RADIO FOR PATIENTS

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 541, 19 December 1928, Page 16

RADIO FOR PATIENTS

GIFT OF £2OO TO FUND I Radio for every hospital patient has ; been brought a big step nearer by a gift of £2OO from the trustees of the Hunter Shaw estate. Mr. TV. Wallace, chairman of The Auckland Hospital Board., made the announcement yesterday. He said that at present about TO beds were equipped. The money will be placed at the dis--1 posal of the Women's Hospital Auxiliary to spend in the direction indicated. The sum still to tile credit of Mrs. Dreaver’s wireless fund will also be available.

WAISTCOAT-POCKET SET PROFESSOR'S AMAZING CLAIMS Wireless a isicoat pocket ’ tlie latest' news from Berlin. _ This claim has been made by a proiessur of Jena University, as the result of experiments he has carried out during the last 12 months. According to the protestor, he me. ultra-short waves, three metres and less. and. he believes that also h:s discoveries will be of invaluable sert ice to medicine. He has succeeded, he says, wit i a fraction of a watt, using ordinary valves, without aerials, in co\ ermg distances of nearly 16 miles, and with higher energy he has covered -*>- miles. The professor also says he has succeeded in telephoning by use of these short waves. The transmitter is stated to be no larger than a cigar-box, and he has constructed a receiver which solves with amazing simplicity the problem of detecting ultra-short waves. about the aerial

The following brief tips about the aerial and earth system cover the different faults which are generally met : with in practice, and should be ot assistance in ensuring maximum efficiency. j The dpwn lead of the aerial shorn- 1 : come either from one end of the horizontal span or from its centre. Other aerials or telephone wires will act as a screen to an aerial, especially if they are parallel, so it pays to run | vour aerial at right angles, as far as ! j possible, to such obstructions, even at ! the expense of height or length. The lead-in should be kept away ; from walls and from the earth wire. j Under normal conditions to-day the ideal aerial seems to be one about 40ft j high and 30ft long—total 70ft, or thereabouts. There is very little, if any, advantage j in using two wires instead of one for } the aerial unless it is necessarily a j very short one. When the length is ? 30ft or over, it is nearly always prefer- j able to use one wire instead of two. When not in use, an aerial should be 1 direct to earth by means of ; a switch outside the house. Xot only walls and buildings, but trees form a fairly impenetrable screen for an aerial, this being especially true in the spring and summer, when trees are full of sap. The effective height of an aerial is ; not its height above the ground necessarily, but the distance between it and ; the nearest earthed object; so that an aerial which is only 10ft above a lead roof is in effect only 10ft from earth, although it may be at the top of a veryhigh building. For short-wave work the aerial must be loosely coupled to the grid circuit or the set will fail to oscillate. (A neutrodyne condenser inserted in series with it is a very good way of securing ; these conditions.) If the lead-in insulator is arranged to slope upwards into the house the rain will tend to fall off the end of it I instead of running along it and making j it wet at the point where it enters the j house. j Rope should not be used for stays ] from a mast or for halyard**, owing Tty ■ the considerable tightening which taker place when it is wet. CAN YOU GET IT> 'Watt-hour you doing here?" “Eatin* currents,” replied the apprentice. "Anode you'd catch me a. it?” “Wire you insulate this morning?' asked the boss. “Leyden bed.’ “Can’t your relay-shunts get you j up?” | “Amperently not, sir.” “Fuse going to do that every day. you can go ohm.” said the boss, and the circuit was broken right there.