AERIALISMS

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 959, 30 April 1930, Page 7

AERIALISMS

Very often two receiving sets the name distance away from a broadcasting station will receive the signals at very different strengths. The cause in many cases of bad reception will be found to be certain “grounded” objects in the vicinity, which act as a screen and carry the ether waves transmitted from the broadcasting station to earth before they can. reach the aerial. Steel structures and trees show this effect very markedly. Hills also cause screening and a receiving set in a house situated in a valley is likely to suffer from their screening properties.

Tuuiug-in a short-wave station is not piite such an easy matter as operating a broadcast receiving set, on account of the extreme sharpness of uning met with on short waves, eslecially below about 30 metres. However, it is just this difficulty that rives attractiveness to the task of the young enthusiast. Anyone can tunein 3YA or 2YA, but it takes patience old experience to tune in SSW, Chelmsford, or PCJ, at Eindhoven in Holland, but when results are obtained. the fruits of care and perseveruce are worth the trouble.

The beginuer in the short-wave field r reception should not commence >perations with the feeling that the eception of trans-oceanic broadcastng is merely a matter of turning the ! witch and twirling the dial, and ] mediately have station SSW from j England or PCJ from Holland i oellowing out of the speaker strongly nough to annoy his neighbours. Longlist ance reception from short-wave rations is even more “tricky” than >X works on the “broadcast” wave j ands. A certain amount of patience I Hid perseverance is essential with the .'•rmer. just as it is necessary with the ! latter, in order to obtain the best remits. In using a short-wave receiver, he beginner should go after his nations with the same nicety of operaion that he would use if he were operating a 12-valve “superheteroi iyne” se*