Notes of the Week

Radio Record, Volume III, Issue 33, 28 February 1930, Unnumbered Page

Notes of the Week

(By

Switch

EAR-ADMIRAL. EVANS, of the ' Australian Navy, whose. famous exploit, with the’ Dover Patrol will ever be a feature in the history of the Great. War, is.a frequent figure before the 2FC (Sydney) microphone. He recently broadcast an address vitally affecting the education of Australia’s youth,’.the title being "Train YourSelyes, or Waste Your Education." The Admiral advised every young man to pay attention to manners, ideals, nature studies, religion, sense of proportion, humour, public-spiritedness, generosity, leadership, activity, cleanliness, loyalty,.friendship and happiness. It is not known when the Admiral will visit Wellington, but when he does the 2YA officials will be certain to interview him. ITH the approach, of winter, the ‘"* New Zealand radio trade" is preparing for the usual increase in business. .Owing to the widespread hydroelectric reticulation in the Dominion, the ace. type of set is now in favour, and very few battery sets are being sold for ordinary broadcast reception. In Australia, with its great inland population spread over vast distances remote from electric lighting systems, there is still a big demand for battery sets.

PHC ISE listeners who obtain good reception of 3L0, Melbourne, wilt have noticed a continuous whistle not unlike that of a howling valve, A number of listeners during the. past few weeks have complained to "Switch". that some inconsiderate listener tunes into 3LO every night and permits his set to oscillate. The true cause of the whistle is the wave of a Japanese broadcast station be'ng on a wavelength too close to that of 8LO, thus creating a _ heterodyne whistle. There is no method of elimin ating this. Numerous Australian listeners have written to the Press complaining about the interference. HE annoying intrusion of advertising announcements from 4QG, Brisbane, which has harassed listeners for some years, is now relegated to the tlings that were. The Australian Broadeasting Company, having taken over 4QG from the Queensland Government, has eliminated all advertising matter of any description. direct or indirect, from the station’s sessions. 4QG has also been linked up by landline wit Sydney, and now there are relays between Brisbane and Sydney.

"YELP." (Petone). complains of a erackling sound heard from his loudspeaker, but he does not forward uny particulars about his set and equipment. It is almost impossible to diagnose the case without such particulars. Exhausted or defective "B" batteries are commonly the cause of erackling sounds which are not unlike statie-in some eases. Dirty o. corroded "B" battery terminals are also apt to create noises. A cloth dampenel with household ammonia, procurable at .any grocer’s shop, will easily remove corrosion. Vaseline smeared thinly on battery terminals will prevent corrosin. A SOUTH AUSTRALIAN listener, Mr. IX. Maro, residing at Largs Bay, reports to the Melbourne "Listener. In" that he receives iYA, Auckland, at weak loudspeiaser strength on his home-made A.C. set. As South Australia is 2} hours behint New Zealand it is only 7.30 p.m. at Largs Bay when 1YA closes down at 10 p.m. 6 ‘SWITCH" can quite realise why the English short-wave station 5SW is not quite all that a station of its type should be. The station is operated and owned by the British Broadcasting Corporation, whose income is derived from listeners and the radio "trade" for the specific purpose of providing a broadcast service for the listeners of Great Britain. A _ shortwave station, owing to the phenomenon known as ‘"skip-distance," is of little or no use ‘to the listeners at Home, and the B.B.C. is under no obligation to provide entertainment for the listeners in other countries. The same set of conditions exists in New Zealand, and none of those who advocate short-wave transmissions by the New Zealaud company seems to know the position. Now that the atmospheric conditions have improved considerably, the Australian stations are back again with some of their old-time "pep." Interest, therefore, turns to trans-Tasman programmes again. The N.S.W. Professional Musicians Orchestra of 60 players, recently commented upon favourably by "Switch" for their performance broadeast from the Sydney Town Hall by 2FC, will be heard again under the same conditions from 2FC on Saturday nights, Mareh 8 and 15. These musicians, with the exception of one, are unemployed owing to the inyasion of the talking pictures. O our New Zealand scientists are about to investigate the subject of static experienced in New Zealand by radio listeners, associated with cyclonie disturbances in the Tasman Sea. Special measurements of strength of reception from Australia are being conducted to ascertain the conditions causing absorption, and whether meteorological.: factors enter into the matter. Beginners need not entertain ‘any hope of alleviation from the attacks of static; it is incurable. However, much will be learnt from the research which is about to be carried out,

GOOD "stunt" was put over the air on a recent night by 2FC, _, Sydney, when a moonlight harbour e cursion concert was broadcast ftom — the steamer, picked up and rebroadcagt by 2FC, The programme was very fair, but the voices of the.merry-mak-ing excursionists provided a form of interference which would not be tolerated under ordinary circumstances, The vessel was the Manly ferry steamer Burra Bra. Cee. Morrison’s dance band supplied the dance music, and community singing and vocal items broke up the group of dance numbers, HE late Frank Morton, formerly of Wellington, a newspaper contribue tor of not a little versatility and or‘iginality, and a "rhymer," as he dub-. bed himself, was for eighteen yea associate-editor of "The Triad," wi Cc. N. Baeyertz, On February 28 Mr. Baeyertz will give excerpts from Morton’s best humorous and serious poems, from 2BL, Sydney. Mr. Baeyertz has been heard quite often from the two Sydney stations. He formerly resided in Dunedin and Wellington, and has acted as judge at various New Zealand competitions. Soma Melbourne shortwave listeners recently picked up duplex radio telephone tests between the R.M.S. Olympie and both the English and American sides of the Atlantic Ocean. The conversation was quite clear, and the wavelengths used were on the 20 to 385 metre band. The R.M.S. Leviathan has been similarly equipped, and passengers crossing the Atiantic are. now able to talk with their friends a ashore in either England or America, ’ ARIATIONS in voltage from the household electric mains are con--siderable in various areas, and members of the New Zealand radio trade when installing an a.c. receiving set in the home of a purchaser should provide themselves with an a.c. voltmeter, The base of a broken a.e. detector valve should be connected to the yoltmeter. The base of the valve should then be plugged into the detector valve socket in the set so as to obtain a reading of the exact voltage being applied to the detector valve. If it is found to be too high a resistance shoul¢ be inserted between the set. and the wall socket, and so wound that it permits only the correct voltage to be fed into the set. This would prevent valves burning out, and causing dissatisfaction on the part of purchasers. HARE HONGI (whose Pakeha ne is Henry Matthew Stowell) is grandson of Maumau, a former chieftainess of the Ngapuhi tribe, in the Bay of Islands. He was first educated at Singer’s School, Parnell, Auckland, and when a2 mere youth came under notice of Sir George Grey. Young Hare was addressing a number of Maoris in Queen Street, Auckland. and Sir Gedrge, who could speak Maori, was so impressed with Hare’s intelligence and fluency that he sent the youth to the Three Kings’ Maori College, three miles from Auckland, Sir George paying for his tuition. For several years Hare Hongi was attached to the Native Department head office, Wellington,+ and retired on superannuation six years ago. He was at one time Native interpreter for four years under the late Sir James Carroll, then Native Minister,