Round the World on Short Wave

Radio Record, Volume III, Issue 8, 6 September 1929, Page 32

Round the World on Short Wave

HIS page is conducted in the interests of shortwave enthusiasts, A weekly lov comprising notes of reception and interesting topical events

ts contributed by Mr.

F. W.

Sellens

Northland, Wellington, but all

listeners are invited to send in paragraphs of general interest.

French ‘Colonial Wireless. TP HOUGH her empire is. nothing like as large as ours, France is wide awake ‘to the of -keeping in. touch with it by means of | shortwave broadcasting. On June 11, a great meeting was held in Paris, presided over by the Minister of the Colonies and the Un-der-Secretary of. State for Posts and Telegraphs, to further the cause of .empire broadcasting. | The meeting was organised by various important bodies, in_cluding the French. Colonial Institute, the Radio-Agricole, the African Committee, and the French Maritime and Colonial League. The proceedings were a great success, and there is no doubt siete they will bear fruit. " Ste. Assise. HB French Post ‘and, Telegraphs, through its station at Ste. Assise, experiments daily on a wavelength ‘of 24 metres between 10.30 p.m. and 12,30 am. New Zealand time, with a relay of the Ecole Superieure (Paris) luncheon gramophone ransmission. TZ is reported that the Weltrundfunkz sender at Wonigswusterhausen is rated at 20 KW, or 7 kilowatts in the aerial. After its expériments on 75.3 metres, Konigswusterhausen is shortly to begin experimental transmissions’ on wavelengths, between 15 and 50 metres. No call sign is at present given. I believe that the German heard every morning ‘daring the past two or three weeks on about 31.5 metres from 6.30 a.m. is this station. with the yard-long name. After _ the call "Achtung" is given 4 long word concluding with "hausen" is heard. I have listened carefully for this word. and feel sure that this is the name, This station continues. to come in at excellent strength every morning. VK2ME and GBX are still testing on inplex telephony almost every morning and evening. During one test, Sydney was heard to state that "they could carry on two-way telephony with Hingland for 12 hours out of the 24 on the wavelength then being used (28.5 metres). Tests are shortly ta be carried out on other frequencies, with a view-to be able to be in constant touch with England. ; . Log for Week. GATURDAY,’ August 24-The 381.5 metre German was ugain perfect at it9, except for slight static, 5SW when tuned in at 6.80 am. was broadcasting an organ recital, Strength, R8, quite, good except for a slight surging. PCJ was silent during this morning’s usual 5.30 till .7,80. a.m. transmission, They were not heard "during the afternoon till 3 p.m., when they made the statement that "were testing on 31.4 metres." Strength was R9, and continued at-that till 4.30 p.m. After this volume reduced to R8 by 5.35 ‘Dm., when they ~

signed off. Morse interference was very bad nearly all through; this could be.cut out with. the use of an inside aerial at the expense of weaker signals: 8ZC Christchurch ‘put on a short relay from Lancaster Park, the balance of the programme consisted of gramophone records, well received. . . W2XAD wags tuned in at.1.80 p.m. when the item "Guardians of the Air" was announced. This was receivable at Ri. .The last hour from Reilly’s Lake House, dance music, was very strong and clear. : ‘VK2MD at R9, and GBX at R8, on duplex in. the early evening, were spoilt by. background noises. KZRM, with band items, news, etc., was R9. Static was very bad on ‘this wavelength, RFM was also R9, with orchestral music and a plentiful supply of talk. , , On about 20.5 metres, at 11 p.m, a woman was heard talking, apparently duplex,, A man spoke later from the same station. Reception R8, and would be. 100 per cent. readable if in English. Apparently in the same language, on about 16: metres; but much weaker, about RR3-4, other voices could be heard. 2BE Hastings and 2BY Wanganui were heard at good strength just before {1 p.m. . Sunday, August 25. [THE usual Americans were’ tried out at 10.30 am. "KDKA was the only one clear and strong enough to be read‘able. .They were reading out the Saturday afternoon’s baseball scores. Later in the day, when volume increased, they were spoilt by noisy background. . W6XN (KGO), at 1.30 p.m, was and rather gushy, with the same programme as 2XA¥ and, 2XAD were transmitting till 2.30 p.m. After this a relay awas carried out from a hall which the

announcer said was about three-quarters full, and that he estimated the audience between 16.000 and 17,000 * people-it must be a fair-sized building. . Volume at the best was RS at 4 p.m. They carried on till 7:30 p.m., but ‘were very weak by this time. On 20.5 metres at 1.30 p.m, the foreign lady was again heard at-R7.-- . oe W2XAD and W2XAF from‘12.30 till 1.30 p.m. transmitted the General Electrie House; 1.30 till 2.30 p.m. the Lucky Strike Orchestra and from then till signing off a special’ Byrd Expedition programme. Both stations were about R8-9 at their best. KZRM at 9:45 p.m. were broadcasting the National Military Band. Reception was excellent at RO. RIM was R8, Static very bad. Monday, August 26. At 6.30 a.m., "Achtung; hausen, Berlin," was heard, followed by a lighter class of music than usual. Volume R9Y for a time, but getting weaker later. GBX, R7, and 2ME, R9, were on their duplex tests early in the evening; both were 100 ver cent. readable, quite easy. KZRM, Radio, Manila, P.1., with music, ete, was good at R8.° They signed off at 9.13 p.m., giving the time as 5.31% p.m-*‘Good afternoon." W6XN was tuned in at 9 p.m,, when they were transmitting a Graf Zeppelin programme. This was described as a "World-wide Broad: east," originating from the K¥I‘ studios. Records were heard with some talk in between which was difficult to follow. Volume was weak at this time, but increased to R7 by 10.30 p.m. The arrival of the Zeppelin at Los Angeles appeared to be a long way off, so did not wait for it. Tuesday, August 27. A® G6 am. SSW was R8, a strong rip- : ple made talk difficult to understand. ty OMB at RO and GBX at R5 were quite good and clearly. readable, , At 6.30 a.m. bells were heard from the German 81.5 station, following , by "Achtung, Koningswusterhausen," etc. After a short talk by a man and then a woman, a relay of some very fine rausic was heard. WOXN was tuned in at’ 6.30 p.m.,: when they were R8-9, with music from the Empire Room 6f the St. Francis Hotel, San. Francisco. From VK2ME at RO Mr. Fisk was heard talking from Wireless House to a gentleman at Wandsworth Common. Later, mother was rung up and baby was persuaded to say "Hullo" to grandma. Kesry also said "Hullo, grandma," and inquired after a dog. , KZRM was very clear at R8,-RFM with plenty of talk was RO. Wednesday, August 28, TUNED in SSW at 5.45 a.m, in time to hear the conclusion of a talk on farming. This was followed by records.

__- ~~ se se fes* °»°»°»°»°~»°»°»°»°»°»;™©*Y'e._, a ee, | Strength R8-9, quite good except for a slight ripple. A later talk was not sey clear, GBX was also R8-9, but much > more clear than 5SW. 2ME was excel-( ‘lent. The carrier of the 31.5 German was on before 6 a.m. A quick ticking metronome commenced at 6.22 am. At 6.30 a clock chimed and struck 8 o’clock. The announcement was commenced while the clock was still striking. gan and ore chestral musie were received at Rd Static medium. ‘ WG6XN was not heard this evening, perhaps on account of -being on the air the previous evening for a ~ With the duplex tests between, Sydney and England, GBX was as clear through 2ME as that station itself. There wan. somebody howling very" badly on A receiver which requires so much regener-. ation for a station which. was coming in full speaker strength, needs attention. On about 24 metres a voice was. heard, but not readable, probably. OSA, Canada. KZRM ‘was R7 at 7.80 p.m. . They went off soon after, but were heard "agate at 9.80 p.m. at R9 with a musical prbgramme, transmitted from the top floor of the Manila Hotel, Philippine Islands, At 9.30 p.m. on about 16.3 metres, probably Kootwijk, duplex telephony was heard, at R6. Another station on about 15.8 metres, also R6, with the same, language (Dutch), was On about 15 metres a voice was just audible. These were all on at the same time-from 9.30. p.m. ‘Thursday, ‘August 29. THE German put over a long talk this morning . before. commencing _ his ‘music. This was R9 at first, decreasing to R8 by 8 a.m. 5SW at R8 was spoilt by a very bad ripple; this continued till 8 a.m. at least. G6XN was R2-8, with a lady singing at 6.80 a.m. Signals died out after this, GBX, R8, and 2M, R9, with duplex test. The English station was "gushy" all the time. At 7 p.m. 2MB was fading? badly when testing GBX, who were The howler was again aquesitiig badly on a RY signal. 2XAD was on the air at 8 p.m., but too weak to be readable at this IXDKA was tuned’in at 8.30 p.m., when they were quite good’ at R9. They stated that they. were on the air for the arrival of the Graf Zeppelin, and were transmitting on short waves for the benefit of German listeners. The Zepp., it was stated. passed over Cleveland at’ 4 a.m, ‘At 8.55 p.m. they asked the Graf Zeppelin to give their position and probable time of arrival, but this did not receive (Concluded on page 31.)

Short-W ave Notes

. (Continued from page 82.) | any reply. At 9.32 p.m. the news was given that the Zepp. passed over Befort, 100 miles east of Pittsburg at eight minutes past 4 am. Again later the flyers were yvorted as 100 miles west. of New York at 5.42 am. Until this time the station was "standing by’’ in between these items. Music from the ‘voof of the De Witzler Hotel, New York City, was then broadcast, while waiting of the arrival of the giant airship. At 10.30. p.m. the first was heard of. the fiyer being sighted, the various movements were'then described. 10.35 pan. saw the airship "directly over the "a ‘weird and wonderful sight in the morning sunshine." Later it was making for and encircling the Statue of Liberty, disappearing in the morning haze, making for Lakehurst, New Jersey. It was lost sight of in New York at 10.40 p.m. More *@husie was heard from New York till word las received from Lakehurst that thé epp. was sighted there at 11.25 p.m. Howlers were so bad at this time on KDKA that I tried 2XAD, and found them readable, but not so loud as the . Pittsburg station. ‘The announcer said, "She looks gorgeous up there." After describing how ‘the ship was _ getting _ closer to the ground, at 11.38 p.m., the first lines were thrown out from the bow of the ship, and at 11.48 p.m. the announcer said, "The Graf Zeppelin touches the ground, after encircling the globe in 1 days and 5 hours." KZRM were R8 with a musical programme. .

CJA, Drummondville, Canada, _ were calling 2M, Sydney, at 10.15 p.m. Later, another voice said, "Hullo..Sydney, Montreal calling," ‘Strength R8, quite clear. REM, R9,. with. an orchestra, 55W at 11.80 p.m., were R2-3,-and very unsteady. ‘Friday, August 30. Ppa was very good at R8 till 7.30 a.m. 2ME and GBX were chatting as’ usual. The German was on at the same time as PCJ, and was quite a lot stronger than the Dutch station; it was only just possible ta separate the two, about two degrees. apart. SSW. was also good strength, but ‘not a-patch on either the Dutch or German stations for clarity. During the evening GBX, 2MB, and KZRM were received at good strength. P.S.-The latest Yankee classic. (?) has just been heard from New York. It is called ‘Shoo, Shoo, Buggy, Buggy Boo." KZRM, Manila. . TW reply to your correspondent, "Puzzled," Wellington, re station whose call sounds like KORM. This is undoubt edly KZKM, Manila, Philippines, as the announcer pronounces Z "seed." This is on 49 metres. ‘I always read the "Record" from the’ back | page forwards. I- hope Mr. Sellens has recovered from his accident. I look forward to his notes, as I get something definite from them to work on when searching for stations which I have not heard before.-A. R. Cranston (Auckland). ‘Logging GBH. I WONDER if any short-waver mauaged to log GBH, England, at 7.15 on Friday night, last, I _received him, on a wavelength of 27 metres,.as near as I could judge. He was reading for VK, 2MH, Sydney. He came in at .R. 7 to 8; speech 100 per cent, readable. Could anyone tell me -and others-where to get logging cards and how to send in reports to be verified? Would you be able to put this information in your Short Wave Notes? " I’m sure many readers would like to know this. Also, may I say how I look forward to those notes which help we heginners very much? -‘A New Chum" (Timaru). GBH and 2ME. A SHORT time ago I noticed in Mr. Sellens’s notes that 2MB was testing with GBH. The call-book gives GBH as a Grimsby beam station and until this afternoon I also thought | this correct, but I heard Sydney telling Suva that the station he is working is GBX, a new station at Rugby, operating on 27.86 metres>from 4 to 7 am. . .d p.m., Sydney time; 0600 and 1800 hrs. G.M.T. Will you please publish the wavelength of CJA, Drum-

mondville ?-

Zealandia

Huntly).