Stations Available to New Zealand Listeners

Radio Record, Volume I, Issue 18, 18 November 1927, Page 16

Stations Available to New Zealand Listeners

Special Schedule of Local and Overseas Stations and Operating Times

EW ZEALAND as a whole is well served by broadcasting, not only by the Dominion’s own excellent stations, but also by stations beyond ovr island shores.1 ihe very fact that New Zealand is an insular country and mot very remiotely removed from muci larger and more densely populated countries with numerous broadcast stations favours our listeners to the extent. of offering supplementary broadcast services and programmes of sontetimes a higher standard of merit than is possible with New Zealand’s relatively small population and a necessarily restricted amount of talent to choose from, However, there is a spirit of camaraderie engendered by broadcasting, which, by the way, augurs well for its influeuce as a factor towards interational peace and friendship, and the proprietors of broadcast stations in all parts of the world are most anxious to know when their transmissions afford pleasure to listeners in foreign or oversea lands. Our brothers in Australia, particularly, value New Zealand listenets as an important section of their vast audiences. ‘Ihe Broadcast Com--pany of New Zealand also reciprocates the friendly and appreciative attitude of the Australians, and the many letters which are received from Commonwealth listeners who pick up the New oan stations are cordially welcome ‘ Many New Zealand listeners who are resident in a highly favourable locality and lave first-class equipment regujarly pick up a dozen or more broadcast stations located across the seas, and there are several who have "‘logged" fifty and even more stations outside New Zealand. "D.X." (long-dis-tance) reception offers a particularly fascinating field for exploration ¢nd enjoyment quite distinct from ordinary reception of the stations witltin the confines of New Zealand. The wipercritical may cavil at the musical quality of long-distance reception which is more or less affected by static, fading, and concomitant periods of distortion, due to natural phenomena over which human ingenuity has as yet contrived no means of control. Yet there are many occasions when stations even thousands of miles distant can be received with such defects scarcely intrusive enough to spoil the real pleasure of the average listener, And there is a large hodv of listeners ho are

sufficiently intrigued by long-distance reception to make full allowances tor the brief periods of fading and distortion and a certain amount of static, This well-fixed desire for long-dis-tatice reception is exemplified by the general demand by prospective buyers for high-class receiving sets that will "reach-out" beyond New Zealand. There are inevitably many disappointments in this respect. High-class, effi-ciently-designed receiving sets are merely a factor towards successful oversea reception, and the other factors have proved to be equally important. A favourable locality for tlie installation of the receiving set makes all the dif-

ference betweets success and failure. There are certain localities which favour reception from one or two points of the compass, others which are unfavourable only when reception is from one particular direction. ‘The reason for these vagaries are sometimes obscure and, on the other hand, are frequently quite obvious. Sometimes the aerial’ is at fault, being strongly directional, and at other, times there are screening effects due to the proximity of hills, trees, or miueral deposits: between the transmitting station and the receiving set. Radio engineers now lay it down that aerials which are over 85 feet in height above all objects (bushes, fences,

houses, etc.) are not directional; that is to say they receive from all points of the compass with equal strength Au aerial lower than 35 feet in height is apt to receive with greater strength ali stations in the direction of the lead-in end of the aerial, providing it is of the most approved broadcast receiving type, namely-a single wire inverted I). The earthing system is of equal importance with that of the aerial. The thicker and shorter the earth wire is the better it is. The "earth" itself should by preference be a water-pipe, and it is best to solder the earth wire to it, although a patent clamp if efficiently fitted will serve admirably also. Onut-

of-town residents ‘who haye no waterpipes will find kerosene tins filled with . wet cheicral and buried three feet below the surface a capital "earth" to which the earth wire can be soldered. If a listener has a high-class receiving set and a poor aerial and earth installation he can only blame himself if he is not receiving the long-distance stations that the quality of his set warrants. Unavoidable difficulties, such as an unfavourable locality, must be endured, but the listener should first put his house in order by having the whole of his equipment thoroughly efficient. The long-distance station seeker has a wide scope, but he fhust also acquire some skill in detecting and bringing reception up to its maximum [If is a home truth that some listeners possess distinct natural ability for finding the distant stations, others acquire it, and there are some who are destitute of sufficient patience to overcome the little ‘difficulties that beset "DX" work. In submitting a list of long-distance stations most frequently heard in New Zealand, one is confronted with the task of eliminating those which in some isolated localities are heard more often than in others. A number of the most successful listeners in various parts of the Dominion have been consulted, and their reports have been compared. ‘The suggestion has heen made by various. correspondents that some of the minor New Zealand broadcast stations should be sandwiched in the list, and this has heen followed. The various wayelengths are mainly those given in the official lists, but it is known that there have been slight yariations to avoid heterodyning with other stations. The list compiled is the first of its kind published specially for New Zeland listeners, and if there are errors due to alterations in broadcasting schedules and wave-lenaths, the kind indulgence of our readers is solicited; anv suegested revisions will be welcomed by the editor of "The Radio Record." While the Australian schedules .are shown to commence at 10.30 p.m., it is not intended to convey that the Australian schedules are meant only for the evening programmes. ‘lie Australian stations, of course, transmit day-time and early evening programmes, and it was not deemed necessary to remind listeners of this circumstance. ‘The times given are New Zealand ‘‘davlieht saving.’ The stations, for convenience in tuning, are listed according to their resnective wave-lengths.

Call. KEX KFON 3BY 5SKA 3DB 2UW 1ZB 22F 2KY 2UE 4ZF CNRV WOAT 26GB 5DN SUZ KNX KJIR 2B, IBY JOCK KFWB 3L0 ICA JOAK KGO JOBK WBBM 40G 5CL KZRM KPO 2FC KFTI 3AR 7ZL Place. Portland, Ore., U.S.A. 2... cree eens Longbeach, Cal., U.S.A... Melbourne, Australia ., erever ees ee Adelaide, Australia Melbourne, Australia Sydney, Australia Auckland, N.Z. ..... errrrrrr rrr Palmerston N., N.Z. Sydney, Australia ee cccceccveacce Sydney, Austvalia ..... wereneeetweere @esreeeeeeonreve eeeeseeeoeeeaeeee ereerrereeeeve even eeeeoree Dunedin, N.Z. Vancouver, Canada Texas, San Antonio, U.S. ..... Sydney, Australia Adelaide, Australia .......+.. Melbourne, Australia .,..cssecaes Hollywood, Cal., U.S.A, Seattle, Wash., U.S.A. Sydney, Australia Bombay, India Nagoya, Japan ee ceccvenseccccce Los Angeles, Cal., U.S.A. Melbourne, Australia Caleutta, India Takio, Japan Oakland, Cal., eereerresenvnnne eeorseeeeeerseeeetes eeeeeeeeeeseseeeosere U.S.A, eneeewrenenseeoe Osaka, Japan coe c eee necceeesene Chicago, TH., U.S.A. wcccccccvcces Brisbane, Australia coescccccsvene Adelaide, Australia .....eccerevecs Manila, Philippines ..... San Francisco, U.S.A. Sydney, Australia f.0s Angeles, Cal., U.S-A. Melbourne, Australia Hobart, Australia errerevere eeerereoreeee eereeeneee Wave, 210 242 385 389 385 391 406 422 442 468 484 535 Power. 2500 500 50 600 500 500 250 50 1500 250 59 500 5000 3000 500 100 1000 2500 5000 3000 1500 500 5000 3000 1500 5000 1000 5000 5000 5000 1000 5000 5000 5000 1600 5000 Schedule, Till 8.30 p.m. Till 8.30 p.m. daily. i a.m, till 4.15 a.m., Sun, and Mon. 11 p.m. till 1 a.m., Mon., Wed., Fri. Sat., and Sun. 10.30 p.m. till 1.30 a.m. From 10.30 p.m, Sunday afternoon, Monday nights. From 7.30 p.m., Mon., Wed., Fri., Sat. Sun. From 10.30 p.m. daily, From 11.30 p.m. Tues., and Thurs., and from 10.30 p.m. Sundays. Irregular. Till 7.30 p.m. daily, Till 8 p.m. daily. From 10.30 p.m, daily, excepting From 11 p.m. daily. From 10.30 p.m. Mon. and Wed. Yili 8.30 p.m. daily, but occasionally till 10.30 p.m. Till 8.30 p.m. daily. From 10.30 p.m. daily. From 4 a.m, daily. From 10 p.m. daily. Till 7.30 p.m. From 10.30 p.m. From 3.30 a.m. daily. From 10 p.m. daily. Till 8.30 p.m. Sundays, Thurs., Fri., Sat. From 10 p.m. daily, Till 8.30 p.m. From 16.30 p.m. daily, From 11 p.m. daily. From midnight. Till 8.30 p.m. daily. From 10.30 p.m. daily. Till 8.30 p.m. daily. From 10.30 p.m. From 10.80 pan. daily. ? and 7.50) pam.

LONG-DISTANCE STATIONS MOST FREQUENTLY HE ARD IN NEW ZEALAND, AND MINOR N.Z. STATIONS.