Notes and Comments By SWITCH

Radio Record, Volume III, Issue 6, 23 August 1929, Page 11

Notes and Comments By SWITCH

B

SWITCH

URING his lecture before the. Wellington Radio Society the other night, Mr. Colin W. Smith stated that Mr. H.. Gernsback, editor ofsthe New _ York "Radio News," had said that the present systems of radio-vision were so unsatisfactory that they would have to be scrapped and a fresh start. would have to be made -to solve the problem of vision. by radio. Those listeners who are clamouring for radio-vision should bear this in.mind and wait patiently till the thing- has been developed sufficiently to become a practicable. proposition for the masses. "QIWITCH" has been asked "On what wavelength does broadcast station 6WI, Perth, transmit?’ This station ‘employs two wavelengths, 1250 metres and 104.5 metres. Owing to the great distanees to be spanned in the western state it was found necessary, according to broadeast experts, to use the rather long wavelength of 1250 metres which was said to be less‘susceptible to fading. ‘The Commonwealth Government, however, has agreed to an alternative in the ‘wavelength of 6WF, Perth, which, from. September 1, will operate on a wavelength of 485 metres, The change will necessitate a slight alteration in the wavelength of 2FO Sydney, which will be announced shortly. a EW Zealand listeners will be in‘terested: in the news that the Australian Commonwealth Government has decided on an extensive scheme tor * erecting additional broadcast stations, In‘an interview at Melbourne, recently, Mr. H. P. Brown, of the. Commonwealth Radio Department stated that the final programme of the Government for the next four years includes the éstablishnient of 12 more broadeasting stations in Australia, increasing the present number to 20. The first of the new stations will be in the Neweastle district, and although a tentative scheme has been prepared, fixing the locations, these locations will not be disclosed until each new station is determined upon. ME. Brown explained that the sites for the new Australian stations have been chosen with a view to giving service to the whole cominunity after a comprehensive study has been made of the population densities and the natural characteristics of the country from the point of view of their effects jron the radiation of energy. The \-geheme decided upon will give a reasonable field intensity of the radio signals to about 90 to 95 per cent. of the popudation. The construction of stations will necessarily occupy some time and the cost will be somewhere about £750,000. FROM all directions "Switch" learns that the Australian stations are now coming through in splendid style, night after night, but Wellington Listeners ‘located clése to the city have been -subjected’ to a bombardment. of morse from the cruiser Dunedin, while lying at the wharf at Wellington. The transmitter on the eruiser has not only a powerful set of harmonics but sends. out intermediate .waves which appear in many. places on broadcast listeners* tuning dials, "Shock excitation.’ owing to proximity, is probably the cause of a good deal of’ interference from warships in port...

HE proposal that a laughing competition be conducted at 2YA, Wellington, emanating from the Welling: ton Radio Society, was tried out with not a little success at a couple of the Australian stations. It would be a wise precaution however, if such a competition. were conducted at 2YA, to put the competitors through preliminary tests before allowing them to go on the air. Listeners. would ,then be protected from having their ears assailed with those asinine guffaws which generally pass for laughs A suggestion has been made to "Switch" that only the best three competitors be permitted to-go on- the air, N eonnection with Mr. Colin’ W. Smith’s lecture on the history of radio at the recent meeting of the Wellington Radio Society, as far back as 1838, Proféssor Joseph Henry, of Princeton University, U.S.A., discovered that when he discharged condensers by allowing a spark to jump from one coating to the other-his condensers were Leyden jars (glass bottles coated inside and out with silver foil)-sparks also appeared at the discharging gaps on other jars several feet away. Undoubtedly Henry realised that he had found a means of producing electrical effects at a distance, but land telegraphy at that time( nearly a hundred years igo) was in its infancy, and he made no attempt to adapt his discovery to the problems of communication. DRAMATIC enthusiast has propounded a theory to "Switch’ that listeners would relish far more broadeasting of playlets, and h submitted the seript of a-number of smart little sketches. After perusing these "Switch" was’ struck with their unsuitability for broadcasting. as not a little depended upon: the action of the playlets. Radio requires quite a different technique to that of stage productions, It must always be borne in mind that the radio audience can only hear and not see the performers. The playlet involving that episode in a coal mine, broadcast by 2YA a little while ago, was a classical example of a snitable production for radio. — With recently-added improvements "and. refinements, the modern broadcasting station is becoming a more expensive proposition to erect and install. Those who lightly talk of erecting an up-to-date broadcasting station ean have no idea what they now. cost. Mr. O. H, Caldwell, speaking authoritatively before the Connecticut Chamber of Commerce, lately, stated thet a wodern 5000-watt broadcast sta-

tion costs £80,000 to install, and the eost of a 50,000-watt station runs into from £50,000 to £75,000. These figures are also published by the New York "Radio News." Pun results of the Christchureh race meeting were loudly received last week in Wellington from 3YA, Christchurch, daylight reception from the southern station being alway available with good loudspeaker volume from multi-valvye sets. There is no fading during daylight, and 3YA comes through with marked clarity. VALVE with the glass bulb loose in its..-base was handed to "Switeh"™ last week for "medieal" at-

tention. A simple method of treatment.: was applied. A fair-sized hole was bored under the’ base in the exact centre between the prongs. Sealing wax was melted.in a spoon. over a gas flame, and then poured through the prepared hole in the base of the valve. When the sealing wax had cooled the glass bulb was as. solid as 4 rock in the base. This is an old cure and an. easy and reliable one. THE crowis watching these wrestling matches in Sydney can be heard with great volume when 2Bi is broadeasting a ringside description. Peculiar how some folk get so worked up. The writer has a friend who sat beside the father of a boxing contestant during an affair at the Wellington Town Hall. The father became so earried away that he was handing out hooks, jabs, jolts, slams and swings so that the writer’s friend was black and blue around the ribs when the contest was over. He declines to sit beside the said father in the future, LOUDSPEAKER which persisted in rattling was recently brought to "Switch" for a diagnosis of. the trouble. The speaker was of a highclass make and an electrical test proved that there was nothing wrong in that respect. An internal inspection disclosed that some minute fragments of strawboard had collected ‘around the armature and was causing the rattle.