NOTES AND COMMENTS

Radio Record, Volume I, Issue 49, 29 June 1928, Page 8

NOTES AND COMMENTS

(By

Switch.

qi is of interest to note ‘that the popularity. of broadeasting is of assistance to the gramophone industry. | Evidences in this direction are constantly. to be found, such as the following letter written recently by a listener at Homebush: "I was. charmed with Miss Shirley Cooke’s rendering over the air of the song ‘It All "Depends on You.’ Has she given it on a gramophone record? If so I will secure one, so I may enjoy it many times in the future." In passing it might amuse readres to know that a gentleman living in‘the bush recently wrote to station 2FC, Sydney, asking where he conld buy records for Js radio set! OW, ean I tell when niy receiver is oscillating? you ask. If you experience any whistling while tuning, leave the reaction control untouched and turn the aerial tuning condenser dial; if the whistle varies in pitch or tone, it-is your own receiver that is offending. ‘If the tone is not affected your receiver is not causing the whistle. This can be eliminated by burning the yalves just bright enough to be consistent with tone and volume, by adding a stage of radio frequency amplificntion -and using the absolute minimum of reaction. SCIENTISTS have advanced the theory that daylight reception does not equal that of night ewing to the expansion during the daytime of the heavyside layer. Ether waves would then, in the daytime, have a greater distance to travel before being reflected back to earth, and more power would be necessary owing to the power that would be spent by the time the signals reached a receiver. In the night time, the heavyside layer contracts, and the ether waves have not so far to travel before they are reflected back. It is quite likely that this also has a lot to do with fading, ‘AN Australian writer says:-The closing down of ail broadcasting stations on the outbreak of war would haye the same calamitous effect upon the nation as the general stoppage of newspapers. Rumours of disaster, treason, and official corruption and incompetence would spread fear and demoralisation. The government would, at the same time, be deprived of the most effective means of keeping in touch with the people, and of steadying and encouraging the nation. Probably, therefore, no attempt will be made to stop wireless broadcasting, although transmission by unauthorised persons will, of course, be rigidly suppressed. Full use will be made of the broadcasting system to maintain the public spirit and solidarity of the nation, Simultaneously, an effort will be made to keep out enemy’ propaganda. TAS an experithent short private messages were broadeast from the Radio-Bern (Switzerland) station during 2a recent celebration programme, the price being 5 frances each. It was so successful that the authorities are said to be considering the introduction of a regular service on these lines. SY OLTAGE" (Palhnerston North) informs me that he added an extra 223 volis block to his dry bat-. teries, which had dropped considerably in yoltage, but he found very little gain, and increased noises in his set. This is the common experience of those who do this sort of thing, Once a 45volt ."B" battery drops to about 36 volts the only thing to do is to present it to the dustman. . . ‘A listener who operates a crystal ‘set within threé-quarters of a mile of, the Government morse station at Wellington, VLW, tells me that he is bothered by interference from that station, My informant should have the circuit of his set altered, for by a sharper tuning arrangement he could cut VLW. Many circuits which should meet his ease, are available. TPHE new screened-grid valve is with,out comparison as a radio-fre-gency amplifier, but the correct shieldgin is imperative if the best results are to be obtained. ‘Switch’ knows of a case where one of these valves installed in a short-wave set has increased its efiiciency nearly 300 per cent., but the valve is splendidly shielded, and the | yakers’ instructions have been follow- ¢@ in the minutest detail. HE new Sunday afternoon sessions by 2YA, Wellington are meeting with’ general appreciation. While the of the average listener. Thank goodness music is "good" it is not above the head the average listener. Thank goodness we have one session eutirely free from the "cheap" jingle which appeals to only a few, but is tolerated by a fair vroportion as a necessary evil, i] hear that one of America's oldest valve-manufacturing companies will shortly be on the market with a 2ow series of valves for battery-operat+ ed sets. ~ Shipments will arrive in New Zeviand in about a couple of monthr’; ume, :

" ALtO" {Seatoun) asks, "What js the difference between ‘studio’ time and standard time? If I want to catch a train in the morning, should I set my clock according to ‘studio’ time or standard time? I hear various announcers calling out the ‘studio time, and I am doubtful as to its value. How on earth ean it interest anyone to know what the studio time is? What we all desire to learn is the ‘correct standard time.’* Studio time can be safely accepted as approximately ‘the standard time. TPHE best aerial is made by suspending 2 length of wire between two points, bringing the lead-in from the point nearest the receiver. The ends of the wire should be fastened to one, two or three insulators, and the insulators secured to the halyard or mast. ‘The lead from the set to the gronnd sheuld be as short and as direct as possible, wire of the same gauge as the aerial being used. . [2 is a good plan to have the valves in a receiver tested after every three or four hundred hours of service. If a receiver is in use an average of three hours per day, for instance, it will be worth while to have a service man test the valves about once every four months, and to replace any that are found to be wearing out. This is particularly important where the receiver makes use of rheostats for the adjustment of the valve filament supply, because if a single valve starts | to wear out, there will be a tendency to make up the decreasing volume. by iurning the other valves up higher, and the usual result is that several valves are prematurely worn out, whereas replacement of the one poor vyalye would have saved the others.

HEARD a discussion the other day on the 2YA orchestra. ‘There | were five "old hands" involved, Agreed unanimously that the orchestia had no equal in Australia or New Zealand: It was contended, however, that the orchestra should not be described in the published programmes as merely "The Orchestra" but should have its distinctive designation, "The 2YA Studio Orchestra." The same applies to the announcements through the microphone. "Take Melbourne, for instance," quoth one eentleman. ‘" ‘The 3L0 station orchestra’ is the style of the announcements regarding that excellent combination. The Yanks have already told us New Zealanders that we don’t know how to boost." [Ts my last week’s "Notes" I queried "Are we all D-X chasers?" I am afraid I have since yielded to the intriguing novelty of listening to the 5000-miles away Japanese stations. Well, it does not seem like D-X work when the Japs shout at one from the | loudspeaker. I have studied the Jap | items, and I confess to a cert:in amount of sympathy for the HMuropean residing in Japan who endeayours to get some entertainment from | his radio set. Down here in New Zealand the novelty of listening to a Japanese programme occasionally is" right enough, for we can always_ tune them out and get the home-brew programmes ranging from jazz to grand opera. But oh, that Jap stuff! NEw ZEALANDERS who have recently heard the Japanese broadcast programmes will recall some of the items I am about to refer to. Jap Caruso with a tremolo tenor voice gave us either a funeral dirge or a Jap serenade (I’m not sure which) accompanied on a sort of guitar. The item threatened, like Tennyson’s brook to go on for ever. There were something like 180 odd verses. The guitar was not permitted to spoil the singer's vocal efforts, but was twanged dismally after each eight bars, while the tenor gentleman was recovering his breath. His voice was, in redio parlance, somewhat overmodulated, and the strain began to tell on il somewhere about the hundredth verse. My guests did not enter into the spirit of the sony, for they laughed immoderately at the performer’s vocal eyvmnastics. TPakyE the Japanese station JOHK which can now be heard any evening just below the wavelength of 4QG, Brisbane. It is loud enough in Wellineton for fair loudspeaker re-

‘several occasions lately I have heard ception on any multivalve set which is equippel with a good aerial and earth, and is favourably situated. I must stress the desirability of a good locality because in some Wellington areas the Japanese stations do not come in at all well. On a Japanese lady acting as announcer at JOHK. She has a mellow voice, but like a male announcer at that station, she cannot pronounce the "HY’ in JOHK. The "II," as pronounced by them, sounds somewhat like ‘‘Ateter." Some Turopean listener in Japan should assist these announcers in getting hold of the corre’ pronunciation. A friend has asked me to publish the locality of each of the Japanese stations. JOAK is in Tokio, the capital city; JOHK is in Sindai; JOBK is in Osaka; JOIK is in Sapparo, JOGK is in Kumamoto; and JOFK in Kiroshima. It was announced a few months ago that as from May-June this year, the six Japanese stations were to operate with a power of 10,000 watts. Seem-. ingly JOAK and JOHK are now ontheir increased power. | So the Radio Broadcasting Co. of N.Z. has announced that while Kingsford Smith’s trans-Tasman flight is in progress, the stations controlled by the company will be transmitting practically zontinuously. Such occasions as these are calculated to make the man next door, who hasn’t got a wireless set, feel that he is behind the times. We listeners are looking forward to the great event with pleasant anticipation. The Broadcasting Company, with splendid enterprise, also propose to give us a relay description of the arrival of the Southern Cross at the Wigram Aercdome, in the event of the aeroplane landing there. As 3YA, Christchurch, is proverbially successful with relays, an attractive event is on the cards. HE trans-Tasman flight should arouse the enthusiasm of all |New Zealand. It marks another im- | portant step in the progress of inter|Empire communication and _ transport. Radio, too, will again play an important role in aviation, in fact aviation and radio are now growing to be inseparably linked together. Fvry wireless manufacturers exhibited at the British Industries Wair at White City, Shepherd’s Bush, London, held recently, the number ‘ easily constituting a record. |

T is a worthy endeavour of the ‘Amateur Radio Society to reduce the howling valve nuisance by the neat instructional announcement kindly broadcast by 2YA, Wellington. { have not observed any difference in the numbers of howls nightly. In fact, the "pack" seem to make night more hideous than ever around Wellington. There are listeners who regard these broadcast announcements as thoroughly Don Quixotic, and quite ineapable of reducing any material improvement in conditions which are becoming a serious menaco? to the popularity of broadcast listening. They suggest the abandonment of these blank cartridge shots and the substitution of official inspection of the sets in operation in various areas where the trouble is intense. F one cares to take the trouble he can identify some howling valves which never .cease howling during any evening. I have followed one gentleman in particular who howls up and down the scale without a second’s interval throughout the evening. His dismal wail is there all the time, and _ he should be a "sitting shot" for the radio inspector with his trouble-find-ing loop-receiving set in the motorvan. One could take a half a dozen bearings on this howler and then another half a dozen bearings and he would still be howling. I should imagine that this offender is no schoolboy for he continues till too late an hour for the average youth to be out of bed. (THERE is another beautiful "howler" in Wellington who squats down on the wavelength of 3YA, Christchurch, and he has his valve just oscillating sufficiently to produce a continuous deep-pitched groan. This party neglects to take the precaution to ascertain whether he is occasioning interference, or else I would hear him tap his aerial terminal with a mcistened finger. Possibly he has not heard 2YA’s broadeast instruction on this method of ascertaining whether one is creating interference. If this meets his eye he could not do better than follow the instruction-it may save him a prosecution. , "REDFORD" (Masterton) sends this question: "Why have the American radio manufacturers captured the New Zealand market with multivalve sets? What about our enterprising Britishers ?" There are various reasons for the popularity of the American sets and their almost com--plete monopoly of the New Zealand market. Tke British trade was operating at high pressure to cope with Home demands, while the American invaded New Zealand. The American sets, too, are exactly suitable to New Zealand conditions, particular with regard to the matter of wavelength tuning, for here and there the stations we seek are well within 550 metres and 200 metres. This condition greatly favoured the popularity of the American neutrodyne and the Browning-Drake circuit. Much more space could be devoted to the subject. XO announcers in general I would say endeavour to infuse as much of your personality as you can into your work, There is nothing so monotonous as a mere talking maChane, There is one distant announ-

cer | hear regularly who speaks in a dull monotone, and one wonders how he contrives to make his work so utterly colourless. "DUD" transformer occasioned a friend of mine much waste of time recently in his endeavour to 1 sate the seat of trouble in his set. While the set operated OK with rather weak dry B batteries it went "dud" when connected up with powerful wet batteries. Eventually it was discovered that one of the transformers had broken down. "WVHAT time should I be able to ‘"" pick up the American stations?" asks "Theo" (Masterton). Owing to the difference in time between America and New Zealand, and the effect of daylight, the American stations can be heard here only when darkness commences and few are on the air after 7.80 p.m. New Zealand time, although KFON, Longbeach (California (242 metres) has been heard much later. Daylight reception of the Yankee broadcast stations has been frequently, recorded in places well away from the N.Z. cities but these cases must be regarded as exceptional. | THE Wellington Sunday night broad- | cast concerts are exception|ally popular with those who listen to 2YA, Wellington. ‘"N.S.H." (Pal- merston North) has dropped me a line to say that these Sunday night concerts have made a big hit around Palmerston. TPHE capacity of the average broadeast listencr’s aexial used for reeciving broadcasting is between .0002 and .0003 mfd,