On Short Wave

Radio Record, Volume I, Issue 37, 6 April 1928, Page 13

On Short Wave

motliation. "4 GENERAL RECEPTION "GOOD . MYSTERY STATION SOLVED Mr. F. W. Sellens writes:-There are not any fresh stations to report ‘this ‘week,: but: reception: genérally has been quite good. On Saturday afternoon, March 24, 2XAD was enjoyed at quite. -good speaker’ strength from 2.45 p.m.-when 1 tuned in, till they signed off at 3.3L p.m., or, as thev stated, 2 minutes past 11 o’clock, East-. ern standard time. ‘The wave-length "was said to be 21.96 ‘metres, tliis is not always given exactly the same-but very near, The Palmolive people were again responsible for most of the programme. : | During the evening, RFM was heard through some severe morse interference, 4NW (Queensland) and 2YD_> (Sydney) were testing, the former being very good. KDKA' were relaying musical items until 340 p.m. on Sunday, when they returned to the studio and read the daily programmes for the coming week and replied to two reports of reception from England, After this, ihey went ‘on with their message to the "Far North.’ QXAF, on 314° imetres, were relaying a hotel orchestra and closed..down at 4.82 p.m. Both these American stations were louder than they. have: been for some time Afters 2YA° closed "down, 7CW (Tasmattia) came’ in-‘at good strength and aye) ye rege vt . At_ 5,45 aim., a.strong carrier was heard. on $2.5°metres (probably. 2NM, England), speech-and ajusic was heard, but net..loud enoug lish... a understand what was said, except that it was Eng8LO- was late in starting their weekly test. They appeared to be having trouble, as their carrier was very un‘pteady till 6.9 a.m., when they commenced: After this they were very good, ‘but ‘slight fading was noticed. J understand that" Hinkler spoke, but it was after I closed down at. 7.30 a.m. _ REM was-the only short-wave station heard during the evening. _ . On Tuesday morning at 5.50 a.m. on about 41. metres ‘‘Allo! Allo! R.S.R." Wwas eard. ‘The R’s are doubtful, as ‘A in some foreign tongues sounds like R. This is, I believe, the same station heard and often reported as a mystery station by me, the call not having -been heard before on account of poor molulation,... ,At 6.80 a.m Big Ben was beard,, followed .by.a talk on ‘"Biography gnd .:. History." Pianoforte items then. followed,. and at 6.58 a.m a Freneh talk. was given. PCJJ was at its best on Wednesday morning till they closed down at just after 6.30 a.m. A strong morse station right on top of PCJJ spoilt reception. A lecturette: ‘The Garden in a window box," was heard from 5SW after Big Ben had struck 7 p.m. on ‘Tuesday evening. On Thursdav morning, at 6.15, 5AW (South Australia) on about 32 metres,

( wa® testing. A gramophone récord was received well, and the signing off just after tuning him in. As we are two hours ahead of :Sonth "Australia; 5A W was on the job very early. , 5SW (Chelmsford) ,was testing as usual, ut with less volume. ; REM was on the air in the evening. PCJ} were very good again on -Friday morning, but were again spoilt by Morse. In closing, it was anounced that the next’ transinission would be on Saturday, March 31, at 18 to 17 G.M.7. (Sunday 12.80 a.m. till 4.30 awm., New Zealand mean time). About 5 a.m. on between 18 and 19 metres a station was tuned in, and hearg very strongly. Two ilems, gramophone records, were heard, about helf-way through the next they went off the air, and were not heard again, apparently a breakdown. This was probably PCJ] (iJolland), as it was working on the same. wavelength. , 5SW and @XAD were again testing, reading reports to eacls other, reception | Was very good, every word, spoken by ‘the Englishtuan being heard clearly, and about 40 per ceut. of the Ameriean. J could not pick up 2NAD direct, but heard him throuzh Uie Chelmsford station. At the request of 5S\ the American put on a record which was 1cceived at fair speaker strenzth, with two of audio. tt was arranged that 2XAD test out a new antenna next Thursday, and that 5SW report on its effittency. The modulation of 55W is exccllent, the best, 11 my opition, of any shortwave station heard here, ‘he usual test started at 6.30 a.in., with Big Ben aud ‘Tondon calling." 6AG, Perth, on 329 metres, was picked up at 10.15 p.m. ‘This station used to be heard every evening at one time atter 10.30 p.m., but according to his ‘statement this is altered. He is now testing almost every evening et 11 o’clock, West Australian time (2.30 a.m, New Zealand M.T.), arid sometimes earlier-as this evening. Reception was very good, gramophone records being audible all over the house. He announced several times that ‘Hinkler liad arrived at Cook, on ihe Transline (?) at 5.45 p.m., Central Australian time, after a non-stop flight from Mel bourne, and made a perfect landing." Mr. W. #. Coxon, the operator of OAGAG, is the engineer im charge of. GWE, the West Australian broade-wt station. | 2AD (N.S.W.) was testing on about | 52.5 metres, and was very loud, but modulation not as good as it might be. On Saturday mornine Big Ben was heard through 59W, a talk on music following. "Record" Short-wave Adapter. A. C. Sime (Awatea, Owaka): I have constructed the detector stage of the "Radio Reeord" — short-wave set, and use it in conjunction with the two audio stages of my five-valye neutrodyne. Instead of using plug in coils, as described in the ‘Radio Record," I use only one set, the secondary of three turns, and the tickle: of four. The secondary coil is tuned by a .00025 mfd. condenser, controlled by a 50 to 1 yernier dial, This arrangement gives quite good control over a much longer range of wavelengths than a .0001 condenser would with one set of coils. I must say that this adapter has given me complete satisfaction, as I already have logged a good number of Stations, as well as hearing a number. whose calls J conld not get, owing to weak signals, static, and, in some cases, foreign stations whose calls I neyer heard in Inglish. The best long-distance stations I get are 5SW, England, and PCJJ, Holland. These come in almost equal volume to the short-wave transmissions of 21°C and 38L0, and may be enjoyed at twenty feet from the loudspeaker. On different occasions I have held 5SW at quite enjoyable ’phone strength until 11.30 a.m., New. Zealand time, when Big Ben chimed the hour of midnight and they closed down. Once at 9.30 a.m. J tried 5SW on the detector alone, and the signals were quite distinct on the ’phones. On another occasion I forgot to connect the set to the aerial, with the result that I tuned in KDKA, Pittsburg, quite plainly. No ebonite is used for supporting coils or condensers in this set, the panel and baseboard, etc., being made of thoroughly dry wood, which, I believe, is as efficient as ehonite so long as it is kept perfectly dry.