Our Mail Bag

Radio Record, Volume II, Issue 4, 10 August 1928, Page 26

Our Mail Bag

Will correspondents plexse practice. brevity. as heavy demands are now made on space. All Tetters must be signed and address given as proot of genuineness: noms de plume for publication aré permitted. Address correspondence Editor, "*Radio Record," P.O. Box 1052, Wellington.

@uen = ANSWERS TO: CORRESPONDENTS. "DX." (Te Aroha) reports receiyne a station on about 270 metres giyg the call 2EZuL on July 16. Ile the strength as R2 on. one detector vulve and one stuge of audic. Gan anyone state what station this was? . Vanrous letters of appreciation of certain artists have been received and the desireexpressed for their further engagement. We are prssing such requests on to the programme organisers concerned for their guidance. Will the correspondents concemned please note? We wish to give every assistance, but there. is a ¢ertain dang eer in unduly mentioning the names of: individual singers.-Hd... -.- Effect of Power. Lines. R i Mr. D. H. Lane's letter in your July 20 issue. . My aerial is 140ft. long, suspended between a pine: tree and 2 local power supply pole, and is parallel to a..50,000-volt.. tr: UisMiissiou line 90vds. away. The lead-in end is suspended from the power. pole, which supports cables carrying -3-phase AC, at 400 volts. Further away are three other 50,000-volt lines anid four 11,000volt lines’ practically encircling /the aerial at a distance. ("The scr eoning effect of these lines is practically nil, but they do produce a noisy back: ground and "static effects’ if there is any trouble on the lines. JI am inclined to think that Mr. Lane's trouble his little or nothing to do with the power line, particularly as he appents to have his perial approximately at right angles to it and 50yrds. away. ‘Your correspondent "R.C., Dburaua." asks when a real expert operator will

be engaged for 2Y.A, and complains: of nerve-wracking distortion. ete, ete I syinpathise wholeheartedly with him, but consider it ridiculons to blindly blame the cperator at the transmitter end. In this locality 2YA, 3YA. and 4¥.A nave received beautifully pure and cienr, with varying strength, of course, according to conditions. 1YA distorts at times, and occasionally 3Y.A’s reception may be spoilt — by "GB heterodyning, otherwise ene cannot complain. I believe the operators do fdheir work yverv well and are to

Ive coiplimented.

W. H.

Potter

(ioraaorl 1

"Cen" and "i yo" of 8 ¥.A's Pra 13: 7 . Sigm. ce i CAN fully, vers fully. | conden "Ne pser's complaint eocarding PYcA's transmission, Excellent proigen Ines ure arrapged. but’ listeners are prevented from enjoying them beease of the. abnormal runout ef fading. persistent mushing. and brenks into distortion that occur. WellHngton station is a washout. so far as Toam concerned: the set enpnot be blamed. hoeause it brings in other New Zealand stations vud all main Australian sta{ions beautifully. May T suggest that we instend of possible explana-

tions from their armchairs in Wellington -the conmany'’s experts get out

nnd listen for ‘themselyes.-

Havelock

North

[Th 1c special difficulties of Tlawke's Bay and some other points regarding reception may be ‘admitted. These ditticulties apply at some point to all stations ; even the Ausiralian stations, which zre ‘satisfactorily received » Tawke’s Bay, are the subject of plaint in. districts in their own territory. The explanation given was simply a statement of scientific fact. Af the trouble were remediable by statien. action. it would obviously speedily be. effected. — E xperience of satisfagtory reception of 2YAcin most parts of New 4 Beatand show the transmission jis. not the. determining factor in Haw! ke’s Bay's trouble.-tId. ] Wireless by Extension. {tT lus come to my. knowledge that il licensed. listener regularly supplies: his neighbour with wireless cntiinment by running a wire to the yweighhorr’s house, and connecting up with a loud speaker. This appears to ime to. be "not playing the game." Is the imaun with the speaker required to

tuke out u Ticonse ?-

Taranaki

| Yes. a. wireless license applies only to the premises occupied by the Ticen-

see, and any additional arrangement by means of which signals are trausmitted to an adjacent residence. or sf office, is. not permitted unless. the .occupant of.the premises where the’ extension is located is aiso:the holder -of a license. The neighbour is liable-tdy: prosecution unless he holds a license,; | id. ] ; Suggestion for Jazz Devotees. MUST congratulate the Broadcaste ing Company on the really excellent serviee they are giving us. I made my first- receiver about six years ago, and so I have been fairly well in touch with broadcasting from its inception. The present quality of transmission from the four stations and the general standard of the programmes are in the highest. degree satisfactory.I think that the proposal that: the. 2YA orchestra should be set to playing jazz is deplorable. Such a very fine.combination as the orchestra undoubtedly is should not be degraded to such a purpose. I would suggest, quite seriously, to those who like jazz, that they should mount ‘a: gramophone motor and turntable, and then, with a "pick up" they will be able to use their audio stages and loudspeaker and produce the yecords they enjoy. This will leave the 2YA orchestra free for its legitimate purposé-the nlavine of real musie for those of us

nrafer ~#hat "to im7

A.M.

T.

viaeow Ss. -".6h -_--_--_ The With ‘the Smooth. (SON SIDERING its small amount of revenue, the Radio Broadcasting (ompany has done remarkably well. I read with disgust and pain letters in your paper that complain they do not like this and they do not like that. ‘Some desire more jazz, some say there is too much classical music, some light opera. in fact, I believe I have read at one time or another complaints about every article it is possible for the company to broadcast. If "these * people who are selfish enough to consider that they should have broadcasted whaterer they desire, would just pause and think for a moment that whatever they disliked was pleasing somebody else. and that each broadcasting station had over three hundred proerammes to supply every year. T am sure they would not growl so much, as they should realise that the Broudcasting Company is doing its best to please everybody, and that we should take the rough with the smooth. Anyway, whatever other people who write say to you. I would like to remark that T am quite satisfied. A simple remedy for those who do not like an item that is being broadcasted is to switch off. After all, for 30s. a yeat they obtain a far cheaper and hetter amusement than they would-obtnain any other way.

W.

W.

(Mastertan

‘Doing Their Best." TLAYDE been an interested reader cf the "Record" since its inauguration and I feel I cannot compliment you too highly gn such an interesting and instructive paper. "Megobm'‘s" articles are splendid. With regard to programmes, I think the R.B.C. are to be eongratulated on the fine standard of music put on the air. In any case I consider they are doing their utmost to give the best at their disposal. The Ww ellington Orchestra is an absolu treat. 1 wish the other two station¢ had orchestras that were as good.- ‘}.

R. B.

Allan

(Whangarei ) .

The Value of. Wireless. BEC AME interested in radio when T was home in London two years

oe @zo: when the great strike (revolution) started, and Mr. Baldwin wisely commandeered the B.B:C. I listened through a cheap crystal set .at. TottenY liam to his messages of assurance .to the people ; : and. next day. the Labous poards. in the’ street had these words: Mo not. believe the: lies‘of the B.B.C. VAILis. going well."’.. I.then learnt the yalue of wireless and. listened. in. at Iondon, Penzanee, . Chelmsford, and South Kensington Science Department, ‘and heard programmes at different times, and now consider that the procramimes I’ve heard at the 1, 2, and 3 stations (N.Z.) compare more than favourably with those I heard at Home. I might have missed better ones. The ‘Wireless Exhibition of "Olympia," London, was an eye-opener to me, and made me more interested. Mr. Sellens’s articles in your radio .columns have now made me interested in the short-

ware set.-

K. Service

Disappointed. EGARDING the Tunney-Heeney fight, I was very disappointed with 1YA. Granting that the Company did all that they could to re-broadcast the fight via the short wave, and that it was no fault of the company that this was futile, there is no excuse for 1YA’s announcer continually giving the very bald- announcement that Tunney won, and Heeney’s seconds threw the- towel .. in at the eleventh round. This went on until at least 8.10 pm. (New Zealand time) whilst, no doubt, long before this the. Auckland papers were selling like hot cakes with full cabled particulars of the fight, as the cable company had made special arrangements to rush cables through. It was rather rough on listeners, especially in ... the country, that they could not get a \ decent report. The Auckland papers ' have never: been very kind to the comnanv. and hardlv deserve this snip.-

S. W.

Iles

(Waiterimu).

‘Why Keep Silent? URING the broadcasting of the Heeney-Tunney fight on Friday afternoon last, I noticed that all.owners of short-wave sets were requested by station 8YA (and, I suppose, by the ether New Zealand stations as well) not to tun in-on short-wave, but to tune in to BYA. I should like to respectfully ask, what is the use of us having short-wave sets if we are not to be allowed to use them when an important erent is taking place?-

Listener

[The request was made on the principle of the greatest good of the greatest number. Inexpert handling of short-wave receivers leads to. howling which would prevent the local stations receiving the news and rebroadcasting jt.. This was the outcome of events at Auckland: and’ as.a consequence no one there got the news at all well. We do not think short-wave enthusiasts will grudge consideration on important oecasions.-Hd. ] .

. 2ZM, Gisborne, . "You are there with a --..’ So reads the slogan of a well-known make of receiver. In Gisborne we have a broadcasting station like that. aust switch on the current and there ihe is, amywhere on the dial from 1 to 180. His. station has been on the air now for two months, and, as he is apparently unable to confine himself to a reasonable margin on either side of hig allotted wave-length, the radio in-

~~ spector should take steps to have him kept off the air during broadcasting hours: until he can satisfy the Department his station is no longer an ether hog. His station is unable to cut out OYA, but 1YA and 3XA are completely blotted out. To allow him to continue as he. is to-day is unfair to the hundreds of licensees in this town who. pay. to hear the splendid programmes put on by the N.Z.R:B. Co. Credit is due | to him for being a clever youth in putting the apparatus together himself, but: if he is to be allowed to carry on’ as at present, thén those in authority | should assist him to finish his job. He is the most roundly .cursed individual in Gisborne to-day, and his interference is speken of by every listener-in IT have met, I am not prompted by jealousy, nor am I writing this on behalf of any trade competitor or Mr. Stevens, but I object to being deprived of enjoyable prograrmmes by him.--

A.

K.

2YA Defended. Js answer to your correspondent "Napier," I wish to state that he is "barking up the wrong tree’ when he states that 2YA’s transmission is mushy and distorted. I am also a listener and have been building radio sets off and on for three years. I use only first-class British parts and to this I attribute the success of my set. 2YA is easily the best station to listen to both for volume and _ tone. It comes through almost perfect every night and has done ever since I built my present set, which was just after Christmas. Fading is: almost unknown. Once 2YA is tuned in I never go near my set. I could seal the dials and still 2YA would roar in night after night as’ steady as a rock. I am about six or seven miles air-line from 1YA, yet 2YA comes.in with more volume and better tone. 2FC, 2BL and 8YA all come in good, but not in the same-street as 2YA. In fact 2YA is so good that it is the only station I have listened to for months. I only listen in to 1YA when 2YA is off the air. Position is not everything, as I was listening ‘to a 5-valve set of a wellknown American make only last week in the next street. 2YA was very weak and fading terribly. When I arrived home I tried my set which brought 2YA in with the same volume but with very little fading. This is no idle talk and JI invite anyone to come and hear for themselves if they are non-believers. I myself can anrite believe that 2YA is using his €" power as he has twice the volume of OFC and three times the volume of 3YA. Now all you critics: who’ are condemning 2YA look for the trouble in the-right place. 2YA is delivering the goods and cannot be blamed if you are not receiving them. TI wish to thank 2YA for the splendid programmes they are, putting on. the air, which are second to none and well up to the standard of: the Lest of the Australian programmes. . I look forward: io hearing the 2YA orchestra every night. It is second to none in New

Tealand

C. W.

Mills

Beuch Haven.

‘Auckland.