RADIO REVIEW

New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 77, 13 December 1940, Page 45

RADIO REVIEW

Contributed by

N.Z. DX R.A. Inc.

Address all Communications: P.O. Box 437, DUNEDIN.

5%, — Test from Dunedin A test programme will be broadcast by the Dunedin emergency station of the NCBS at midnight on Sunday, December 15. The call sign of this 250-watt station is 4ZF on 1360 kc. This is the channel used by 5ZB as a mobile station and while at the Exhibition. Reception reports addressed to the Director, 4ZB, Dunedin, will be appreciated. Swing in Black-Outs Swing music from American shortwave stations is cheering Londoners during black-outs. English radio stations either go off the air or turn to recorded programmes then, and listeners prefer the American entertainment, says General Electric Co., acknowledging a letter from Peter J. Sallis, of Southgate, to WGEA, GE’s Schenectady shortwave station. "We have had continuous attempts to upset our mode of life by air raids," wrote Sallis. " Apart from purely material damage one of their drawbacks is that they have caused our wireless programmes either to go off the air altogether or else we have had to listen to numerous record recitals. I tune in my receiver to the 19 metre band and listen to WGEA, and although I’ve done it plenty of times in the past I must say these days it’s a boon." Sallis praised normal English broadcasting, but said "the instinct of self-preservation forces our officials to cut it off just when we need it most." Broadcasting stations in both England and Germany have gone off the air to prevent raiding ’planes using their signals as guides to bombing objectives, Staff Figures To man the 705 American broadcast stations 16,100 full-time and 3,506 part-time workers ‘are employed. The main groups are: Programmes, 9,111; technical, 3,444; administrative, 2,740; executive, 2,175. Proof of Citizenship All licensed amateur radio operators in the United States are required to submit, to the Federal Communications Commission, proof of their nationality. The approximate figure of "ham" operators is 55,000. Originally the last day for such proof to be rendered was August 15, but so much confusion was caused that the order was extended to September 15. Even those serving in military forces, police departments, or other organisations, are not exempt. One operator, it is said, who thought he was a United States citizen, discovered when collecting information to complete the form that he was an alien, thus he was never entitled to hold a licence. Continued operation would be a violation of the Commission’s rule, and if he tried to "cover up" his real nationality he infringed Section 79 of the United States Criminal Code, which provides in part that such penalties shall be imposed upon "whoever for any fraudulent purpose whatever, shall falsely represent himself to be a citizen of the United States without having been duly admitted to citizenship." Apart from the completion of forms, finger prints are required. Postmasters at first and second class post offices and authorised military officers, as well as local or State police officials, may take finger prints, me Te ee ee eee ee se a Se e th ae owe it ek ate a