Sunday, April 15

Radio Record, Volume I, Issue 37, 6 April 1928, Page 11

Sunday, April 15

1X¥A AUCKLAND (333 METRES)-SUNDAY, APRIL 18, p.m.: Afternoon session-Selected gramophone items, Literary selection, by the Announcer, : Further selected gramophone items. : Close down. Children’s song service, conducted by Uncle Leo, assisted by cousins frons Ponsonby Baptist Sunday School. : Close down. : Relay of special Toc H. service and dedication of lamp, from St. Mate thew’s Church. Preacher, Archbishop Averill; organist, Mr. W, Phillpott. 8.30: Relay of Municipal Band recital from the Town Hall, under the cone ductorship of Mr, Christopher Smith. 9.30: Close down 2YA WELLINGTON (420 METRES)-SUNDAY, APRIL 15, 6 p.m.: Children’s service, conducted by Uncle Ernest. 7.0; Relay of evening service from the Vivian Street Baptist Church, Preacher, Rev. F, E. Harry; choirmaster, Mr. A. R. Don; organist, Mr. Chas. Collins. 8.30 (approx.): Relay of Port Nicholson Band concert, Close down. 3YA CHRISTCHURCH (306 METRES)-SUNDAY, APRIL ip. 5.30 p.n,: Children’s song’ service, conducted by Uncle Sam, assisted by members of Oxford Terrace Baptist Sunday School, under the leader ship of Mr, Wilfred Drayton. §,30: Relay of evening service from Oxford Terrace Baptist Church. Preacher, Rev. J. Robertson, B.A.; organist, Mr. Melville Lawry; choirmaster, Mr. Vic, Peters. 8.0: After the church service the following concert will be broadcast from the studio, . Baritone solo-Mr. A, G. Thompson, "O Pure and Tender Star of Eve" from "Tannhauser" (Wagner), 8.4: Soprano sole-Miss Mary Shaw, "Lord, We Pray Thee" (Mozart). (Continued on page 14,) Ac ALL-SKY wm Dp OoOWre © os OCe wnuL

Programmes Continued ee (Continued from page 11.) 88: . Tenor solo-Mr. T. G, Rogers, "Be Thou Faithful Unto Death" (Mendelssohn). 6.12: Violin solo--Mr. Laurian Beck, "Romance, No, 1" (McFarren). §16: Contralto solo-Miss Nellie Lowe, "Our Blest Redeemer" (Newton), $20: Vocal quartet-Dulcet Quartet, "God is a Spirit" (Bennett). §.24: Instrumental trio-Mr. Laurian Beck, Miss Nellie Elwood, and Mill Aileen Warren, "Allegro and Moderato from Trio, Op. 181" (Gurlitt). . 8.32: Baritone solo-Mr. A. G. Thompson, "Crossing the Bar" (Willeby). 8.36: Soprano glo iss Mary Shaw, "None but the Weary Heart" (Tschai- , owsky). 8.40: Cello solo-Miss Nellie Elwood, "Bouree" (Handel). 8.45; Contralto and baritone duet-Miss N. Lowe and Mr. A. G. Thompson, "Glory to Thee, My God, This Night" (Gounod). 8.49: Tenor solo-Mr. T. G. Rogers, "The Light Divme" (Bonheur). . 8.53: Instrumental trios-Mr. Laurian Beck, Miss N. Elwood, and Miss A. Warren, (a) "Traumerai" (Schumann); (b) "Laguna Lullaby" (Hope); (c) "Waltz" (Taylor).: 9.2: Contralto solo-Miss Nellie Lowe, "God’s Slumberland" (Gray). 9.6: Vocal quartet-Dulcet Quartet, "How Lovely Are Thy Messengers" (Mendelssohn). God Save the King. 4XA DUNEDIN (463 METRES)-SUNDAY, APRIL 15, 3.30 p.m.; Children’s song service, conducted by Big Brother Bill. 6.30: Sacred service and concert by the International Bible "Students’ Association, 8.0: Relay from His Majesty’s Theatre of concert by the Kaikorai Band, un- : der the conductorship of Mr. E. Franklin. 9,15 Close down.

An official in the telegraph office at Haarlem (a town in Holland), who is also an amateur experimenter, has been granted a license to erect a private station for the purpose of making experiments with colour television. _ Public telephone and telegraph service is now available from the Japanese airplane "‘Naniwagy,’? whose call letters are her name, and whose transmitter operates on the standard 600 and 900 metres. This is the first such service in Japan, if not in the world, The plane is owtied by the Nippon Koku Kabushiki Kwaisha, or Japanese Aviation Co., Ltd. The long winter evenings are now approaching, with an abundance of entertainment for New Zealand listeners. Those who have not good four and fivevalve sets are going to miss a lot of long-distance loudspeaker reception. Now is the time to consider whether the old crystal or one-valve set is good enough. A letter received in New York, from a ‘radio set owner in London reports that ‘freak’? atmospheric conditions on January 16 enabled many radio fans throughout England to hear American broadcasters without relay by short waves. The American stations mentioned were WEAF, New York; KGO, Oak- land, Cal.; and WGY, Schenectadv. A representative of WEAT and WT1Z said reports of reception hy distant listeners had been consistently received, one of the latest having cotne from Paris, A WNYC representative said listeners in St. Paul, Denver, and various parts of Towa had recently reported receiving the municipal station’s wave. Not only in New Ze:land is it difficult to keep a wireless club or society alive. A wireless association in Canada, after doing much pioneer work, has died a atural death. At one time there were &s manv as 500 people who regularly attended the Jectures on principles, svstems, developments, etc., but these have been discontinued, because it came to the point when Iccturers had an audience of three or four persons. When rectifier tubes of some larger tvpes are used in power-tnit circuits. it may be noticed that they heat un excessively. It is a good plan, in such a case to place a piece of asbestos hetween the tubes and the other apparatus in the power unit to prevent damage. The importance of ventilating apparatus which is generating such a quantity of heat is apparent. Complaints of an "increasing ten@ency’’ of radio hroadcasters, notably those affiliated with chain hook-ups, to include ‘direct advertising" in their programmes was the subject of lively discussion at Washington recently hefore the House Merchant Marine Com- , mittee. "Tt is my helief,?? said Mr. Caldwell, Government Radio Commissioner, "that nearlv every procramme that goes on the air has a backeround for some form of publicitv. It would he hard to draw a line between those stations which advertise directly or indirectlv and those that profess to furnish programmes of a cultured value." Mr — Caldwell] said he thought it would he tnwise to attemnt to censor bv law | Programmes, he asserted, that were inanv wav obiectionable to the listener would in time he withdrawn bv the force of an adverse public opinion. A news service, supplied by the Am sterdam Press, is being broadcast as a weekly bulletin every Monday from PCLL, the Dutch station at Kootwijk, Holland. This news service, which is to be ‘broadcast in four languages between the hours of 830 a.m. and 4.30 a.m. New Zealand time, may be published in any newspaper throughout the world. Vhe longest regular radiophonic service which has yet been established is reported in effect since December 2 between Mukuen and Berlin, according to tie news bulletin of the U.S.A. Department of Commerce. It does not appear whether this is a single span by radio, or whether there are links ‘of lend lines. Inquiries are now being made by officials of the Sydney fire brigades as to how radio can best be used in connection with fire fighting. At present when a fire engine reaches a fire, a message can only be sent to headquarters by telephone, telegraph, or personally, and sometimes none of these means is available. ‘he proposal is to follow the example of the Melbourne Fire Brigade and to equip some of the fire engines with portable transmit.ers, so that conyersation can be carried on between headquarters eud the scene of the conflagration. After soldering a wire to a condenser or other heayy piece of apparatus, it is a good plan to give it a strong pull with a pair of pliers to be sure that it is really soldered and not merely held in place by the strength of the resin fiux. Some experimenters have reported nnexpected burn-outs of the new screen- grid valves, caused evidently by contact between the grid elements and others. Before putting a new valve of this type into service, it is a good idea to test all the contact pins in relation to eacu other with a six-volt battery. The fitament should light only when the battery wires are touched to the filament pins. If any other connection flashes the filament or if there is a cirenit between the screen grid and the rontrol grid or the plate, the valve is plefective..

Some valves and reccivers we par ticulariy susceptible to Vibration, and even the vibration of the air caused by the proximity of the loudspeaker may cause a loud constant howl to be built’ up which will onl» stop when the loudspeaker is turned around or moved’ further away from the receiver. Such action is called "microphonic." and the trouble is usually found to lie in: the detector valve. The use of another valve for the detector may eliminate this trouble, or there are metal and’ rubber caps now on the market which are helpful when placed on the detector valve. Microphonic trouble is some-., times cansed by turning the detector rheostat too Jow, and will disappear when tuned up to normal — Cushion sockets are helpful, and their action ‘ may sometimes be improved by nov in-’ gerting the valve all the way, but instead just far enough to make good contact, A dj-volt "C" battery cannot be expected to last more than a year at the very utmost. Although there is no drain on the "C" batforv it peters out in a few months, even if Iving oy the shelf in a shop. Many sct owners whose two or threevalve sets were des’gned to give very’: fine results on the reception of local stations have been disappointed when these reccivers w-re not — selective enough to reject the powerful local transmissions in favour of inter-State stations, The easiest way out of the difficuity has been the addition of a wave trap, but as a general rule these traps have not been designed properly, with the result that whilst the selectivitv of the receiver to which thev were fitted has gone up considerably, its ser sitivity has dropped to a point at which distant reception is almost an impossihilitv. A very fine wave trap was described in the "Radio Re-.rd’’ of March 380. ., Keep your dry batteries standing up right to get the longest possible life from them.

A striking proof of the need for invention of some means of making wireless conversations more private than they are nuw was afforded recently. A wireless telephone conversation which was being conducted across the Atlantic between Great Britain and America was heard practically in its entirety by listeners in New Zealand aud Australia. Although short-wave development has opened the way for the establishment of regular telephone conversations across the world, it has served also to make everything that passes over a service undesirably public. Unless this pusition is overcome the value of connneicial wireless telephone = services is Lkely to be impasred soumewhat Mr. N. S. Gilmour, a Sydney radio expert, who has just returned to Sydney from a trip to New Zealand, states that radio has made excellent progress in that country. Radio traders are eagerly looking forward to the season now opening as a record breaker. Mr. Gilmour stated he met Mr McNamara, secretary, New Zealand Posts and ‘elegraphs, who impressed Mr. Gilmour as an enthusiastic radio adininistrator, and Mr. Gilmour considers that New Zealand will sgon be in the forefront in the number of radio receivers on a comparative basis of population to other countries. Mr, Gilmour found that Australian stations were very popular with New Zealand listeners. Communications between the loudspeaker and a pair of head-phones can be effected with the use of an ‘‘A’’ battery. Connect a pair of leads to the phones, and take the other end of the leads te wherever the loudspeaker is to be used, and conucct the ends to ‘he speaker terminals. When the loudspeaker is spoken into, its diaphragm will be vibsated, generating a minute voltage of frequency corresponding to the original speech. ‘This voltage will travel along the line, and flow through the windings of the phones, actuating the diaphragm and reproducing the original speech. It may be necessary to use a pair of headphones at both ends. as, in speaking into the phones at one end, the voltage at the speaker end might not be great enough to give sufficient volume to work the speaker. Latest statistics indicated that approximately half the sets in use in Victoria are crystal sets. Although comparatively little imnravemenrt has been made in the form of crystal detectors since they were first devised, most crystal users have failed to take advantage of even the few improvements which have been made, and the average erystal detector is the same now as it was before the war. Apart from the strictly limited volume of sound it will produce, the chief disadvantage of the crystal detector in its original form is ‘ts delicacy. Adjustments must be carefully made, and any slight bump or shock is generally sufficient to throw the detector out of adjustment. This advantage can be overcome by using a "permanent" or semi-permanent" crystal detector. Station 2FC, Sydney, is besieged with distracted seekers after lost property, but surely the strangest request of all was contained in a portentous blue envélope which came to hand last week, duly visaed by the pefice, wherein a resident of North Parramatta anxiously sought to trace "an aged grey mare" attached to spring van with red wheels and black lines! So many listeners are swayed by the individual outlook. The loss of this mare was to her owner a matter of such supreme importance he actually considered taking three minutes of the valuable time of a service devoted to the education and amusemeut of the people, while he solicited information regarding her possible whereabouts. At a sitting of a United S.ates legislative committee recently Mr. Caldwell, Government Radio Commissioner, said that only 80 per cent. of the broadcas.crs were identified with corporations that manufacture receiving sets and accessories, Mr. Caldwell asserted that American listeners were investing 500,000,000 dollars (£100,000,000) a year in receiving sets, and that the total public investinent in equipment was about twenty times the total capital represented by broadcasting plants. A "cheap’’ loudspeaker will spoil the tone of the best music. Why do folk pay scores of pounds for an expensive gramophone? Merely to obtain better tone than the lower-priced article, Invest in a good loudspeaker, and enjoy the difference in tone from your radio set, When adding water to your wet batteries always do this before charging them, not afterwards. Wet ‘B" batteries when fully charged and when charging shonid show one-fifth higher voltage than they are rated. The voltage will drop twenty per cent. svon after they are taken off the charger. A Melbourne writer says: "The remarkable popularity of the Browning- Drake receiver is undoubtedly due to the fact that never before has a set been designed so simple and yet so efficient as that evolyed by Messrs. G. H. Browning and Ff, H. Drake, of Harvard University, U.S.A, As the result of the labours and careful mathematical calculations of these engineers, a receiver that almost anyone may build with hopes of great success, beitg scientifically correct, has been made available. Many manufacturers have taken the opportunity of egentcrergs coil-kits, and as a result the market is to-day replete with many a Beowninie Drake kit that would grace even the highest-priced geccivers,"2

| ‘he superheterodyne and other sets ° with a good-array of radio frequency valves, haye the advantage of being able to operate on a loop aerial: which makes it possible to locate the set in any part | of the home, and it may be moved withont rearranging a outside aerial. The loop is also a factor in. the selectivity — of the ¢et. Where one is located, a very short distance from a broadcasting station, the loop can be turned away from the station, giving the operator an opportunity to get stations closer to the wavelength of the nearby station than would otherwise be possible. At the present low cost of small radio sets, it is very logical that almost every home shonld have two receivers, one for the family in a suitable console, and connected permanently, and ene for the radio fan who likes to listen until the ‘wee smal} hours,’ and enjoys experimenting with new hookups, accessories, etc. It seems as though a person, knowing something about radio sets, cam never leave a receiver alone for very -long at a time. Even when programmes are being listened to, he is constantly retuning, trying to get some other station, and in many different ways making himself a nuisance. This is, of course, a natural manifestation of the desire continually to find something better, and is resnonsible for some of our greatest inventions. It is to be commended highly, but not at the expense of the enjoyment of the whole family. The Auckland Harbour Board is installing a wiretess sending and receiving set in the pilot launch, Waitemata. This wil! enable the launch to keep in touch with the signal tewer on the King’s Wharf, and with Tiri when she is ont in fhe gulf at night. A United States Associated Press telegram from Fresno, dated February 28, reported:-‘William Eitel, 18, of Knowles, is completing a radio sending set to be placed on the plane which James Angel expects to fly to Mexico City and South America, according to plans announced here by the Beacon Airways, Inc, The special feature of the set is that it does not need an operator. According to the inventor, the pilot files messages on an aluminium" drum, which is so constructed that the turning of it by the propeller will send the message. ‘he machine has a characteristic call by which it can always be located. The only difficulty, Eitel said, is securing a generator which can be used in connection with the machine." ' Angel was to start about March 1. Keep your "earth’’? wire as short as possible, and use as thick a wire as you like, but not finer than 14 gauge. If you employ a buried "earth," always keep the ground around it thoroughly danip. Those who indulge in building their own receiving sets should have two or three screw drivers of varying sizes. In selecting a screwdriver chocse one which is long and thin, with a sharp end for light work and a stouter type for heavier driving. For baseboard mounting, an assortinent of screws ranging from hin. to lin. in length, and of various diameters, should be obtained. Such assoriments of screws are obtainable in packets. If a bakelite sub-panel is being used in place of the baseboard, nuts and bolts will be required, and here much annoyance can be avoided by having a gocd assortinent of varying diameter and length. . Owners of crystal sets who -are troubled with tle constant need for detector adjustment will find the permanant carborundum detector a solution of their difficulties. ‘ue other form of ‘fixed’? detector is less fixed in its operating characters than the carborundum cartridge. It consists’ of a crys tal broken roughly into the form of a small roller. This roller is mounted in a bearing in such a manner that it cat readily be rotated by a_ thumbserew, and a light, springy wire, tn form a cat’s whisker, plays on its surface as it turns. The detector holds its adjustment better than the ordinary erystal detector, and when the adjustment is lost it is necessary only to give the adjusting thumbscrew a slight turn to reset the cat’s whisker on toa sensitive spot. ‘lhese detectors, like the carborundum detectors, are not nearly so widely used as they should be. ‘They can be easily made bh: the exercise of a little patience in chipping down a crystal to a roughiv cylindrical form, and they will be fonnd much more convenient than the ordinary crystal detector, especially in sets employing a combination of a crystel and one or more valyes. In jts infancy wireless was first nsed for communication by Morse with shipping. Practically every ship of every nation of a tonnage over 1600 tons, now is obliged to carry wireless, and to listen for the SOS call, so as to be in a position to render assistance if required. Wireless for deience purposes followed quickly on the commercial application to ships; and ir. the last Great Wat wireless signalling and direction finding were vety important factors in naval warfare, They were on land and in the air too, for that matter; and many interesting stories are told of the in dispensability of wireless communica: tion. In peace as in war wireless is a big factor in defence organisation, navy, military, and aviation,