Radio Round the World

Radio Record, Volume II, Issue 52, 12 July 1929, Page 5

Radio Round the World

INCE the installation of the beam service between Great Britain and South Africa over 300,000 messages were sent from South Africa last year, which represents an increase of about 100,000 upon the previous year. N order to ensure that no 8.0.8. shall be missed, the United States Naval stations which broadcast weather and other information for the use of the fleet Ziave now arranged to cease transmis}¥ion for a period of threé minutes twice’ in every hour and to switch over to listen for the 8.0.8. on the "distress" wavelength used by shipping. TEN Canadian daily newspapers operate radio broadcasting stations, according to a recent compilation. They are: "Halifax Herald," "Quebec Le Soleil," "Montreal La Presse," ‘"Toronto Star," "Hamilton Spectator," ‘"London Advertiser," "Winnipeg Free Press," "Regina Leader," "Calgary Herald," "Vancouver Province." A NEW instrument for determining the height of an aeroplane above the ground was demonstrated recently at the New York Aviation Show. This instrument depends upon the principal of sending out waves and making observations upon the reflected waves. "t¥sing acoustic waves it is possible to etermine the height by observing the time between the sending out of the sound and the returning of the echo, and this method has been largely used by ships for "acoustic depth-sounding." Of .course, the velocity of sound in water is different from the velocity in air, and allowances have to be made accordingly. The altimeter. (as the new American device is called) may also be employed using radio waves by a special and ingenious system of triangulation. , T present there is only one broadcasting station working in Portugal, and this is a private station operating under the eall-sign of "Postus Amador POHBEA, Lisbon, Portugal." The wavelength is about 310 metres. A NEW high-power station at Hartford Connecticut, U.S.A., has adapted the beam transmission owing t/f the increasing ether congestion in tie States.’ Another interesting feature ofthe plant at this station is that the full 100 per cent. modulation is to be employed in order to make the greatest use of the 50 kilowatts of power available. With commercial service by telephone between America and Hurope and between Holland and Java, all records for.’phone communication have been recently broken. On'October 16, Bandoeng, Java, spoke with Buenos Aires (Argentina), via Kootwijk (Holland), and Berlin (Germany). The rather uitous route of the message covered about 16,000 miles. [THE Plan de Bruxelles, of which ; such high hopes were entertained, ig not working out according to programme, and Mr. A. R. Burrows, the Secretary-General, has apparently re-

ceived a great many criticisms of the plan and suggestions for its amendment. There is a great deal of interference on the Continent, and although the interference problem is not nearly so serious in Great Britain it.is by no means non-existent there. Since the change-over it is pretty definite that heterodyning has actually increased. QVHR a quarter of a million licensed listeners were registered in Canada, at the end of November, 1928, an increase of 17,000 as compared with the corresponding period in 1927. The Canadian license fee is one dollar, and the official returns give the number of broadcast licenses issued as 226,240, although it is believed that there are nearly 100,000 "pirates." The revenue from the licenses is devoted by the department of Marine and Fisheries to the improvement of radio services, while twenty cars are in use for the purpose of locating sources of interference. N view of the rapid growth of international telephony, it has been arranged to publish an Internationa] Telephone Directory "shortly in Great Britain and on the Continent. The directory is intended primarily for users of the international service, and will be on the lines of the English "Buff Book." It will be printed in English, French and German, and subscribers’ entries will be classified under countries, towns and trades, in alphabetical order. The directory will include the principal cities in nearly thirty European States, and negotiations are proceeding for the inclusion also of Canada and the United States. N2w SOUTH WALES maintains a healthy monthly increase, and during the last twelve months has made a net gain of 21,546 licenses. Victoria during the same period shows a gain of 6632 licenses. As the increase of licenses for the whole of the Commonwealth during the past twelve months is 28,041, New South Wales is responsible for 77 per cent. of the total. Licenses in New South Wales were expected to exceed 100,000 by the end of June, bringing the Commonwealth total over the 300,000 mark. , WIRELESS licenses in force in the Commonwealth at the end of May were as follow.:-

New South Wales maintains a healthy monthly increase, and during the last twelve. months has made a net gain of 21,546 licenses. Victoria during the same period shows a gain of 6632 licenses. As the increase of licenses for the whole of the Commonwealth during the past twelve months is 28,044, New South Wales is responsible for 77 per cent. of the total.

(THE Federal Radio Commis;ion in its annual report just made to Congress, states that surveys indicate that approximately 40,000,000 persons in the United States of America are served by 12,000,000 receiving sets. A study of wireless distribution re‘ported in the American publication, "The Co-operator," indicates that 29 out of every 100 homes in the United States have installed wireless _ sets. The ratio of sets to homes is said to vary considerably, running from 69 out of 100 in Minnesota to 6 out of 100 in New Mexico. California is second, with 538 sets to every 100 homes. Florida third with 43, and New York and Washington .tie for fourth with 38. In general, the lowest distribution is found to be in the Far South.

~ 24 LD PDPLDP DDL DG LD LLL LLL LL LSD LEI POe [Tz has just been brought to our notice that the difference between an outside and an inside aerial is estimated to be ten shillings.-"Glasgow Weekly Herald.") (A license fee costs 10s.) HE well-known American concern, the Stutz Motor Car Co., have announced that all their new-season models will be fitted with a 6-valve wireless set as part of the standard equipment, its inclusion being, however ,at the option of the purchaser, The installation has been neatly carried out, the set being entirely hidden from view behind the instrument board; the dials and controls are situated on the facia, and a small loudspeaker is mounted near the top of the windscreen. The aerial is secured in the hood on the touring cars,

N.S.W. ceceneene In Force. Month’s Totals 98,550 1,673 Victoria ...... 148,844 49 Decrease ueensland ... . Australia .. W. Australia . Tasmania .... 24,681 54 23,573 387 3,799 32 4,604 187 298,551 2,234 Increase Increase Increase Increase Increase