Our Mail Bag

Radio Record, Volume III, Issue 33, 28 February 1930, Page 11

Our Mail Bag

nal Power Line Interference. ' OWN a first-class radio set, and, having, leased a property at Bastbourne for the summer, transferred it to this new location. Imagine my surprise and disappointment when I discovered that it is absolutely impossible to tune in even Christchurch, let alone more distant New Zealand stations, due to power leaks on the high tension lines passing along the main road. The interference is not merely an occasional crackle, but a continuous nervye-racking clatter, as if a buzzer was doing its best to deafen one. I find that it comes into the picture at about 600 kilocycles, and as one goes up, so it increases, until at 1000 or over it is nothing short of a deafening roar. Of course, I can get 2YA without any interference, as the reception is perfect without using the aerial, but immediately the aerial is connected, this clatter spoils everything, making it impossible to get Dunedin, Auckland or Christchurch, Australian stations, of course, being absolutely impossible. I have tried during the afternoon,’ but the noise persists. Once I tuned in after midnight, when the street lights were out, but still the interference was there with usual. vigour. In an endeavour to check up the cause, I examined the power lines on the main road by standing alongside the poles and discovered that the leaks are so bad that, in some cases, one can hear and see the leak. The noise is best likened to a cricket-it builds up and then discharges across the insulator, the spark Veing quite visible from the footpath. In the interest of the many radio set owners in this locality I suggest that the Hutt Power Board be approached and urged to remedy this interference, which is undoubtedly ruining reception from stations outside 2YA. I have discussed the interference with a radio firm at Rona Bay, and they confirm the state of affairs, in that interference from power leaks-to use their own words-is shocking.-‘Fed Right Up" (Hastbourne). Unsigned Correspondence. GAIN we wish to draw attention to our request that all correspondence must be signed as proof of its genuineness. This week’s "Mailbag" is eurtailed because of this neglect on the part of correspondents, and we wish them to.understand that this is a rule to which exception cannot under any circumstances be taken.