RADIO NOTES.

Putaruru Press, Volume VII, Issue 311, 24 October 1929, Page 1

RADIO NOTES.

WIRELESS. Through the resounding corridors of space The voices of the invisible ring In ghostly melody. They sing I 1 or audiences of every race. Scattered throughout earths listening lands, To music spun by unseen hands Into a web so delicately rare It floats suspended on the enchanted air.

Pale spirits, passing on their tenuous way, Hearing the well-remembered sound Of mortal noises, pause wonderbound. And once, a nightingale, they say, Cloistered within some English wood, Chanced on the magic where she stood, And, mindful still of Tereus and his curse, , /a; Flung her lament across the universe.

Care of Valves. Be careful in the handling of your valves. Perhaps you do npt know that in constructing the valve, filaments and heaters must be within exact limits to provide for correct operating characteristics. For this reason the valve should be handled with the same consideration as that given to a fine watch, and it should be protected against knocks, jars and undue vibration. Many set owners do not know that they can paralyse valves by applying more than the rated voltage.

Radio Clock. One of the latest aids to listening is a radio clock, which, attached to a receiver, will turn on the set at a ! pre-determined time, regardless of whether the owner is in or out, and it also will shut the set down at any desired time. The instrument should be useful in hotels, hospitals, etc. Some listeners seem to think that a more desirable attachment would be a supersensitive adjudicator, in tune with the mood of all within hearing, that would sort out for Its audience only what that audience desired to hear. Summer Broadcasting.

With the coming of summer a broadcasting feature most popular in the country the descriptions of big Rugby games in the city—passes temporarily. There are summer sports in plenty that take the place of winter football, but neither the pace of some of these sports, nor their location, lend themselves to radio description. Then, too, the call of the outdoors is so universal on a summer Saturday afternoon that the receiving set does not receive its winter-time devotion. Still, in the week-ends to come there will be accounts of tennis, cricket, motor racing, yachting and all those sports so beloved of young New Zealand! New Dunedin Station. I

This week sees the opening of the new 4YA, the Dunedin station which will put the southern city on a transmitting par with Christchurch and Auckland. Now that the four provincial centres have their transmitting plants we may look forward to the systematic linking of these stations so that one programme or the account of one important event may go out simultaneously from the four “ YA’s.” Next year even those who have only sets which bring in their nearest station, should hear each Rugby test that is played against the visiting Englishmen, and hear it independent of the vagaries of static which is an ever possible menace to re-broadcasting. “ Relaying,” or the utilisation of land lines between the different transmitting stations, obviates this menace.

Eliminating Static. The phenomenally rapid growth of the listening-in -habit has caused “the clarity of the air” to be a matter of moment to millions. Nowadays, untold numbers of people become more irritated by the occasional electrical disturbance which interferes with radio reception than they do with a break in the weather. ■ Yet atmospheric static is not to-day the bug-bear of the broadcast listener that it was even three or four years ago. Many inventors have striven patiently for the evolution of a simple device which will filter out the electrical disturbances in the atmosphere, and yet allow the broadcast wave to come through to the

amplifying receiver. But the static eliminator has not yet arrived. Still the data obtained by . investigators , have proved of inestimable value to broadcasters and to radio manufacturers alike. Broadcasters have realised that higher transmitting powers covering smaller areas so minimise atmospheric interference as to make it almost negligible. The modern, selective receiver, too, is .less susceptible to lightning effects. V Actually, much of the interference which is noticed is man-made. A ■faulty telephone receiver, inefficient electric light switches, defects in various electrical appliances used in the modern home, leaks in power lines adjacent to the house—all these must shoulder the blame for much of the interference experienced through the average set. When trouble occurs, a full investigation of these possible sources may relieve the poor ether of much of the odium heaped upon it.

In remedying causes of man-made static it will be found that power boards almost invariably render »any help possible. Broadcasting has grown to such importance that they | are quick to recognise its value and | help its progress. It should be borne in mind that interference can generally be reduced or nullified when its source is determined. Experience is an efficient teacher in tins domain. Many electrical appliances are now being manufactured free from inter-ference-producing characteristics. They sometimes cost more, but the • slight additional expense is worth i while in the radio home. j

r broadcasting and Pronunciation. ' Several public men who have the i purity of our spoken language at heart have expressed concern regarding the probable results of the introduction of the “ talkies.” They foresee the development of a universal twang in our speech, but in pointing to the danger of this they have neglected to note that broadcasting is providing an excellent antidote. Whether they be sparkling or prosy, the announcers in the main stations of New Zealand and Aus- ■ tralia are steadily following an excellent British precedent, and no drawl or twang creeps into the regu- | larly spoken word which a whole community hears daily. So farreaching are these models of correct speech that their influence upon daily conversation, gradual though it may be, is inevitable. There was a time when the dictionary was the sole arbiter of the pronunciation of a word. Now we accept the radio announcer’s dictum, knowing that it is part of his job to be correct. One prominent announcer once admitted that if, in reading any passage, he came to a word which threatened to floor him, he coughed it. The resort to such a dodge is exceptional. In England the British Broadcasting Company, through its officials, has become a recognised arbiter upon pronunciation, and from time to time it issues lists of words, with their correct renderings. The latest to be so handled by the 8.8. C. were the words “ ass ” and “ off.” The decree has gone forth that “ ass ” must rhyme with “ lass,” and not, as so frequent, with “ brass ” or “ pass ” (with the long “ a ”). As for the word “ off ” it may be hoped, from the 8.8.C.’s decision, that “ awff ” has “ gawn ” for ever.