TO SEE BY RADIO

Radio Record, Volume I, Issue 26, 13 January 1928, Page 4

TO SEE BY RADIO

IMPORTANT PLANS OUT- LINED

POSITION IN BRITAIN. There were one or two really interesting displays at the recent Iixhibition of Scientific Apparatus at the Leeds Town Hall, while the activities of Mr, J. L. Baird in demonstrating his television | and noctovision apparatus created great interest in all quarters. One point which has aroused the hopes of many people in Great Britain, and especially those who arg really interested in television from pe point of view of science and not as 4. novelty, is that Mr. Baird is shortly expecting to be granted by the Post Office pow> ers equal to those at present enjoyed by the british Broadcasting Corporation. When this glad state of affairs comes about the Baird Television Development Company will increase the power of their present station in London. and erect television broadcasting stations in other towns throughout the country. According to Mr. Baird in the first instance television receivers will be mar kketed as scientific novelties and will be built on similar lines to the wireless reeeivers in the very early days of broadcasting. There will no doubt be some imperfections in these early models, but novelty, as ever, will outweigh these small disadvantages and many members of both trade and public will invest in a televisor. Later, when the science develops, the public will desire pure entertainment and quality-or should one say texture?-of reproduction and, being further developed, television will be able to give views of theatrical showss horse races, "big fights," and similar public events. Finally, after the meeting of the British Association had been brought to an end it was decided to form a television society for the furtherance of the new science. The Photo-Electric Cell. It is the photo-electric cell which has accomplished a miracle in rendering tadio-vision possible. Even the latest of text books give no definition of this invention, which shortly will become famous through its relation to television, "The photo-electric cell is a vacuum tube which is extremely sensitive to any changes of intensity of light falling ‘upon it, due to the fact that its internal resistance varies with the intensity of the light reaching it. Thé property of the cell has beett utilised in many ways, such as in trans« mitting photographs, making talking motion pictures, improvement in the manufacture of gramophone records, and in accurately matching colours. Except for a small area, the inside of the bulb glistens with metallic potassium. Depending on the amount of light striking it, this metal permits -& varying amount of current to pass | through the cell.