USEFUL DISCUSSION

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 209, 28 April 1932, Page 2

USEFUL DISCUSSION

ROTORUA LICENSE-HOLDERS MEET COVERAGE COMMISSION STATIC AND INTERFERENCE About twenty radio" license holders of Rotorua on Tuesday morning met the Coverage Commission appointed by the Broadeasting Board to investigate the coverage problem in New Zealand. The commission is a small one, but highly te'chnical, consisting as it does of Mr. A. Gibbs, M.I.E.E., chief telegraph engineer to the Post and Telegraph Department, and Dr. M. ' A. Barnett, of the Scientific and Industrial Researeh Department. Dr. B. G. Thompson was voted to the chair, and' asked Mr. Gibbs to outline the work which they had been appointed to go into. Mr. Gibbs went carefully into the scope of the commission, and also spoke of what had already been done in the SoUth Islafid. Their main purpose in paying visits to the. various parts of the Dominion was to get first-hand information as to the strength and clarity of reception in the different parts of both islands. He mentioned that they would come to no decisions until the whole of both islands had been visited. Whatever their ideas may have been on the different questions under consideration prior to their appointment, they had banished them completely from their niinds, and faced the problems quite openly and unprejudiced. Their work was to devise a scheme which would give satisfaction to the greatest number of listeners, and yet keep expenditure within the limits of the board's revenue.

Procedure Outlined He then mentioned that in other parts they had visited the procedure ■ they had followed was that direct ' questions were asked and the gentlemen present expressed their individual opinions, from which the commission drew their own conclusions. As this method of sifting the information available was approved of Dr. Barnett proceeded to ask as to reception of the. YA stations and also the larger and closer "B " class stations. The opinions expressed were either unanimously good or unanimously bad. There appeared to be very little difference between the reception of the many listeners present, those in the town are generally stating that the noise level was much higher in the daytime than at night. Mr. Gibbs stated that he Was well aware that Rotorua suffered greatly from heavy static. He had had previous feports, and his visit on this occasion bore out Rotorua's bad reputatirm.

Dr. Thompsom said that with his wide experience he had no hesitation in saying that Rotorua appeared to get more than her fair share of static. This was hard to account for, but he put forward the theory that the large areas of lake water, and the heavy condensation of steam •from the thermal activity may account for this unfortunate position. Rotorua was not normal country and abnormal conditions might be expected. Static Very Bad Mr. Tapp, who was Rotorua's official listener for the Radio Broadeasting Company, stated that for one year he had kept a log on the reception of YA stations. This showed that only on 84 night in the 365 was reception in Rotorua what could be considered passable. Mr. H. J. Hardie brought up the question of local man-made interference. He reeognised that it was a big problem and took up the attitude that power boards had neither the apparatus nor the training to locate faults in eleetrical reticulation. As a matter of fact the Public Works Department had written to his department in this connection, and perhaps his reply to this letter would place his views before the meeting. His reply was as follows: — Radio Interference "The question of radio interference is bec'oming of major importance, but it seems to be a ^ubject akin to the present economy campaign — everyone is agreed that economies are necessary so long as the other fellow does the. inS"The problem of radio interference will be solved only by the expenditure of a good deal of time and money, and the query is, who is goine- to foot the bill?

"In our opinion it will be necessary to establish a joint authority elected and financed by all the interested parties, including the Broadeasting Company, and that this authority shall provide the necessary fault-finding equipment, and the trained staff to locate causes of interference. This authority should also be given power to draw up schedules of apparatus ' known to cause interference, and to require that after a certain period no apparatus of such class be imported or installed without the required protective ' appatatus. "This authority would also draw up recommendations as to the most satisfactory methods of dealing with the different causes of interference, giving particular attention to the costs of earrying out the required alterations. The matter of costs ^ is a very important point to be considered, and, in my opinion, is definit.ely linked with the problem of 'coverage.' "Based on American and English standards the power or coverage of the New Zealand broadeasting stations is very much below that required for satisfactory reception. This again is a matter of costs, and it is appreciated that with the limited revenue available New Zealand listeners cannot expect Stations equal in capaeity to those in America or England. "While admitting that the operation of a radio-receiving set should not be subjected to any interference which can reasonably he rectified, the Supply Authority, on the other hand, should not be placed in sudh a position that it is at the beck and call of every radio listener, who is"

getting noisy reception. The fault, after all, may be in his own receiving set. Contribution To Cost "It would appear necessary that any system of dealing with radio interference should have incorporated in it provision, whereby the person who complained of interference, or noisy reception, paid a deposit, or mad© some monetary contribution toward the cost of the necessary testing. This deposit or payment would be handled along the lines of the present systeiu of deposits in connection with the testing of house meters.

"So far as faults on public supply lines are concerned, the cost of any required alterations would fall on the appropriate authority's funds, but what about the Licavlduul consumer's apparatus; who wpuld finance the cost in those cases?

"So far as our own area is concerned we have dealt with any faults j that we have found, or which have.l been brohght to our attention, but we have no fault-finding equipment. In this connection, in our opinion, the problem is somewhat similar to the doctor and his stethoscope — the instrument itself is simple and inexpensive, but plus the doctor's experience a very accurate diagnosis can be made. "Taking the country as a whole, it would be better and cheaper to provide the required number of test equipments with fully trained operators to work full time, patrolling a definite district. If this plan were adopted, the experience gained by the operators would enable them to locate and diagnose quickly and accurately the causes .of interference, and to recommend methods of dealing with them. As set out *in your letter the possible causes extend_ over a very wide field, and the experience of trained operators would be the most important aid in locating them. "If a satisfactory scheme for dealing with the problem is devised, I would strongly advise the department to support it, and I thinlc that they would do so when it is possible to put a definite proposition before .them." Mr. Gibbs said that Mr. Hardie s views, as expressed in his letter, were most constructive and he t'elt certain that the Public Works Department would give most careful consideration to the suggestions he had made. He felt that co-opeiai.ion such as suggested by Mr. Hardie would do much to clarify a very knottv problem.

Station For Rotorua General discussion on several aspects of broadeasting and reception followed and a mOtion was passed affirming the conviction of local radio license-holders that eleetrical apparatus should not be allowed to be imported which was not fitted with suitable filtering' fittings to prevent radiation — thereby causing interference. . So far as the establishment of a local broadeasting station or a relay station in Rotorua was concerned, some opposition was shown by one or two of those present, as it was feared that this would blot out the reception of all other stations. Mr. W. A. McLean made a good case for the establishment of a station at Rotorua, pointing out that as the district was so widely known and had such unique items for broadeasting, people outside the immediate area would be pleased to know that Rotorua was "on the air." No motion was put forward that a station be established at Rotorua, as Mr. Gibbs said that such would not carry much weight, and if it did not fit in with the whole scheme, which had yet to be devised, no notice Would be taken of a mere, motion. - Mr. R. A. Gardner moved a vote of thanks to the members of the commission for giving them an opportunity of placing their views before them, and hoped that their report; would be of great benefit to broadeasting generally. Dr. Barnett replied, and said they wished to thank the gentlemen present for their useful information. A vote of thanks to the Borough Council for the use of the meeting room and to Dr. Thompson for presiding closed the meeting.