Radio Round the World

Radio Record, Volume II, Issue 24, 28 December 1928, Page 5

Radio Round the World

"BROADCASTIN G," a lecturer said in the course of his remarks, "has gone far beyond all early expectations. Its pre-eminence to-day is due in large part to intelligent public interest and the appreciation of radio possibilities by technical and merchandising organisations and the support they have given to its development. I am told that a series of programmes !s soon to be put on over a chain of no less than 28 stations by a prominent American motor enterprise." A LIST of the countries of the world : whose amateurs are now actively engaged in effecting two-way international private communication sounds like an index to the atlas. The present list, which is being added to daily, is as follows :-Australia, Austria, Argentina, Alaska, Algeria, Belgium, Bermuda, Brazil, British Guiana, Bolivia, Canada, Chile, Canal Zone, Costa Rica, Columbia, China, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, England, Egypt, France, Finland, French Indo-China, Germany, Greenland, Holland, Hawaii, Italy, India, Iteland, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, Morocco, Mesopotamia, Madeira Islands, New Zealand, Norway, Newfoundland, Portugal, Porto Rico, Philippine Islands, Russia, Spain, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland, Samoa, Tasmania, Uruguay, Union of South Africa, United States, and Venezuela. (THE official opening ceremony of the new 5CL Studio will take place Jate next month, The equipment of the studios will be the most modern and efficient in Australia, and many improvements will be installed which vwrill enablé transmission to be made as perfect as possible, Further improvements in the programmes are contem. plated, and novelties will be introduced which hitherto have been impracticable, and which the arrangements at the'new studio will facilitate, A special jarrah dancing floor is being constructed in the largest studio, and provision is being made for regular dance nights, similar to those of 3LO, Melbourne. [‘HE only broadcasting aeroplane in the world is heard by WLW listeners every day at approximately 3.47 p.m, It is the Whirlwind Waco ‘plane, which carries the air mail from Cincinnatti to Indianapolis and Chicago. An especially sensitive microphone, mounted on the water tower of the Cqsley Radio Corporation factory, where the WLW studios are located, pieks up the full-throated roar-of the engine as it passes with its throttle "wide open" 1500 feet above the ground. Since the ’plane travels at a speed of about 120 miles an hour over the studio, its broadcasting is brief, However, its daily repetition delivers the same message: "Use the air mail." WLW listeners report that they look forward to the momentary zoom of the ‘plane. It is "something different," they say, FRECENTLY the North Taranaki Radio Society has been assisting the local radio inspector is tackling down "howlers." By means of a sensitive receiver operating from a direc-tion-finding loop, transported by motorear, it has been possible to check-up on jnterference and reception generally in all parts of the borough. While it seenis that howlers have an uncanny intuition when the inspector’s car approaches their vicinity, and switch off, it is apparent that many people who should know better are not operating

their reecivers with as much consideration for their neighbours as they should have. The moral of this paragraph is: If your receiver can oscillate, don’t. let it--the radio car may be outside. HE "New York Sun," in good humouredly chaffing the prospects of radiovision, says: "The owner of a two-valve set will soon be able to get everything a picture house can offer except the ultra-polite ushers, the lobby statuary, and the liar outside the box

office who tells you there are plenty of seats inside." Also, "The time will come when every radio set will carry a chart giving Charlie Chaplin’s wavelength and the number of kilocycles it takes to get Tom Mix." ‘THE fifth annual Radio Show, which closed some weeks ago in New York, had an attendance of about 295,000 persons, and it is said that £7,000,000 worth of business was done with them, One specially interesting fact about the exhibitions was that the average numberof valves per set was seven, @ surprisingly small number for the American. One almost wonders what the two extremes were, Frame aerials appeared te be the standard equipment, and batteries were decidedly not present. URING the German Wireless Eixhibition a speaking film was demonstrated and attracted great attention. It is not a matter of the words spoken accompanying the movements of the actors, but one was actually transported to the scene of the action; even the slightest noise was faithfully reproduced by the instrument, The departure of a train is able to be screened, one sees the hustling, bustling crowd, hears the farewells, and all those thousands of characteristic noises that herald the departure of a train. A dance, one sees the bright glamour of the attendant colour, and hears the pleasant. small talk accompanied hy the shuffling of the feet over the slippety floor. In the zoological gardens one hears the varied calls of the animals. One can follow all this on the screen. The synchronising during these experiments was perfect. (THE B.B.C. scheme for the relaying and exchange of Continental programmes is progressing. Jisteners hope to hear the Legid Choir from Liege on March 11. The transmission will be made by land line via Brussels, Ostend, and La Panne, then by submarine cable to Thanet, on the Kent coast, and by land line to Canterbury

and 2L0. On the following day part of a London programmes is to be given to Cologne, RRAPIO experiments on airships during the past year have met with considerable success, according to the Air Corps of the United States War Department. Previous experience with signal corps sets demonstrated the feasibility of excellent transmission, but no results were obtained for reception, the principal trouble being inter-

ference caused by motor ignition, During the past year, however, satisfactory results were obtained in reception aboard airships with a special shielded seven-tube set. : * (THAT radio may be used indirectly in treating disease is the possibility suggested by recent investigations into the effect of waves of low frequency upon the human system. It had been noticed that men working about a six-metre set in an Hastern laboratory frequently fainted and became ill. A fever was present in almost all cases of this kind, and experiments showed that it was induced by the action of the waves. In treating some diseases, fever is induced to kill germs that will not live at high temperatures, so it is

thought that radio waves may be used for this purpose. E the towns of Belgium, Liege ig considered to be the most progressive as far as the development of wireless is concerned. In this historic city: there are an extra large proportion of amateur experimenters who are doing considerable work for the advancement of radio. Three transmitter amateurs, who have made enormous progress and in doing so have become renowned in Belgium, have united under the title of "trio Liegeois" (Liege trio’). They have been especiaily active on the short waves and have recently raised their wavelength and power to provide regular programmes for the Belgians and the French. This innovation is welcomed, for in these two countries there is a lack of interest in wireless as well as a lack of good stations. GEPTEMBER ‘T marked the anniversary of the Independence of Brazil. To mark this auspicious occasion PCJT arranged a special fete. This commenced by the Brazilian national anthem or hymn, as it is called. At the special invitation of Messrs. Philips Lamps Company, M. Luiz, Guimaraes, Consul for Brazil at:The Hague, presented himself at the microphone, and his speech went on the-air to his fellow countrymen in far Brazil. In order that the message might reach his native country the consul spoke at midnight or 9 p.m. Brazilian time. | (THE "Wlectrical Review" stated in 2 recent issue that broadcast radio telephone stations in service in Russia, and in the course of construction at the beginning of 1928, numbered sixtyfour. The wave-lengths used ranged from 60.12 to 1,700, ten stations using 100 metres or over, while the power used ranges from 0,02 to 40 kw. A faetory in Leningrad has just completed a combined $5-kilowatt broadcasting station which can also work as a telegraphy station with a power of 35 kilowatts. Progress in Russian radio has shown remarkable stimulation during 1928. :