N.Z.-BUILT TRANSMITTERS FOR COMMERCIAL SERVICE
department at the head office in Wellington of the Commercial Broadcasting Service stand four heavy compact, intricate-looking radio transmitters. When finishing touches and a lick of varnish here and there have been added, they will be sent to the four main ZB stations, where they will act as stand-by plants. These four transmitters are an excellent example of the work done by the Commercial Service’s technicians. Apart from certain component parts such as valves, the transmitters were built, from the ground up, in New Zealand. When the Commercial Service was inaugurated, the necessary transmitters were purchased overseas, but even then, certain modifications were added here. For instance, American broadcasting stations of similar size, seldom. require the switching facilities of a New Zealand station. The four main transmitters completed, a start was made on building one for 2ZA, Palmerston North, and later, for 5ZB, the mobile station. In addition, a number of recording machines have been built. [T° the workrooms of the technical
Items of equipment which are imported are instruments for testing and measuring, tools, cables, switches, valves, microphones, pick-ups and cutting heads for recording. The transmitters, which to the layman are a bewildering maze of wires, transformers and valves, have an output of half-a-kilowatt, the main transmitters in everyday use having one kilowatt. When they have been installed, breakdowns due to technical mishaps will be reduced even below their present low level. The ZB Stations, in fact, have a remarkable record in this respect. The figures for an average year of time on the air lost through technical trouble show that Station 1ZB, for instance, lost five minutes out of a total of 7005 hours; 2ZB lost 35° minutes; 3ZB 105 minutes; and 4ZB 29 minutes. It has to be remembered, moreover, that a proportion of this time lost can be attributed to unexpected valve failures.
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 4, Issue 100, 23 May 1941, Page 16
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312N.Z.-BUILT TRANSMITTERS FOR COMMERCIAL SERVICE New Zealand Listener, Volume 4, Issue 100, 23 May 1941, Page 16
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