NOTES AND COMMENTS

Radio Record, Volume I, Issue 48, 15 June 1928, Page 8

NOTES AND COMMENTS

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A RADIO acquaintance told me in peeyed tones the other day that with his brand-new two-valve set he was unable to get 2FC, Sydney, clearly unless he turned back one of his controls. I told him that unless he turned that control: back and stopped his yalve from howling he would tind the xadio inspector tapping at his front door one of these nights. The set my acquaintance operates is 2 notorious howler unless correctly operated. 'T is quite certain that Wellington listeners are anything but unanimous on the subject. of the "silent night" of 2YA, Wellington. Many seores of Wellington listeners who operate multi-valve sets look forward to the Wednesday night. when 2YA is off the air, in order that they. may tune in "outside" stations. ..It is the lot of few residing within a couple: of miles of the Wellington station to be able to tune in 2FC, Sydney, while the local station is hammering the atmosphere. ATURALLY the erystal set owner wants the "silent night" of 2YA eliminated, but the erystal owner in the fullness of time becomes the possessor of a good valve set, and then wants the "silent night.’ The same conditions prevail at Auckland, Christehurch and Dunedin. The Broadcasting Company can't please all the people ali the time. . BY-THE-WAY, the "silent night" in Wellington provides a great op"portunity for the radio inspector and his trouble-finding outfit to locate some of the "howlers." On Wednesday night . Bedlam. is let loose in Wellington, and the shrieks and howls suggest a "late . night" among the departed spirits in Tophet. There are two ‘howlers" in the city area of Wellington who would prove an easy "sitting shot" for the radio inspector and his loop receiving set. They never cease howling for two or three hours. One squats on 2FC, Sydney, and growls persistently by the hour. He runs up and down the scale on top of 2B, Sydney, from two to three hours nightly. ‘THE much-heralded co-ordination of programmes promised by the amalgamation of 2BL, Sydney, and 2FC, Sydney, seems to have missed fire, and one often hears exactly the same type of item being broadcast . simultaneously by from both stations. . Take, for instance, Tuesday .night, June 5. I got a man-and-woman dialogue from 2FC, and, switching over to 2B, found a man and woman jabbering inanities at each other also at that station. There are a host of listeners who cannot tolerate these "magging" acts, and I can imagine the disgust of a crowd of such listeners in Sydney tuning from one local station to the other to escape this senseless cackle, only to find that both stations were hurling out this sort of stuff. TAKE it that true co-ordination does not stop merely at refraining from simultaneously broadcasting the same sports meeting, football or ericket match, or race meeting, ete. I eontend that if two stations are located in one city their programmes should be arranged so that two sets of dialogues are not simultaneously being put on the air. Every plebiscite | that has come under my notice, and I have analysed several which have been taken outside of New Zealand, show that dialogues are decidedly low in the scale of popular favour. ({RANTED that there is a proportion who relish these dialogues and should have an occasional dose of this stuff, it is not good management to give these folk both barrels: simultaneously. Even they would prefer to. have one station fire it at them at a time. | HIS reminds me that from one of the Sydney stations on Tuesday night, June 5, I listened to a gentleman member of Edgar Warwick's party of entertainers, endeavouring to sing "The Sergeant-Major on Parade." He sang it with about as much vim and colour as though it were a hymn. The blustering line "Pick it up, pick it up" was given with as much vigour as Mary calling her little lamb. QO# yes, they have break-downs of their relays even in Australia. We New Zealanders are wont to set up a terrific howl if something goes wrong in a relay. The other night I sat back to listen to a relay of a concert at Lilydale (Victoria), at which Dame Nellie Melba was to sing. The relay was by both 8LO Melbourne, and 2FC Sydney. I preferred to take it from 21%, as he was the louder. TIE singing of the diva came through very nicely until something went wrong with the relay line hetween Melbourne and Lillydale. Well, I got some of Melba’s items, and some of John Lemmone’s flute solos between breaks in the line, but eventually the breaks became so frequent and proJouged that the relay had to be abandoned,

you know Mr. Herbert F. Wood is just about the most popular tenor yoealist in Wellington. I heard nim called back for four encore items on the occasion of a recent Sunday night concert which was relayed by. .2YA. Elis voice comes across with delightful effect on the radio. . A FRIEND of mine, the other night, sent up five beautiful valves in smoke through aceidentally connecting the B battery to the A battery cords. This is a time when one wants to be alone. My friend exhausted his vocabulary, he says, and then started on composite words of doubtful derivation. uATS rather a nice turn put on by "Mr, Medley and Mr. Motley" at 2FC, Syduey, ‘hey have some neat patter, aud not too much of it; besides it is well written stuff, with some topical allusions. ‘They also sing quite well, both singly and together. (CAPTAIN KINGSFORD SMITH, in his flight across the Pacific in the air plane, "Southern Cross," provided plenty of interest for those who listened to 2BL. Sydney. Mr. Ray ‘Allsop, the engineer for 2Biu, received the Morse signals direct from the airplane, and, besides broadcasting the text, 2BL let us hear the actual Morse signals from the airplane. VERY naughty young Wellington amateur transmitter was recently ordered off the air for so many weeks for having interfered with broadcast listening. ‘They used to tell us, once upon a time, that amateur transmitters could not interfere with broadcast listening.

INE leakages (or is the noise due to violet ray of X-ray plants) still infests various parts o£ Wellington, I heard it going strong up in Brooklyn. last Monday week in the afternoon. A listener, up at the Thorndon end, says , it’s quite impossible to get DX reception for an hour at a time, owing to these electrical noises. A HASTINGS listener ("Cathode") writes me asking when television will be possible in New Zealand. From all accounts television is still five years off so far as the. general public are concerned. The Baird system seems to be up against a dead-end, and experts gay that a fresh start will have tobe made before the system can be perfected so. that it can become practicable to the man in the street. THs Yankees have been working hard on the television system, and have produced a nuniber of successful demonstrations, but the equipment is so frightfully expensive that it is beyond the purse of all except a banker or bootleg king. Even then the living pictures cannot be transmitted unless a very powerful electric light is thrown on the subject which is to be reproduced. ye. W. Dexter Smith, an American. has developed an extremely novel feature in the form of an automatic orchestra. Bach of the instruments in his orchestra has an attachment which allows it to respond only to the vibrations of a similar instrument. Receiving a broadcast programme on a special receiver, Mr. Smith takes his output to the attchments mentioned, and the instruments do the rest. It is claimed that no single reproducing unit can achieve such fidelity as this system. [¥ interference is experienced from electric tramways, though the trouble may not be entirely eliminated, it ean be reduced by employing a counterpoise in place of the usual earth. The counterpoise should consist of a number of wires stretching below the aerial and at about 6 feet or so from the ground. It will be necessary to pay the same attention to the insulation of these wires as would be given to an aerial, and a well-insulated lead shoula be taken from one end, where the wires should be joined together, to the earth terminal of the set.

PPuE importance of having an aerial of thick or stranded wire is geirerally realised. Lut it must be remembered that it ix just as mecessary-in fact, more so-to use low-loss wire for down-leads and earth wires. ue tuning-fork used by the British Broadeasting Cerporation to determine broadcasting wavelengths was recently taken to Prussels by air liner to be compared with Europe's stunliard tuning fork. PoOLlizicaL interest in America is centring on the fact that Mr. Secretary Hoover, who is likely to be one of the candidates for the Presidency, is a "radio man" to a greater extent. perhaps, than any other man in the United States. Many brilliant publie speakers are timid before the microphone: Mr. Hoover reverses the usual order of things by being an indifferent orator on the platform and a compel-_ ling speaker before the microphone. In) the forthcoming campaign it is expected that the utmost use will be made of Hoover's vote-winning powers in this direction. His association with wireless will be no novelty. for it was Mr. Hoover who was primarily responsible, as head of the Department of Commerce, for the formation of the Federal Radio Commission. The commission’s work in securing at least a partial clearance in the chaotie American ether will not be forgotieu. y ITW the gramophone pivk-np the most important part of the revreduction is done by the wireless — set. and if you have a good set you can rely upon really good gramophoneradio reproduction. All that you need from the gramophone is a good motor with no obvious mechanical weakness. If the gramophone will take care of the turning of the record all right, you can be sure that the pick-up and the wireless set will take care of the programmes. WE R.C.A. (Radio Corporation of America) balance-sheet for 1927 is sensational. Net income, 11,799,650 dollars (£2,345,000). After reserving for amortisation of patents, income tax, foreign investments, pengion fund and general reserve, the surplus is 8,478,319 dollars. Machinery and tools are written down to one doliar, and the patent account by 1,000,000 dollars. After paying dividends of 7 per cent on Preferred Stock and placing 4,500,000 dollars to reserve for plant, the surplus is 7,029,621 dollars, or something over £1,400,000. PE BBATIC reception prevalent ix many home-built radio receivers often may be traced to grid leaks of improper value, The higher the ré sistance of the grid leak the more sen sitive the detector action. However when a leak of high value is used or nearby stations, the tone quality suffers. Two or three leaks of different values might be kept at hand for use in meeting various reception conditions

HE London "Wireless Export Trader’ (of April) says:-‘"To those who have already featured British goods in their business we would offer the sincere assurance that 1928 |. in this country (Great Britain) is the best wireless year yet; while to those who have still to make the acquaintanee of British quality and British methods, we would say that there neyer was a better opportunity than now to open up a tremendously profitable business." The British manufacturers, however, in point of the amount of business done in radio in New Zealand has been badly beaten by the Americans. OWING to the interruptions caused by storm and floods to the ordinary telegraphic and telephonic communication, the Government of Ceylon have been experimenting with a portable wireless receiving and transnitting set capable of communicating oyer 2 range of 300 miles. OME tubes and some receivers are particularly susceptible to vibration, and even the vibration of the air caused by the proximity of the loud speaker may cause a loud constant howl to be built up which will only stop when the loudspeaker is turned around or moved farther away from the receiver, Such action is called "microphonic," and the trouble is usually found to lie in the detector tube. The use of another tube 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 tube. Microphonic trouble is sometimes caused by turning the detector rheostat teo low, and will disappear when turned up to normal. Cushion sockets are helpful, and their action may sometimes be improved by not inserting the tube all the way, but instead just far enough to make good contact. MR. L. J. KERMOND, of + Lava Street, Warrnambool, Victoria, sends along to the Melbourne "ListenerTar’? a very fine list of stations he has received with a two yalve receiver, operating it in conjunction with an aerial 735 feet long and 31 feet high. The list includes the following stations in New Zealand:-O.Z.-1YA, 1A0, ISF, 1AP, 1AN, 1AY, 1FD, 1AB, 1FE, 1FB, 1AJ, 1AC, 1FJ, 1AF, 1AR, 1AT, TAA, IAT, IFQ, IFU, 2YA, 2AX, 2AT, 2AL, 2AC, 2A8, 2BG, 2FL, 2GR, 2BI, 2B0, ZAI, 2AN, 2BE, 2AP, 2GG, 2A0. 2BX, 2B, 2BU, 2BL, 2BP, 2BF, 2An, 2AY, 2AW, 2GA, 2BC, 2AQ, 2AB, 3XA, 8AU, 8AR, 348, 8AP, 3AJ, 3A0, 3AM, BAW, 3CG, 3AV, 3AB, 3AH, 3AZ, 38CF. 80M, 3AT, 4¥A, 4AA, 4AE, AJ, 4AD, 4FQ, 4AM, 4AC, +AU, VLB, 4AR, 4AT, tA0, 4AP. RECENTLY a business man at Vaneouver rang up his London representative. This was the "longest" distance call by wireless telephone recorded. To accomplish the connection it took only six minutes; the words were clearly audible on both sides of the 7060 mile distance, and the call that lasted for four minutes cost £15. The following Associated Press message was published in the United States dailies :-Washington, March 29. Expecting tremendous development in facsimile transmission of messages in five

years, navy radio men have startea experiments with photo radio. Transmitting and receiying apparatus has ‘been installed at radio central of the navy here and aboard the battleship Texas, flagship of the Atlantic Fleet. also are being conducted in sending and receiving pictures with communications central of the Radio Corporation of America. MELBOURNE writer says :-The association of 2FC and 2BL Sydney, and of 3LO and 3AR, in Melbourne, was only a prelude to 2 plan under: which all the broadcasting stations in Australia will co-operate in programme work. Such a co-ordination has appeared inevitable to those who consider the matter carefully, and it. was no surprise to find the PostmasterGeneral outlining the scheme to members of the Federal House at Canberra, recently. It will naturally take some time to brirg the plan into operation, for there ere several knotty problems to be solved. HE most prevalent form of manmade interference as distinct from natural interference, such as atmospheries, ete, is that caused by electric machinery or supply systems. It is possible, of course, to obtain perfect reception near electrie systems, but if they are not designed or maintained with any consideration of their influence as generators of radio interference, the listeners within the sphere of influence have a bad time. Some country residents know too well how suddenly and completely their enjoyment of broadcasting ceases for the night immediately a picture show opens up; while others know that every night is spoiled for reception when a medical man with his electro-therapy apparatus starts his high frequencies oscillating, There are-towns where the supply system is the cause of continual "static," as it is frequently called locally, and ‘listeners’ efforts at obtaining satisfacJ tion from their sets are practically nil.