RADIO NOTES

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 3, Issue 622, 29 August 1933, Page 3

RADIO NOTES

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Reception generally during the last week has been fairly good and many of the programmes provided excellent entertainment. There is very little that calls for comment in this week's programmes, records providing the ma.jor part of the entertainment. The star programme of the week would appear to be the one from 3YA on Friday, when the studio orchestra will be assisted by a number of artists. The annual competitions ' will be continued in Wellington during the week and 2YA will pass over to the Town Hall at intervals each evening. On Saturday at 9 p.m. they will relay the final demonstration concert. In previous years this concert has provided excellent entertainment and no doubt the one to be given on Saturday will be up to the usual standard. • It is interesting to read that a number of New Zealand artists are meeting with success before the microphone in Australia. No doubt most listeners have heard the programmes of the "Nothing under Seventy" Cliib broadcast by 2BL. To-night the first portion of this station's programme will be by artists under 17, including Jean Hatton, the 9-year-old soprano, and the latter half by artists over seventy. Reports from England state that recently there were two very successful television broadcasts. In 1925 Mr. Baird, the well-known inventor, prophesied that television would be a daily source of entertainment within 10 years. While television brodacasts have been carried out at regular intervals for some time past, they are still very much in the experimental ' stage. However, there is still some time for Mr. Baird's prophecy to be fulfilled. A statement published last week concerning the engagement of New Zealand talent makes interesting reading. The writer states that there are few .artists of importance and worth in the Dominion who have not been approached for a radio- performance. He then goes on to say that in a year or two the Broadcasting Board will have an index of the real talent in the country and will be able to draw on them. Evidently the compil-

ing of an index is a long job and it is safe to say that some of the artists j now available will not he waiting for i engagements in a year or two's time. Tips for Beginners. A continuous howl that does not vary with tuning adjustment is a sign of audio instability. An output choke system or an output transformer is almost essential for high quality lo.udspeaker reproduction where good volume is required. With push-pull amplification very large volume is possible even although h.t. maximum is not particularly high. A possible but often unsuspected source of distortion lies in permitting flexible grid bias leads to run close to other leads in the set. Dust is detrimental to good insulation. However, when cleaning the set do not do as one local listener did and tighten all screws that can he seen. After screwing up condenser and i.f. transformer adjustments he found that the set would not go. Clean out the dust but leave everything else alone. To clean scale from a soldering iron, heat to .a dull red and plunge into cold water. If a soldering iron is tinned with silver solder the face will last for months. Always solder the earth wire to the pipe or earthing plate being used. While a clamped joint may be satisfactory when new, corrosion eventually takes place and may cause loss of volume and. noisy reception. Trouble can he caused by cobwebs forming between the aerial and earth leads, especially when damp. It is a good idea to periodically lower the aerial, clean the insulators and examine the wire for broken strands.