Round the World on Short Wave

Radio Record, Volume III, Issue 6, 23 August 1929, Page 32

Round the World on Short Wave

Topical Notes. B* the last mail, from Holland I received a QSL ‘tard from PCJ. Although this short-wave station has. been in operation about two and a half years they have-not issued a eard till now. Thisis printed: in three colours-red, blue, and black-and besides photos of their laboratry at Hindhoven, and the short-wave, transmitter, contains the ‘following par-° ticulars ; PCJ is. a erystal-controlled transmitter, broadcasting on a frequency of 9.59 x 10.6 cycles/sec (959 kilocycles wavelength, approximately $1.8m.). Maximum power, 27 kilowatts. Philips water-cooled transmitting and rectifying valves. PCJ commenced operations during March, 1927, with the epoch-making transmissions to the Dutch East Indies (12,000 km.). Since that time PCJ has been honoured with innumerable reports from all parts of the world. . Announcements in Dutch, English, French, German, and Spanish. HE Universal Broadcasting systerii of Philadelphia has made an application to the Federal Radio Commission at Washington for short-wave .channels for the reproduction of French and German programmes in America. WCAU, Philadelphia would be the key station for the oversea service. -' Buenos Aires Calling! tHE following from "Amateur Wireless’ (England) will interest all short-wave listeners: — "Tt was just luck which prompted me to tune in to Radio Paris at about 6,20 p.m, on Saturday, May 25, when, much to my surprise, I heard an. announcement in Spanish. Without delay I made a vapid search, and discovered that the day was a national fete in the Argentine Republic, and that one of the principal Buenos Aires broadcasters-LR4-was transmitting a special concert for the benefit of the two American continents and Burope. . ‘ Now, when after listening to a gramophone record, I was told, in Spanish, : Bnglish, French, and German, to stand by, 1 did so and was duly rewarded. At 6.35 p.m. Radio Splendid, Buenos Aires, the station in question, put over the Argentine National Anthem, and followed it up with short talks in all four languages, which put me wise to the route by which I was. receiving the concert, Apparently, by previous. arrangement, Radio Paris was taking it from the shortwave transmitter of ‘the Ste. Assise (France), which in its turn picked it, up from Monte Grande (Buenos Aires). Simultaneously, aS I quickly discovered, . Nauen (Germany) was capturing it from the same source, and passing it onto Berlin and Konigswusterhausen, the latter, curiously enough, giving me a much clearer and purer relay than did the Paris station.

Many will recall the trans-Atlantic re; lays effected by our own. stations, and also the poor result achieved when we tried to reach out to the antipodes. In the Buenos Aires transmission, Monte Grande, in conjunction withNauen and Ste. Assise, proved a perfect success. No fading was noticed, distortion was absent, and fortunately atmospherics caused but little interference. This took place in full sunshine on a day when, to-all appearances, reception should have been poor. NOTHER letter has been . received & from CJRX, Winnipeg, Canada, with. the latest. Broadcasting Schedule, for "Summer, 1929," of stations CJRM, Moose Jaw, and CJRW, Fleming. The programmes of CJRX, working on. 25.6 metres’ power, 2000 watts, are "tied in" with CIRW. The Week’s Los. PRE following is my log for the week. * It is patchy, as I am still unable te quite as much as usual, .

Saturday, August 10. T 1 pm. PCJ was R8, but quality’ only fair. This improved rapidly, and was perfect by 3 p.m., at full. speaker strength, when Central America, and Canada were being called. At 3.53 p.m. "Goodnight" was said to these countries, and "Hullo" to Australia and New Zealand. The New Zealanders called were Messrs. Abbot, ‘Auckland; Gledhill and Stanton, Christchurch ; Miss Bennett, andthe writer, Wellington. All were thanked for their reports. W8XK were good strength, but not as clear as they might be. W2XAD at 2 p.m. were R8. A dance programme commenced ‘at 2.30 p.m. from Reilly’s Lake House, duake Lonely, Saratoga Springs, Syracuse. This continued till 3.80 p.m. at R9. Duplex telephony was heard on 20.5 (about) at RT, and en 24.4 metres (about). A lady was talking at the first-mentioned station, and an American voice, very weak, at the other. . . * An Australian amateur was heard at 5 p.m, on. the 40-metre -band,; fair strength, but readability poor. GBX, Rugby, Exgland, R8, 75 per cent. readable,, and VK2ME, R9, 100 per cent. readable, ‘were . testing during the evening. ZL‘ amateurs, 2BE, Hastings, and 2AB, Otaki, -were chatting together at _c~ +, Sunday, August 11. T 11 am. 2XAD was R4-5, with ‘* rapid fade. By 1.80-p.m. they were. good strength, with..the "Lucky, Strike" programme, and-as they put it, "Tunes That Make Broadway, Broadway." A special "Byrd" transmission commenced at, 2.30 p.m., with the usual messages ‘and: musie for the: Pxpedition. ‘2XAPF; with the same programme, was weaker than the 19.5 metre station till about 2.30. p.m., after which W2XAF was the better station of the two, increasing to R9, while the other went off in volume. ° W8XK (KDKA) was R2-at 11 am., and very unsteady, Strength increased, but signals ‘were subject to rapid fade, "nearly all through the transmission. On . about 24 metres, talk could be"heard at "R8, but not quite readable. 2ME, with. -records and a 1000-cycle note, at R9, was

testing with GBX, who wa§ reading. The Rugby -station was 100 per cent. readable, but. with difficulty. on account of background noises. — Monday, August 12. ° GYDNEY and Rugby were on duplex at 6.30 p.m., both sides of the ‘conversation could be heard from 2MH. Sydney put on some. records later, when fading was very bad. . if Tuesday, August 13. I WAS up early enough fo hear 55W for a few moments, when-a violin solo was coming through at R8. -VK2MB and GBX were again on duplex telephony. At 10.10 p.m. 2ME was heard calling Ottawa. They replied .on -about ‘24.5 metres. Later Sydney were calling Montreal.

‘ Wednesday, August 14. 5Sw was tuned in at 6'a.m., when it was announced that ‘Desmond McCarthy would read one of his own books, "The "The reading was R8, 75 per cent. to 100 per cent. intelligible. Some. morse, QHM_ started about 6.12 am. (local}, otherwise every word would have been readable. At 6.30 a.m. a programme -was relayed from the Queen’s Hall, ‘the "orchestrabeing under the baton of Sir Henry. J. Wood. , Reception was ‘very good. At 7.30 a.m. a break was made for the Greenwich time signal when they "went back" to the Queen’s Hall, Strength was weaker by this time, . ; GBX at 6.5 a.m. was R8, 100 per cent. readable, and 2MH was R9. Both sides audible through Sydney. Reception between stations -was perfect, as the conversution was carried on as easily as if the speakers were in the same room. W6XN..at 6.10 was R4, with a lady talking; a.strong. hiss spoilt readability. Strength at 8 am. was RD with music. 41.6 metres about talk at R2-3, but not quite readable, was heard. .The "Spotlight: Revue’ from W6XN was heard from’6 p.m, till 6.30 p.m. at R8. The: "Musical Muketeers," followed with a dance programme till 7.81 p.m. Volume ‘went off toward the finish. GBX at R8 and 2ME at R9 were both 100 per cent. readable with their duplex test. It ‘was. during this test that a lad in a Sydney hospital spoke to his mother in Bngland. I did not hear it, but. must have been listening to W6XN at the time. Thursday, August 15. 5Sw at 7 a.m. was R6-7. Talk was not readable on account of a bad ripple. GBX at the same time was.much better, but not possible to understand all that was said. © en At 64 p.m. 2ME was heard talking about yesterday’s accomplishment, that is, the boy talking to his mother. This, it appeared, was arranged by newspapers. KZRM commenced a ‘programme at 9.380 p.m. by asking for reports on reception. Strength was: R8-9..Dance music from: the Manila Hotel was heard quite .good. The dancers could he heard talking between’ items. . , RFM was heard at 10.15 p.m. after a silence of some time. A lecture (?)' was in progress; the speaker was well warmed pp to His subject. Strength R9, Slight static, : ‘

_ Friday, August 16. Bis Ben was heard through 5SW at. 5.380 a.m. Talk and music was spoilt by ripple. . PCJ commences at 5.35. a.m, R8-9, and remains steady ‘at that till 7.30 a.m. It was heard calling a listener in South Afriea during the transmission. GBX at 6 a.m. was heard ‘arranging schedule -with another station. 2MB could not be -heard. A strong carrier came on at about 6.30 am, just above PCJ with a. quick ticking metronome. Music was heard. later at R8. A few words were spoken between items, but ‘could not make out any call, not even a "Allo" or "Achtung."-W6XN was R2 at-7.45:a.m. — ; VK2MPE and GBX were-working again at 6.40 p.m.,. when a journalist in Sydney was speaking to another. in Wngland. He sent greetings toa number of newspaper men, and had quite a long chat. Speech from GBX was 100 per cent, read-able-with careful listening. They closed at 8.25 p.m. till Monday, 1800 G.MR. KZRM was R4 at 7.30 p.m. with-mus-ical items. 23 metres-(about) . at 8 p.m., a foreigner was talking at R8-in a singsong sort of voice, possibly: Japaneké, He repeated a few words quite a number of times. The carrier went off at 8.10 p.m. He was heard again later, but could not identify him. 2MFi at 9.45 p.m., R.4, and very rough, was calling Drumniondville, Canada, and playing records while waiting for them to reply. ; :