RADIO AND ITS RECEIVERS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 849, 18 December 1929, Page 18

RADIO AND ITS RECEIVERS

Conducted for THE SUN by

R. F. HAYCOCK.

CHRISTMAS FARE PROGRAMME FOR FESTIVE SEASON SANTA CLAUS TO TALK In announcing the radio programmes for the festive season I wish to extend to all radio listeners the compliments of the season, and to express the hope that they will have as much pleasure from their radio sets in the coming year as they have had in the past. Special arrangements for providing radio enthusiasts with holiday programmes have been made by the broadcasting company, and until race week concludes IYA will be on the air for practically 12 hours a day. In order to give dealers an opportunity of demonstrating receiving sets and country visitors the chance to hear them, IYA will be on the air each day from 12 noon till 4.30 p.m., after which the usual sessions will be held. On Christmas Eve the usual programme will be given till about 9.30, and later the IYA choir will sing carols. Dance music will follow till 31.45 p.m. On Christmas morning a special session for children will commence at 9 a.m. Santa Claus and his friends sind all the radio aunts and uncles will be present. Santa Claus will relate his experiences in the chimneys during the previous night, and a most attractive session is promised. Incidentally, it may be suggested to parents that a crystal set would make a good Christmas present for a child, who could then hear the special session with the new present. At 11 a.m. on Christmas Day IYA will relay the service from St. Mary’s Cathedral. There will be no afternoon session, and in the evening a relay will be given from St. Matthew’s Church, followed by a short programme of musical items till 9.30. Commencing on December 26 at 31.45 a.m., IYA will relay a description of the races at. Ellerslie, and these relays will be continued throughout race week.

For most purposes, and where a reasonably high mast is available, 75ft. of single wire makes an ideal aerial. ,

AMATEURS TO CONFER N.Z.A.R.T. CONVENTION PICNIC AT MOTUIHI The first Dominion convention of the New Zealand Association of Radio Transmitters will be held in Auckland from December 27 to 29 inclusive, and it is confidently expected there will be a large attendance of members from all parts of the country. The period for the convention has been specially chosen during the holiday season in order to give the opportunity to all members to attend without neglecting either general business, or association with friends and relatives during the actual Christmas and New Year festivities. The discussions in connection with transmission and allied questions will take place at the Leys Institute, Ponsonby, while the N.Z.A.R.T. dinner

will be given In the Akarana Yacht Club rooms on Saturday, December 28. On December 29 the association will hold a public picnic at Motuilii, and it is hoped that the public will attend in force. The local branch of the N.Z.A.R.T. is sufficiently well known in the district to give the public confidence that the picnic will be conducted on first-class lines. All who are interested in radio will be well advised to make an effort to attend this picnic, as it will afford a unique opportunity for coming in contact with some of the greatest radio experts in the Dominion, and of learning in a few hours more about practical radio questions than could be gleaned from textbooks by weeks of study. The ferry s.s. Condor leaves the Ferry Tee at 9.15 a.m., and tickets will be available shortly in most of the radio shops in town. A comprehensive sports programme has been arranged. MORRINSVILLE RELAY SUCCESSFUL CONCERT BROADCASTING COMPANY PRAISED ' Morrinsville rose to the occasion well on Monday evening, when the prosperous dairying town provided an excellent concert on relay from IYA. There were occasional faults in the relay line, but taken on the whole there was little wrong witltCihe transmission. The various items were of a very high standard, the humorous turns being especially good. Mr. McGregor, of the Morrinsville’ Chamber of Commerce, told listeners that Morrinsville had 60,000 cows within a radius of ten miles of -the town, which, he claimed, was a record for New Zealand. He also paid a tribute to the Broadcasting Company for the trouble it had gone to in arranging the relay. He said that if courtesy and service counted for anything the Broadcasting Company deserved the greatest success. HAVE A GOOD EARTH

A good ground connection is essential for the efficient performance of the receiver. Almost any metallic circuit leading to the earth will generally give satisfactory results, provided a good, clean and tight connection is made at the point of contact with the ground wire. It is advisable, however, to use a cold water pipe or radiator to which an approved ground clamp can be attached and a wire soldered or securely fastened. A gas pipe does not make a good earth.