Notes and Comments

Radio Record, Volume II, Issue 36, 22 March 1929, Page 23

Notes and Comments

By

Switch

NE speaker at the Wellington Radio Society’s recent meeting, who resides in Newtown, stated that the electrical leakages were so severe in his vicinity as to mutilate reception of 2YA, Wellington. (This has been the cause of much annoyance and should have been reported to the district telegraph engineer. Somehow, listeners are reluctant to lodge complaints with the Department. An official of the society has been deputed to wait on the district radio inspector to place the complaints before him. (THE Sunday night programmes by the New Zealand stations, while disereetly and appropriately compiled, cannot be classed as dismal. On a recent Sunday night a listener rang the studios of the New South Wales Broadeasting Company, Limited,.and asked the question: "Must Sunday- programmes be dismal?" He stated that he had turned on his set to both 2FC and 2BL at various periods throughout the day, and when church services were not being broadcast, dismal music seemed to hold sway. ‘This critic suggested that portion of the day’s programme at least should be devoted to bright and entertaining music. "ERPS" (Wellington) has dropped "Switch" a line expressing appreciation of the extra dance nights put on by the New Zealand stations. She (for a lady is the writer) says: "These extra dance nights meet a long-needed want, and the character of the dance records evidences a sensible regard to tunefulness in contrast with the noisy, unmelodious stuff we often hear from the Australian stations." A Wellington listener while holding " 4YA, Dunedin, on Wednesday night of last week states that the weather in Wellington that day had been described from 4YA as "rainy," whereas the capital city had enjoyed one of those rarely fine "continuous sunshine" days. This sort of thing is calculated to pro-. yoke a civil war.

A FRIEND told the writer recently that he had received a letter from a country correspondent who asked, as he was about to take up listening, whether he should invest in a shorte wave or an ordinary broadcast re ceiver first. An ordinary broadcast receiver, was unhesitatingly recommended. Even the most enthusiastic shortwave listener is convinced that as @ means of entertainment for listening in at nights, the short-wave set is likely. to prove disappointing. There is relatively little to listen to in the form of entertainment on short waves, in the evenings, whereas a good multi« valve broadcast receiver can rake in @ number of programmes every night. NDBER the rearrangement of short wave lengths as the result of thd recent International Broadcasting Cone vention held in Washington, the low, wave-lengths used by Station 2FC on their short-wave transmissions, viz, 28’5 and 31’5 have now been cancelled, and the new wavelength that has been allotted to the New South Wales Broad« casting Company, Limited for use from its 2FC station is 31.28. Short-wave enthusiasts should make a note of thig alteration. "THE number of paid words handled by the Beam Service in both direetions between England and Australia averages between 180,000 and 200,000 a week. About 17,000 paid words have been transmitted from Australia by the Beam Service and about 10,000 over the Post Office Imperial cables in connection with the First Test match. NS SL TT AN RO I TE