HOW TO START

Radio Record, Volume I, Issue 2, 29 July 1927, Page 12

HOW TO START

CARE IN INSTALLATION THIS LISKENER’S DUTY TO HIS NUIGHBOUR. Some useful advice for the amateur is given im this article. His own pleasure and that of his neighbour depends upon his knowledge and skill. | All who are coucerned iu any way with wireless broadcasting--engineers, writers, constants, aud listeners---are asked almost daily by somebody for advice in the choice of a wireless receiving sect. And most of those so questioued will agree that very few people lave formed, before putting the question, even the vaguest idea of the sort of set they want, what they are willing to pay for it, or what service they expect to receive from it, Among those who do not listen, or listen only occasionally, to the broadcast programmes there is still extreme ignorance of even the most elementary facts relating to the process of broadcasting. For the listeuer the receiving end is the business eud iu broadcasting; and thus, while it is not essential to know anything about what happens in the studio to make the reception of broadcast sound possible, it is certainly very desirable to have some knowledge of what a wireless receiving set is, what it can and cannot do, and how to make it function before buying it. No two people appear to want exactly the same sort of set, and the ultra-enthusiastic appear never to be satisfied with what they have got. And yet from an examination of the market it would seem that every possible taste can be satisfied cud want supplied. The other day thére was published a schedule of wireless seis on sale. It filled 17 closely printed quarto pages. Over and above the sets therein deseribed new circuits are discussed with elaborate detail and many diagrams appear in the technical wireless papers every week. There seems to be no limit to the range of variety in design. But it is not for this reason that there. is confusion in the mind of the poten-. tial buyer; that confusion, one would suggest, exists because he does not really know what he is seeking, Investigate the Market. Before buying a wireless set one should hear as many different types as possible, aud it is more satisfactory to ear them in private than in a shop, and best to ‘hear those that are owned and operated by people having a musical sense as well as technical knowledge in wireless matters. A very great deal of the criticism levelled against the quality of broadcast music should be directed, instead, against listeners who liave poor musical taste and are satisfied with bad reproduction arising from careless manipulation of the set. ‘They are responsible for many an empty pair of ear-phones, Yerfect reception depends mainly upon the skill ‘of the

listener-in and ‘his manipulation of his equipment. Having chosen a set to meet his requirements, the listener will find that he caunot spend too much care in the process of its installation, and that he must be ready to exercise considerable patience in adjustment: and tgning. Most of the vendors will help in installation. ‘To study the needs of his equipment, and to act upon instructions are duties that he owes to him. self and his neighbours. Always Buying More. There are few things less stable than the requirements ot the listener. His first set is rarely long retained, It is supplanted by something more elaborate, Some like complications and are attracted by a multiplicity of knobs; others are all for the extreme of simplicity. In the writer’s experience three sets were installed in a single week recently in different honses in: the seme street. In no case did the question of expense arise. In the first case the set is a simple crystal one with a valveless amplifier working a loud-speaker. In the second the set is of the valve type, having no exterior connections and being fitted with a single knob tun ing control, In the third the set is equipped with the best available aerial and earth systems, and is a flexible four-valve instrument. Hach of these sets is particularly. suited to the special meeds of its owner and gives complete satisfaction. In. cther cases ,it is the appearance of :the set that matters most; and in some it appears that even anything will: do if it reproduces dance music sufficiently well for it to be danced to. . Over and above the general ee eee ee

TRUM ee ee EE He of design, performance, and cost there are those of the varying merits of valves, accumulators, batterics, and other ‘components These are the concern of the enthusiast of long experience. The task of the beginner is to get the best that he can out of the set that le has, to study its moods and vagaries, to treat it with the care that a piece of delicate mechanism deserves; and to remember, aboye all things, that the greatest disservice he can render broadcasting is to be satisfied with bad reproduction.

NOTICE TO READERS, Correspondence and matter intended for publication should reach the Editor not Jater than Saturday for the next week’s paper. We go to press Monday night, -THE EDITOR, P.O. Box 1032, Wellington.