FOR BETTER LISTENING

New Zealand Listener, Volume 19, Issue 468, 11 June 1948, Page 24

FOR BETTER LISTENING

Frequency Changes in September

Y now most listeners will know about the impending changes in the operating frequencies (or wavelengths) and call-signs of some of the New Zealand radio stations, which were announced last week by the Minister of Broadcasting (the Hon. F. Jones). These changes, to come into force as from Wednesday, September 1, are embodied in the plans of the NZBS to increase the power of present transmitters and establish new stations. At the same time an endeavour is being made to reduce interference from Australian stations. Country listeners have often complained about ffutters or heterodyne whistles in the background when they are tuned to local stations. The reason for this interference is that the wavelength channels available for joint use by Australia and New Zealand have been insufficient to allow each station to have an exclusive channel, so that in some cases stations in both countries have been operated on the same wave-

length. Increased power in New Zealand will also help to reduce this trouble. Although the stations when changed will be tuned at somewhat different places on the receiving dials, the benefit to listeners throughout New Zealand will offset any initial inconvenience. The increase in power of the New Zealand stations will reduce the interference here, but it will cause greater interference to listeners in Australia. So, on the same date, 24 of the Australian stations will also change their wavelengths. In New Zealand there will be alterations in some call-signs, to give a more uniform indication of the size and importance of stations and a’ new series of call-signs with the first letter "X" will be adopted for the smaller stations. Clearing the Channels Early this year wavelengths were discussed at a conference in Melbourne between New Zealand and Australian radio engineers, and frequency allocation for each country was worked out. All the transmitting frequeneies used by the various nations of the world are contained in what is known as the radio

spectrum. This spectrum is divided into sections, some being used for broadcasting and others for communication. The broadcast sections are subdivided into medium, long, short, and _ ultra-short wavebands. Every four or five years an international conference is held when the sections and bands are decided on. New Zealand radio stations operate in the medium waveband of from 550 to 1600 kilocycles. Only a limited number of clear channels can be available in, any particular band, so if the number of stations on the air exceeds the number of channels, and if these stations are all located within receivable distance, there must be interference. Problems for Engineers Difficulties of this sort are not peculiar to New Zealand, but in America and Europe, where there are a great many more stations, the problem is a big one. In New Zealand country districts (as elsewhere) radio interference is more noticeable than in the cities. When a listener is a considerable distance from the nearest local broadcasting station, the signals he receives are much weaker

than they are in the cities, and are more liable to interference from stations in an adjoining country. For many years New Zealand and Australian broadcasting authorities have co-operated in dealing with interference. Work on the new NZBS stations is going ahead. The 10 kw. transmitter for the Bay of Plenty district, to be installed at Paengaroa, is now in New Zealand, stored pending eréction of its housing. For the new Greymouth station at Kumara Junction the transmitter building is almost complete and the transmitter is on its way from Wellington to Greymouth. Wellington’s 60 kw. transmitter is nearly finished and will be put through a works test in Sydney in July. Transmitters for many of the smaller stations have been in New Zealand for some months. They will be installed as soon as their buildings are ready. (continued on next page)

(continued from previous page) Local Changes The Listener's programme pages will repeat the new frequencies and call-signs when the change-over is approaching. {n the meantime listeners can make a note of the details in the following table:

Australian Alterations For the benefit of New Zealand listeners who tune in to Australia, here are the frequency changes as they affect

: Present Future Existing Fr q y req Stations Ke/s Kc/s 1YA Auckland 650 750 4YZ Invercargill 680 720 3YA Christchurch 720 690 2YH Napier 750 860 4YA Dunedin 790 780 2YB New Plymouth 810 1370 2YC Wellington 840 650 2YN Nelson 920 1340 3ZR Greymouth 940 920 2ZJ Gisborne 980 1010 2YD Wellington 990 1130 4ZD Dunedin 1010 1430 2ZB Wellington 1130 980 4YO Dunedin 1140 900 3YL Christchurchy 1200 960 4$ZB Dunedin 1310 1040 2ZA Palm. North 1400 940 3ZB Christchurch 1430 1100 1YX Auckland 880 880 1ZM Auckland 1250 1250 2ZM Gisborne 1180 1180 New StationsRotorua -_ 800 Whangarei -_- 970 Timaru = _ 1160 Wanganui -_-_ 1200 Hamilton -__ 1310 Future CallSign 2YZ 2XP 2xKN 3YZ 2XG 4XD 4YC 3YC

Australian stations: Existing Station Frequency NEW SOUTH WALES 2BH Broken Hill -~ 790 2DU Dubbo 660 2GN Goulburn 1390 2NA Newcastle 820 VICTORIA 3BO Bendigo 970 3GI Sale (National) + 830 3HA Hamilton 1010 QUEENSLAND 4AY Ayr 970 4BH 1380 4CA Cairns 1000 4KQ Brisbane 650 Maryborough 1000 4MK Mackay ~ 1390 4QB Pialba (National) 560 4QG Brisbane (National)* 800 4QL Longreach (National) 690 4QR Brisbane (National) 940 4RK Rockhampton (National ) 910 SOUTH AUSTRALIA 5DN Adelaide 960 5RM Renmark 810 WESTERN AUSTRALIA 6WN Perth (National) 790 TASMANIA 7BU Burnie 660 7 Launceston 1000 7ZR Hobart (National) 1160 New Frequency 650