Notes and Comments

Radio Record, Volume II, Issue 38, 5 April 1929, Page 26

Notes and Comments

By

SWITCH

QotH probably Mr. J. H. Owen, expresident of the Amateur Radio ‘ Society of Wellington, who has just returned from a prolonged visit to Hngland, will be requested to give an ‘address before the society on his experiences' with radio broadcasting while he was abroad. On his previous visit to Hngland Mr. Owen collected a wealth of interesting material and provided a meeting of the society with @ most entertaining account of radio at Home, On this occasion Mr. Owen could relate his experiences also of broadcasting in Canada. DYA, Wellington, made a veritable "hit" with the rebroadcast of ‘2BL, Sydney, on the occasion of the .fight between McAlister and Tommy Griffiths at the Sydney Stadium. 2BL fluctuated considerably, but 2YA gave us abundant volume. Static was by no means quiescent, yet 2YA main‘tained a clear hold of the ringside description. The announcer at the ringside was by no means as successful as the men at Auckland and Christchurch have been. Hven the last ringside description from the Wellington Town Hall was better than that from the Sydney Stadium, "RAvPrI0 in Wellington has experienced a severe loss in the departure of Mr. D. G. Wyles, radio engineer, for Melbourne, where he is about to take up an appointment as sales direction manager and radio engineer for the Philips Co. Mr. Wyles was formerly

lini with Amalgamated Wireless prior to settling in Wellington, and was sent to Hurope and America by the big Australian company to study broadeasting technique. He inspected all the great broadcasting stations in several countries. "THE executive of the Amateur Radio Society of Wellington has forwarded Mr. D. G. Wyles a letter expressing appreciation of his kind assistance to the society in having given highly instructive and interesting lectures to the members. ‘The letter also embodied good wishes for his success in his new sphere. ‘HE officials of the Amateur Radio Society of Wellington are greatly exercised over the dwindling memhership and apathy of listeners. It appear that the society is facing a crisis, and the executive view the outlook with anxiety. Various plans will be brought forward to revive the society, which has been languishing for some time past. The matter will be gone into at an early date. A SUGGESTION came before the executive of the Amateur Radio Society of Wellington recently that the children’s sessions be a little curtailed. This was most unfavourably received; in fact the executive thought there should be no curtailment in the youngsters’ sessions under any circumstances. The "birthday greetings,’ however,

~evrvevesv they considered should not take up such a large proportion of the children’s sessions. They held that the greetings should be more pithy and abbreviated. ‘TELEPHONE conversations have at rare intervals been picked up by wireless sets in New Zealand, owing to some freak causes. A New South Wales listener writes to the Sydney press: "One day I was changing coils, and left the set switched on, and as soon as the coil (tuning and re-act) Was removed a voice spoke very loudly in the speaker. The telephone wires are within 20 feet of the set, and my aerial runs at right angles to them. A loud squeal accompanied the reception, but can be stopped by turning down the detector rheostat. Imagine the volume if the aerial had happened to be parallel." TELY Wellington listeners have observed a blurring which creeps into the transmission by 2FC, Sydney. It is not constant, but it is frequent. This peculiarity has been noticed by up-country listeners, also. Mr. Claude P. Grey, of Shannon, states that 2FO is quite "mushy" as heard in Shannon. "Switch" remembers 2FO suffering from the same disability some time back. A letter was sent from Wellington to 2FO reporting the matter, and later it was eliminated, after a courteous reply had been sent to Wellington. REMARKABLE ignorance of the radio regulations on the part of some post-office officials when receiving applications for renewals of listeners’ licenses has been reported to "Switch." The writer himself, when applying for the renewal of his license surprised the clerk in a suburban post office by informing him that one license covered his six receiving sets. The clerk hesitated for some time before accepting "Switch’s" assurance. If listeners meet with any difficulty in this respect they should write to the District Radio Inspector, r/o. Post and Telegraph Department. DuRine April both 2BL and 27o will carry out a series of evening relays of 3AR and 8L0, Melbourne. These relays in Australia are conducted by trunk telephone lines. On Thursday, April 4, 2BL will relay 83AR between 10.30 p.m. and 11.30 p.m., New Zealand time. On the following Thursday, April 11, 8LO will be relayed by 2FO between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m., New Zealand time. This is 8LO’s dance night. An hour’s dance music will be taken by 2BL from 8LO on the following Thursday, April 18, and the final relay for the month will be from 8AR through 2FO between 10.30 p.m. and 11.30 p.m., New Zealand time on the evening of Friday, April 26. "TH New South Wales Broadcasting Company has made arrangements for the appearance in Sydney this week of Donald McBeath, the famous Australian violinist, who was chosen by John MacOormack to tour’ the world with him, Prior toe joining up

with Hvelyn Scotney, who is touring Australia this year, Mr. McBeath found time to go to Sydney from Melbourne to give these two broadcast engagements. Miss Hyvelyn Scotney’s wonderful voice is familiar to Wellington listeners, her records having been put on the air by 2YA, Wellington. BRoADCAST listening has established a firm hold in Australia, and every month brings a substantial increase in the number of licences. At the end of February there were no fewer than 291,000 licences. A YANKED lighthouse keeper, who is a devoted listener, complained that he was unable to follow the announcer’s advice when KGO, Oakland, California, was about to broadcast a nautical playlet. The announcer advised listeners that to derive the utmost pleasure from the play, they should extinguish all lights. One can sympathise with the light-keeper. By the way, a number of New Zealand lighthouse keepers have wireless receiving sets. "Switch" is acquainted with an ex-lighthouse keeper who went almost deaf through listening-in with headphones during a season of intense static. His hearing is permanently ix paired. DRO is a "tip" for some clergymen in this part of the world. A light signal, installed in the pulpit when KGO, Oakland, California, broadcasts church services, warns preachers when it gets dangerously near time for the General Electric station to make a switch to some other feature. Increased attendances when church services are broadcast is responsible in a great degree to the punctuality with which services end when this little light signal starts blinking. is an advantage to every individual listener to increase the number of listeners. A statement published along these lines points out that every increase of revenue leads to an improvement in the servcies rendered by the "A" class stations, and this in turn makes the possession of a wireless. receiving set still more attractive. (The exacting claims that are being made upon those controlling broadcasting are an ever-increasing quantity, and the payments made in copyrights, royalties, and fees, of which the public have little or no knowledge, are eating into the revenue previously available for programmes to such a degree that to maintain the standurd which has apparently proved so. satisfactory during the past three years calls for 2 still greater percentage of new licenses. HW New Zealand Government deserves the thanks of listeners for having refused permission for the "B" class stations to inflict advertising an; nouncements upon wus. These ane nouncements debase and spoil radio as a source of entertainment and interest. A correspondent writing to the Sydney "Wireless Weekly" says-"Now what about that ‘Advertising Talk and Nonsense’ given at 2BL each night. It's a disgraca to. any station." "Switch"

xX advises Wellington listeners to tune in . 2BL in the early evening to hear what is put out as advertising matter. HW .mouth-organ band idea has not invaded New Zealand yet, but it has made big. strides in and around Melbourne. Recently 3AR and 8LO, Melbourne, broadcast a mouth-organ band competition for the 83LO and SAR "Mouth-organ Medal." ‘The competitors, who acquitted themselves splendidly, were required to play the test piece, "Jeannine," and other selection of their own choice. Owing to the all-round excellence of the bands-the adjudicator, Mr. W. G. James, the wellknown Australian pianist and com-poser-had some difficulty in selecting the winning team but his awards "Gee‘ong Mouth-organ Band" 1, Melbourne Crackerjack Mouth-organ Band 2, and Sunshine Boomerang Mouth-organ Band 8, proved most popular, and were received with acclamation from the enthusiastic audience at the competition hall. BW ZBHALAND listeners will be greatly interes:cd in the news that in July much more powerful stations will be operating in Australia. The Commonwealth Postmaster-Gencral has already called tenders for one, two or four broadcast stations, having a power of 3000 watts in the aerial, or with a power of 5000 watts in the aerial. The Commonwealth Government is taking over the broadea’ ~ ~ throughout Aus-

tralia in July, and the new stations are to be ready by then. The sites of the new stations have not been disclosed, and there is great curiosity on that point. As the station will have to be ready for operating in July, only five months are available for the work of erecting them. The feature which will appeal to New Zealand listeners is that the new stations will have at least double the power of the existing stations, and possibly more than three times the power. T was a compliment to the Broadcasting Company’s relay of the concert from Wanganui a few months ago when at last week’s meeting of the Wellington Radio Society the meeting asked, like Oliver Twist, for "some more." Certainly the relay was a brilliant achievement, and no one who listened to it could deny the general merit of the whole affair. Actually there are not many up-country concerts that can hold a candle to that Wanganui concert, and when the Broadcasting Company is asked to give plenty more of these country relays one wonders where the concerts are to come from. GEVERAL nights ago those who were listening to 3LO, Mel. bourne, had an opportunity of first-rate reception of a speech by La Barba, the famous little American boxer. His words came through with exceptions volume and clarity. He was manifestly reading his speech, which expressed appreciation of the cordial recepti¢n he had been given in Melbourne, and he read off a list of names of the great fighters whom Australia had turned out. His list included the world-famed Billy Murphy (still alive in Auckland), and the former world’s champion, Bob Fitzsimmons, who died a few years ago. Billy Murphy is a New Zealander, and "Ruby Bob," although born in Cornwall (England), was brought up in New Zealand, where he first struck out as a pugilist. La Barba’s list requires revising. DISTAN CB lends enchantment to the air! The average listener the world over always considers that the more distant station is more interesting than that of his nearest or home city. And so it is that there is so much demand by New Zealanders to reach out for the Australian stations. This fact is brought home to New Zealand dealers when they are selling a multi-valve set. Unless reception of the Australian stations is guaranteed, in nine cases out of ten, the sale is lost. Reception of the Australian stations, however, cannot be guaranteed the whole year round, what with periods of intense static and spells of weakness through some mysterious atmospheric cause. BATLERYLESS, multi-valve receiying sets are making a steady invasion on Wellington. In America during last year there was a marked decrease in the sale of all types of batteries, reflecting the trend towards the general adoption of the batteryless receiving set. It is estimated that there are now 35,000,000 private owners of receiving sets in the the United States. A CURIOUS circumstance in connec- ° tion with the "B" class stations in Australia is that complaints of the character of their programmes find their way into the radio press. This

goes to show that although the public are not paying to listen to these "B" | class stations, they feel that they have a right to criticise what these stations put on the air. A writer in the Sydney "Wireless Weekly" says of one "B" class station: "2UE used to put on decent programmes on Sundays, but I am sorry to say that their programme is now also badly adulterated by "snivelling stuff." , "pa" COCHRANH, the popular announcer at 2F'0, Sydney, had something to say the other night regarding the subject of an anonymous letter received by 2FC. The unknown writer gave 2FC a "dig" for omitting the words "Mr," "Mrs," and "Miss" when announcing the names of performers. Mr. Cochrane sought to justify these omissions by stating that it was the custom in musical circles. He said no one would think of announcing "Mr. Caruso" or "Mr. Paderewski." Just so, Mr. Cochrane, but until a performer attains the world fame of the artists mentioned, he or she is entitled to the prefix "Mr.," "Mrs.," or "Miss," and the omission sounds like an unwarranted familiarity. EOPLHA in quest of notoriety who are agreeable to do anything the law will permit are numerous in every large city. The New South Wales Broadcasting Co. have called for volunteers for a description of Sydney at the end of a rope dangling from a crane on one of Sydney’s tallest buildings. It is thought that someone with a power of

description could give listeners a thrill if he described his own sensations and incidentally the wonders of Sydney, as he was hauled up yard by yard to the top of the crane. All applications will be considered in the order they are received. Should more than 1000 people apply, the name of the winner will be drawn from a hat! By view of the use by the Melbourne metropolitan fire brigades of portable wireless transmitters for establishing communication between the chief station at Hastern Hill and suburban stations, when ordinary means of com«munication fail, a development of the use of wireless services in fire-fighting work in Great Britain is of interest. A small portable transmitter, which can be fitted to fire-fighting vehicles, and driven from the petrol motor which supplies the motive power, has been designed and tested successfully. By means of this transmitter, it is pos ssible to establish communication with any suitably equipped fire station as soon as an engine reaches a fire. Calls for further equipment are thus facili» tated. It is claimed that the installation is likely to be of value in cases where fires break out almost simultaneously. Many cases have occurred in which all available equipment has been dispatched to one fire shortly before a more serious one has been reported. If fire engines are able to keep in constant touch with their stations by wireless transmitters, it is claimed that equipment can be diverted from one fire to another as desired.