Experiences with a Portable

Radio Record, Volume III, Issue 26, 10 January 1930, Page 10

Experiences with a Portable

"Through the Urewera Country. ‘PHE.following’ is an interesting extract from a letter received from Mr, A. H. Fear, a keen wireless enthusiast -who is assisting in a geological survey in-the heart of the Urewera district. "As the party is often completely out of ‘touch with civilisation for weeks on end, the value of the entertainment-e-rived, from. the ‘radio: set; : especia ‘7 during the Christmas: season, can? readily appreciated. "We have a did little portable wireless set here, and are able to receive 2YA every nightas.a matter of fact there is a eoncert coming over now. It is a Browning ‘Drake 4-valve, and we use dry cells for our ‘A’ and ‘B’ batteries. Considering the conditions, the results obtained are excellent, The aerial, which is slung between two trees, is not very high, and our earth consists of an eight-foot length of pipe sunk Jengthwise in the ground to a depth of about 12 inches. Neither the aerial nor the earth lead. joint are soldered, but we get excellent results in spite of this. "A church service broadcast from SYA is now coming over, and it couldn’t be improved upon. Statice is almost ‘entively absent. Last Thursday. we enjoyed a splendid band. concert by ‘thé Wellington Artillery Band. The. ‘reception was so perfect that the cars ‘tooting in the streets outside the broad--easting station came over so loudly ‘that for a time we thought that a car was. near our camp-miles from any ear road. Our results are even mote unique when considered in the light of | expert opinion that our present camping locality is radiologically deadthat is, people here seldom get results outalde the local stations."