Radio In Canada

Radio Record, Volume I, Issue 49, 29 June 1928, Page 16

Radio In Canada

ie SO ne ew Es NEWS MR. J.-H. OWEN EXPERIENCE OF EX-PRESI-DENT OF WELLINGTON RADIO SOCIETY FEW weeks ago Mr. J. H. Owen, ex-president of the Amateur Radio Society of Weliington, left New Zealand, .with Mrs. Owen, on a visit to England. Mr. R, L. Jones, actingsecretary of the society, has received the following interesting letter. from Mr. Owen, written in Toronto, Can--ada, on May 25:é . J SUCCEEDED, after a little trouble, | in securing a wireless set, which — ‘I hired for a fortnight at 5 dollars (£1) a week, plus cost of installing. It was a six-valve Bosch, and with a coil of wire around the ceiling I managed to get quite good results, . I must have logged well over a score of stations, including the. following :- CKGW, 5000 W. Canada’s Cheerio Sta- . tion; CKCL, Every Ready Battery Company; WJZ, N.Y.; WGY, Schenec- ° tady, 500 W.; CFOA, 500. W.,. Star Publishing Company; .KDKA, New York; CKOW, Toronto, Nestle’s Food; WOR, N.J., 3500 W.; WZAM, Cleveland; WEAF, N.¥.: WMAK, Buffalo, N.Y., 1000 W.; WKEW, Buffalo, N.Y; WIFE, Washington, D.C. Choked with Waves, HE atmosphere here is choked with wayes, and aS you revolve the dial, station jostles with station and ° whistles indicate further distant stations. It is perhaps as well that my ° aerial was not an outdoor one, for the. mush was quite bad enough as it was. . The part of the city where my _ hotel was located was not the best from a reception point of view, Too much induction from machinery. and. plant. of every description, to:say nothing of . the enormous quantity of power lines . due to the proximity of Niagara. I understand that a few miles ouf that conditions are very much better, but all my reception was accompanied by a constant grating noise which _ resembled static. The modulation generally is quite good, and much of the music is excellent, but there is a large percentage of mechanical music due to | the number: of stations and the frequent programmes, There is @- dollar .liecense . collected by . the Post Office, but they are not strict. In Toronto, some five stations using separate call letters are in reality only . three stations, two of them using two call names each, for example, CKCH, 516, CKNC 516 metres. This station is alternatively worked -by two: battery companies. During periods of the day all these stations give concerts varying © from 30 minutes to one hour, in the interests of various ‘Advertisers. | For | example, . Appiegath, the Hatter’s, provide an hour’s' music with their own staff -artists, whom they call the "Mad Batters." Many of the firms do likewise. Almost every trade you can think of is represented. I need hardly say I consider the principle a bad one. It gives a fairly full service, but somewhat erratic and patchy, and without any co-ordination. I think our own system is immeasurably superior,’ The ¥Friendiy Announcer, ON Thursday, May 17, at 8 p.m., only one station was on the air giving a talk on golf. At 8.30, market report, vegetables, grain; ete.; 8.45, speech from the secretary of the National ‘Dairy Company; 8.56, organ recital came in from Montreal, Thus compared with our system you seé the irregularity of this, The announcing is clear and pre‘cise, but a good deai more latifude is allowed here than. with us. The an--nouncer not infrequéntly makes re marks concerning singers and items, and intersperses the concert with specimens of his own native wit and humour. Example: "We start our next session at 11 a.m. to-morrow with the . usual spledge.", The audience are ad= dressed at times as."folks," "friends," and "boys." There is rather an abundance ‘of songs of the sentimental melodramatic order, such as ‘What can I say dear, after I say that I am sorry?" The general trend both here and in the States if towards higher-powered stations to the ‘exclusion of ‘the smaller ones, Which in course of time will improve matters, no doubt. I send kindest regards to every member of our committee. I am just off to Niagara for the week-end, and safi from Montreal on June 1, Yours very sincerely,

JOHN H.

OWEN.