For Prospects and Recruits

Radio Record, Volume I, Issue 13, 14 October 1927, Page 2

For Prospects and Recruits

By

M.I.R.

E.

‘There are many pcople to-day contemplating the purchase of a radio set, and there are also many already in possession of sets who have the problem ahead of them of getting the most for their mongy, Getting the most out of radio represents for them the most economical method of turning the energy sent out by the various broadcasting stations into benefit to themselves. It shonla zot be overlooked, however, that : prempt payment of their license fees, aud constructive criticisms and suggestiéns forwarded to the Broadcasting Company will materially aid in improv-; iiig the quality of the material available "in the air." "Yt is the ‘object of these erticles to. essist the potential and actual qwners: of sets to make a wise choice when | purchasing, and when having purchased, to get the maximum amount of use and: entettainment out of their apparatus: with 2 minimum of expense. If these. jseussions will inspire the mecessary : enthusiasm and confidence into others: to join: the radio audience of the world, niow estimated at 80,000,000 of people, ; then the writer wili be well satisfied. "It is necessary to point out that these etticies will all be of a non-technical | tiature, and as popular as it is possible to make them, but a certain amount of | technical jargon will be bound to creep. in, but only where the meaning of such expressions will be transparently plain. Since the opening of the Wellington stafion, 2YA, there has been a very satisfactory number of receiving licenses taken ont. It is interesting to speculate as to the numbers of different tvpes of receivers represented by these figures, and then to divide the number of licenses into groups headed by these. different types. Naturally the good old homely crystal would head the list by a long way, but there would be a surprising showing of multi-valve receivers as well. ‘Those who are in a position to judge tell us that there are undoubtedly more different types of receivers and more multi-valve receivers in New Zealand to-day per head of listening population than in any ‘other place in the world. The reasons are not hard to find. New

Zealand is yery nearly the last place of consequence in the civilised world to} go in for a really live broadcasting ser-. vice, _ Broadcasting has been in operation in the United States and Canada since 1921, and the British Broadcasting Company has been in operation in Great | Britain since the end of 1922. France had a station in operation in Paris early in 1922, and other Continental countries of consequence were all on the air with groups of stations by 1924. As a conse-. quence, large matiniacturing and dis--tributing organisations have been in evidence in the older countries of the world for a sufficient number of years to have built up big businesses. When broadcasting commenced in Australia in 1924, and in South Africa J end Sonth America in 1925, maunfac- | turers: in the Northern Hemisphere quickly discovered these countries and found in them a very tandy market in which te not only market their good lines, but also their season's left-overs. Summer is invariably an off-season in thase countries where the days are long nnd the evenings short. As winter comtnences in the Southern Hemisphere in just nice time to consume surplus stock, the Southern Hemisphere has found itself during the last year or two just six months hehind the fashions of (surope and North America. That this has advantages as well as disadvantages is a fact which will be dealt with at a later stage. The point it is desired to bring out at this juncture is that the reason there are so many different types of sets on the New Zealand market is because large numbers of overseas manufacturers have now | got representation here. To the layman it is somewhat bewildering to consider the vast assortment of sets of sizes and shapes he is invited to direct his attention to when he gets interested in radio and commences a

tour of the radio shops or looks over, the advertisements appearing in the @aily and weekly Press. Each one is the best because of every reason. under the sun, if notice is taken of sales arguments. Of course it is the same with a piano, a gramophone, a motor-car, a house, and even a shirt and a pair of fants have their good points. However, the average citizen can pick defects in all these articles of human necessity because all these have been in vogue long enough for John Citizen to have become familiar with the defects to be watched out for, as_ well as the good points to be appreciated. A radio set is in the same category as a horse or a second-hand motarcar to the average man, at present, however, because he is, happily or unhappily (whichever vou will) ignorant of even the salient points concerning them, It was stated above that New Zealand showed a greater proportion of multi-valve sets per head cf listeners than any other country. Tor this we have to thank the presence of our big. brother across the Tasman, with a group of relatively high-power trams-. mitters, which were in operation long before anv broadcast programmes worth: listening to were being transmitted in New Zealand. New Zealand listeners learned to run _ before they attempted to crawl, and went in. for four and five-vaive sets right off. in order to get ‘‘Aussie’? programmies. The habit thus begun has become somewhat fixed, and today the first Nuestion Mr. Buyer asks is, ‘Will it get Australia?’ and if the answer is in the affirmative, he next asks the price, Once upon a time, and not s0 very long ago, either, the Aussie who visited New Zealand discovered | a sort of chilliness which vas the de-. spair of the broader-minded folk of

7 our country. A Sydney-sider was chaff. ed ahont his ‘arbour,’ and a Melbourneite about his ‘‘Yarra." To-day the visiting Aussie is surprised to find. that the "’arbour" tepic is forgotten, end he is invited to discourse on Un- | vle George, of 2BL,, the ‘"AmbassaJors," from whence comes beautiful dance music, and so on. One tonch } of radio, and the whole world is} kin! Owing to these circumstances it 1s wlmost possible to grade the styles of receivers in use in New Zealand today into these which will receive Australian stations and those that won't | This requires qualification, however, because signal strengths are different im summer and winter, being more favourable in the latter months. An-4 other severe qualification is the geographical position in which receiving is carried out. Those unfortunates who live right in Wellneton, for instance, which is a bad distance receiv’:z area, require a set to get Anstralia{ teliably which world achieve very muci better results instalied even across the harbour at Day’s Bay. However, under average conditions five valves, at least, are required to get good reception all the year round. With a five-valve receiver the Aus- tralian stations can be tuned in quite readily after darkness has set in over the Tasman Sea. With a {four-valve receiver very caréful adjustment of the receiver will be necessary to get much in the way of a progrimme on ‘‘off" nights, and during the summer. Recourse will probably have to be made to head telephones and the loudspeaker discarded. Where it is a case of strict economy in purchasing, a fourvalve set of good design, using ‘‘accumulator’ type valves, will give satisfaction, but the extra valve makes | try e big difference

A three-valve set will give louds speaker signals ouly in very good receiving areas, but will give reliable head. telephone ‘results in most places. Less than three valves is definitely only useful. for head telephones, and anybody who can put an australian station on the speaker with such a set is either in an extremely sensitive receiving; spot or is merely getting "signals," and not a "programme.?’ (There is quite a distinction between these two terms.) Such an individuat is almost certainly a nuisance to his neighbours as well as his set must ‘be made to howl every time a fresh station is tuned in. Now, regarding reception of New Zealand stations. Any standard of reception can only be laid down by bas‘ing it on 2YA, Wellington, which is rated at ten times the power of the other three stations. . The five-valve receiver recommended as a minimum. necessary to get good reception from Australia will bring in 2YA good loudspeaker strength anywhere from North Cape to the Bluff, with the exception of North Taranaki, where, for technical reasons, 2YA does not give reliable signals, and Auckland and Christchurch have to be relied on. The two latter stations, of course, come in well on this type of set: The four-valve set will practically repeat the performance of the five, but, naturally peaple in Southland should not expect Auckland to be always ‘‘on tap," like a gramophone. The three-valve set should he treated purely as a ‘‘local’ receiver for speaker results, to be opened out on the silent night of the local station in question--but "opening out’? does not mean that it is to he done to the annoyance of the neighhours by making the set ‘thowl.’’ In congested areas silent nights are nightmares enough now, without every listener with a modest set attempting distant reception to the detriment of everyone else The next article of this series will deal with the practical side of purchasing and operating certain stendard styles of receivers,