected. The tower which will b® 418 feet high, less

than half the height of the Eiffel Tower, will have n restaurant on the first platform 146 feet above the ground. A platform situated at 406 feet will be open for sightseers. A very powerful transmitting station will be installed in the tower.

An experiment in the Congo Caves, South Africa, to test the efficiency of underground telephony, was carried out with some success. A six-valve set situated 900 feet within the cave, picked up Johannesburg over 700 miles away, and the music was loud enough to work a loud speaker. Norway has now a broadcasting station at Christiana with a power of 1.5 K.W. It is officially stated that there are over 10,000 amateur radio fans in Norway. During November the supervisors of the nine radio districts in America received 3,944 written complaints of interference by amateurs by “squealing.” This does not take in the hundreds of telephonic messages received which were not recorded. When an S.O.S. call is heard every commercial, amateur, or private station must cease working. Sometimes in naval towns listeners-in are requested to cut off their sots in case “squealing” should interfere with the distress calls. Sometimes an operator of a broadcasting station, stops his instrument without telling the listeners-in what was the cause. The air is then. full of unnecessary “squeals” and explanations, as the amateur tries to find, out the cause of the musio suddenly ceasing. A novel way of getting a note for Morse practice, instead of using a buzzer, appeared in a radio magazine recently. About twenty or thirty turns of wire are wound round the cord suspending the lamp of an electric light from an A.C. main. This wae then connected in series with the phones and transmitting key, the key being connected to earth. Upon pressing the key a high musical note, not unlike G.W. transmission, is heard. Dr. Fournier d’Aibe, whose work in regard to television is well known, has now invented sound-phc'tograplis (which he calls “radio-tonograms,” by means of which speech and musio may be seen. With practice the radiotonograms could be read at eight, and it will be possible to use them as musio rolls in a playerpiano. Scientists have recently succeeded in listening to the electron. The vacuum tube amplifier amplifies the sound caused by tlio bombardment of the electrons against the plate one million times. One can imagine how small an electron is by tho fact that one inuii has not yet been able to see a molecule; it is so small. Below the molecule is the atom, which is a minute particle of a molecule. For years the atoni was considered the smallest known particle cf mutter which could exist. Science then got to v ork to try and split an atom up, even when it could not be seen. Then the electron was brought to light. Nobody can see it, even with the aid of the most powteful telescope, but now it can ne heaid, bombarding the plate cf a radio vn've. Will science endeavour to split an electron up?