Our Mail Bag

Radio Record, Volume II, Issue 30, 8 February 1929, Unnumbered Page

Our Mail Bag

Will correspondents please practice brevity, aa heavy demands are now made on space. All letters miust be signed and addresg given as proof of genuineness; noms de plume for publication are permitted. . Adtires correspondence Editor, "Radio Record," P.O, Box 1092, Wellington.

Crystal v. Master Oseillator. R® the test last night from 2Y¥4A, "Master Oscillator versus Crystal," I would like to let you know how the reception wag in this part of the country. The first half of the programme was spoilt, absolutely, by fading. As a matter of fact, fading was so bad that, had it not been for the test I would have switched off. As soon ag the erystal was put into operation -the fading ceased, and the second half of the programme was thoroughly enjoyed, without one sign of a fade.-

ROY S.

COPLESTONE

(Taranaki).

A Peculiar Case of Fading. N your last "Record" to hand I notice several listeners are requiring a change of timetable. I’m sure many listeners would agree.to it. "Sheepfarmer" and "Wanganui" have my support in their suggestions to have, say, half an hour of gramophone musie between six and eight p.m. Radio down here has not been worth listening to lately, statie and fading being most annoying, I have noticed a curious incident. On tuning in to 1YA I found signals very loud for a few minutes, then they faded right out. I. then tuned in 2¥A and his signals were loud for a short while, and then faded. When 1¥A was loudest 2YA was fading, and vice versa. I tried this: several different times, always with the same result. I have noticed this on one or two nights only during this last fortnight, "Canned music," as some call it, is greatly appreciated by those who have no gramophones, and we appreciate the efforts of the company to bring the world’s artists to our fireside. Carry on with your good work. You

can't please everyhody-

SATISFIED

Westport. )

Dance Musie till Midnight. JN the summer months, what with bowls and tennis, few listeners tune in before eight o’clock, with the result that they miss the sports re-sults-in particular, the race results, It would be considered a great boon by many Hsteners if 2YA would announce these results at nine o’clock, or at closing-down time. It would only take five minutes to run quickly through the results of the races run that day, and even if the announcer missed out an anti-cyclone or two, nobody would mind very much. Just one other matter on this same subjectdon’t you think it would be a good idea to keep at least one of the YA stations on the air until midnight every Saturday night with dance music? It could, perhaps, be arranged that the stations take the late night in turns, and the additional costs to the company would not be great. What I am getting at is this. Nobody is going to bed at such an unreasonably early hour as eleven o’clock, and if you tune in Australia, they are still messing about with some beastly fight or motor-cycle race, and anyone who has started a dance programme generally wants to continue in the same strain. By twelve here, it

would be ten in Australia, and thare would be a chance of getting further dance music from there, Correspondence has been rife on the subject of B stations, and I should not be surprised if the writers on the subject have earned the reputation of eing B wind-jammers. If further windjamming is permissible, I would ke to suggest that the first thing to do hefore entering into a discussion on this subject is to inspect the profit and loss account end balance-sheet of the Radio Broadcasting Company of New Zealand, Limited. a I have to thank you very much for your kind attention to the numerous questions I have referred to you on previous occasions, and I wish to you in anticipation of your agalatance in the matters before entumersted.-~

DIOGENES

(Cromwell).

Heterodyning 1¥A. FROM time to time there have besa published in your columns suggestions as to ‘the origin of musie on 1¥A’s news session. Asx ig supposed by most Msteners, the music does originate from an American station. Mr. John Luke's suggestion is possible, but. has he observed that when the whistle, or hetrodyne, is absent, music ig not heard, This points to the hettedyning of the two catriers ag being the cause. The "beating" of the two carriers. together produces a small ttansfetence of modulation from one carrier to the other. In this manner, 1YA's carrier, besides being modulated from the transmitter, recelves a very small percentage of modulation from the foreiga station carrier, so that when a receiver is tuned to 1¥A it is capable of xeceiving the foreigner, even though it is not powerful enough to recelye . direct. This accounts for the fact thet Mr. Luke hears the American with hia receiver working at adjustments that would make it impossible for him to receive the "Yankee" direct. I have had similer experience with other atatong hetrodvning with one of our New

Zealand tranem[cteca

D.

X.

One Good Programme, Anyway. I HAVE not written to you, before, but have groused often enough about the programmes to my friends, but.a programme like this afternopn’s makes up for about three montha’ grousing, I do not know who selects the numbers, but sincerely trust that this afternoon’s selector of numbers is given an opportunity to choose fairly often. Keception is by crystal (galena), and 6ft. straight exponential.horn from R.R. {but built of galvanised iron): and

Amplon Av4 unlt:

CRYSTENTIAL

Broozlyu) =