RADIO AND ITS RECEIVERS

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 137, 31 August 1927, Page 14

RADIO AND ITS RECEIVERS

BETTER TIMES COMING The general manager of the Broadcasting Company, in his recent visit I to Auckland, has done much to clear the air among the listening public. He met the dealers and some of the executive of the Listeners’ League and promised that, now the bulk of the construction work was finished, more effort would be concentrated on programmes. In this respect the station director at IYA will meet, whenever necessary, the representatives of both the dealers and the listeners, and the director would also, as far as possible, give effect to their requests and recommendations. If this scheme is carried out as outlined by Mr. Harris, we should be in for better fare, for both the dealers and the listeners will be

able to give helpful advice as to what is really wanted. This step of meeting all parties is the wisest one made during Mr. Harris’s administrtaion, and THE SUN hopes our service will in the near future be that promised by the Prime Minister some years ago at Dannevirke —“the best in the world.” THE SUN SHORT WAVE ADAPTER Several requests have been received for details as to the construction of the coils used. These may be entirely home-made or may be wound on formers, which can be bought complete with plug in bases carrying six terminals such as the General Radio, the Silver Marshall and others, or, if desired, complete sets of coils are obtainable from several dealers, such as the Meni wave set supplied by Messrs. Johns. If the formers are bought it is merely

Conducted for THE SUN by C. M. Taylor, B.Sc., A.M.I.R.E.

] a matter of space-winding the three I coils on the former. Perhaps the i easiest way of space-winding is the oldest way of all; that of winding a strand of thread of the desired diameter, i.e., about the thickness of the 1 wire used; together with the wire, and after securing the ends of the wire, winding off the thread. For those who wish to do the complete job the following is one way of many: Get a bottle of the required diameter, place four strips of celluloid equidistantly on the surface, and hold in place with a rubber band at each end. The strips should be half an inch wide and of ample length, and one strip should be of a good heavy grade such as is used in the side curtains of the British “all weather” equipment for cars. Have this strip

. about four inches longer than the others. Now wind your coils, spacing ; the windings again; first the aerial , coil 5-6 turns, then a space of about I one inch; next the grid coil 9 or 10 i turns, then a space of one-eighth inch , and the tickler coil of 6 turns. The » ends of each coil should be wound a quarter of a turn further than necessary and poked under the next strip of celluloid. When starting use the heavy strip as your starting point, and pass j the end under the strip behind, so that ; really a five-turn coil goes 51 times r round the bottle a quarter ahead at i start and finish. "When the coils are j finished evenly and tightly, take some acetone or .amyl acetate and brush ? lightly over the wire where it touches . the celluloid. Now put a layer of . celluloid varnish over each strip and i set to dry in a warm place. An alternative method of holding the wire in place at the start and finish. of each ,• coil is to bore small holes in the strip chosen as the starting and finishing : one, and secure the wire by threading through a pair of holes at each start - and finish. s When the coil» is set hard slip off i -

) 1 from the bottle. If stuck hard care--1 fully break the bottle and clear the coils. Carefully trim the three lighter strips close to the aerial and tickler coils, carefully moisten the heavy strip a quarter of an inch away from the coils with acetone or arnyl acetate and bend at right angles to the coil axis. . Repeat this 11 inches further out from - the first bends and bend again. In • this way a stand is made for the coil, 1 which can be screwed to the baseboard. The ends of the coils should be bared and led -at least half an inch from the coil and tinned ready for soldering. Be careful not to bring too hot a soldering iron or a naked light ? near either the coils or the varnish, , both of which are highly inflammable. 2YA PLEASE ! It may come to this quite soon. The , Wireless Exchange is in two cases at ; least giving such a service in England. 5 A man at Southsea, England, conducts such an exchange, from which he supplies a number of listeners in his neighbourhood. The programmes are supplied by a four-valve receiver. The subscribers are wired in free, their outlay being a wireless licence, a wall switch, a loud speaker and a charge of 6s a month for the service. The set is s left tuned in to some station, and the ' first subscriber switching in lights the ; valves and sets the receiver working. The experiment is being watched by , dealers all over England, but doubt is ; expressed whether it can be developed privately to any great extent on uct count of the cost. UNUSUAL ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN 1 Sir Charles 1-ligham, whose advertising expenditure in Great Britain alone, on the behalf of British tea firms, runs into many millions, is out to make America into a nation of tea drinkers. He is about to launch one ■ of the most colossal and ambitious 5 publicity campaigns that even America has known. By far the greatest part of this scheme will be carried out i through the medium of broadcasting. , A large proportion of the United , States stations will be engaged to - broadcost pithy items arranged by Sir » Charles Tligham, and it is intended by 3 this means to reach the majority of ’ the homes in the United States. IT PAYS TO ADVERTISE Dealers in England are going in for ! stunts to attract the eyes of the pur- . chasing public. One dealer uses a . string of coloured'lights up the aerial mast above his premises and down the

lead in to the set, which is the centrepiece of an excellently flood-lit window. Small lamps run up the speaker cords to the speaker, which is installed in the fanlight over the door. So successful is his display that many people have pushed their cards into the shop letter box with a brief invitation to the dealer to call and demonstrate a set. SKULLS AND CROSS BONES The P.M.G. in England reported that 600 “pirates” had to “plank out” last year. Our own department has been active lately, and the attitude of the department toward the elimination of interference seems to be bucking up and, like many other things, this too may be said to begin at home. Much interference is being experienced in the neighbourhood of tne Remuera telephone sub-exchange. Sometimes this interference is so bad that it will blot IYA completely out. One pleasing result of departmental activity in this direction is the absence of interference with 3YA, due to the first harmonic of VLD, which was an immediate result of the new scheme of wave lengths. An extract from a current British journal is headed: “Trouble for New Zealand.”—“lt is reported that regulations are being gazetted in New Zealand which make all postal officials in the Dominion wireless inspetcors. For every unlicensed set-holder that is convicted