NOTES

Shannon News, 7 December 1928, Page 3

NOTES

Nearly 500 wireless valves comprise an important part of the supplies carried by the Byrd Antarctic expedition. The exact number is 483, of which i)o are for transmitting and 397 for receiving. Such a quantity is being taken to make communication certain'. However, should the supply become low it is planned to rebuild receivers and transmitters to accommodate a smaller number of valves.

. A portable “mixing panel” fox' use in theatre and church relays requiring more than one microphone lias been designed and built for 2FC, Sydney. It intervenes between the microphones and the usual amplifier and enables the relay operator to combine the output of several microphones in different parts of the building in any desired proportion or to change from one to another without letting listeners know that it is being done. Some of the Eucharistic Congress ceremonies require seven microphones, so the need for such a device is very obvious. Without it, the transmission would be “thick,” owing to the slow-moving sound waves reaching the various microphones at different times. The apparatus is contained in a small leather case and weights 51b.

An American insect, knoxvn as a shadfly, completely stopped the transmission of station WGY, Schenectady, while it was relaying an important speech by Senator James Reed at the Democratic National Convention recently. The senator was getting into the full tide of his argument when the fly, which had been exploring the transmitter, flew between the plate of a great condenser. It was electrocuted, and its passing caused an arc. This instantaneously shut down the motors which supply cooling water to ‘ the power . valves, which automatically opened a circuit and put the station off the air. Before the cause of the accident had been ascertained and repairs effected Senator Reed had ceased speaking. Governor Al. Smith was listening to the transmission of the speech when it was suddenly stopped. He thought that the studio manager xvas “censoring” Senator Reed, and by telephone indignantly wanted to know why. The Governor xvas molli-« fled when he heard the explanation, wl.ich he accepted, but xvas disappointed that such a good fighting speech did not reach the ears of thousands of potential supporters.