Radio Round the world

Radio Record, Volume III, Issue 45, 23 May 1930, Page 11

Radio Round the world

~~... MM, GAstoN DOUMERGUE,. the * French President, whose amateur wireless activities were mentioned in a recent issue, has recently permitted a Parisian journalist to,inspect his collection of receivers. According to the journalist’s report, the Presidential apartment in the Elysee contains four receivers de grand luxe, including a short-wave set with the latest in frame aerials. The President conducts his experiments alone when his: entourage have departed in the evening. Recently ‘M. Doumergue startled the Foreign Minister with the announcement: "I have taken Moscow and Stamboul!" and some explanation was necessary before M. Briand realised that no new international complication had arisen. 3 % * ADIO station WEBR, of Buffalo, uses a steam-heated radio aerial to prevent the forming of ice and sleet on the antenna and mast during winter storms. Hot steam at high pressure is piped into the interior of the mast, a huge metal pole on the roof of a ten-story warehouse. The mast thus is kept warm enough so that ice cannot form and earth the circuit. s * x WIRELESS exchange of afterdinner speeches delivered in Paris and Amsterdam respectively was a feature of banquets held recently in these cities by Esperanto enthusiasts. Just before the conclusion of the festivities the two banqueting halls were linked together by wireless through the medium of the two local broadeast stations, the two presidents being able to converse before their respective audiences. bcd " ACCORDING to a recent report from Paris, wireless receivers are being used with beneficial results in the deaf mutes’ asylum at Bouveret, in the ee mae we aneeanean saxeeeseueeaesaesaaere

Valais Canton, Switzerland. In the course of a recent experiment, forty inmates wearing headphones heard a concert for the first time in their lives. Tests are now being conducted in educating children by means of headphones, a microphone and amplifier being installed on the teacher’s desk. es m bod FUTURE of Indian Broadcasting: More Powerful Wavelengths Need-ed.’-Headline in a daily contemporary. Or, possibly, longer kilowatts? . me HE question whether high power broadcasting stations should be located near national frontiers is being anxiously discussed by the French radio Press apropos the rumour that Germany’s latest 60 kw. station is to be erected at Stuttgart. The fea seems to be that the station will flood AlsaceLotraine with propaganda. z Ll A NEW "focal point" of the American National Broadcasting Company’s coast-to-coast network has been established in the New Amsterdam

Theatre Building, Broadway,’ New York. The entire New Amsterdam Roof has been transformed into a single studio, which contains, among other innovations, a 6-ton sqund-proof curtain of steel and glass, permitting an audience of 600 persons to witness a broadcast performance without the risk of any extraneous noises reaching the microphone. The audience is provided with a battery of loudspeakers. In‘ the studio itself are no fewer than twenty-two microphone points. * 1% * ‘THE installation of a wireless set in the Argyle Congregational Church, Bath, has aroused widespread interest among churches in different parts of the country. The receiver at Bath is tuned-in daily to the Daventry morning religious service, and passersby are invited to "Come in and Listen." s Bo ca A GIGANTIC radio receiver, more than ten feet high and six feet wide, has been placed outside a building in Cleveland, Ohio, where it is used to broadcast speeches and luncheon programmes to the public. The cabinet is built to scale with one of ordinary

size, and the receiving equipment is a magnified duplication of a standard chassis, the only difference being that in the large cabinet are special amplifiers and speakers to furnish the tremendous volume required. 2 * s NEW inducement to listening in Denmark is afforded by a guessing competition instituted by several broadcasting stations which transmit restaurant music. Listeners who can guess the titges of a given number of orchestral selections win a free dinner ticket. s ue 2 HE United States Patent Office in Washington is reported to be "swamped" with applications for radio patents. More than 2000 applications are awaiting consideration. s s s ICROPHONES that record the sound for talking films pick up and often magnify or distort the most insignificant noise; and as a result every article of furniture and every piece of clothing or jewellery . must be carefully inspected before use in the production. Beads worn by . actresses in sound films must be ar-

ranged so that they do not strike together and rustle or click, soles and heels of shoes must be ‘covered with felt, and the squeaks must even be taken out of noisy chairs or other furniture used on the sets. * % ® N Germany there were 3,066,682 registered wireless listeners on a census taken on January 1. This represents an increase of 431,115 during the last twelve months. a = ™ "THIEVES in London are employing their own broadcasting set to frustrate the radio-signal system of Scotland Yard. Recently when the police attempted to broadcast to squad cars the news of a jewellery store robbery, it was found that the squads could not pick up the signals because some secret = ea Eg Me

station, using the same wavelength, began oscillating and jamming the police messages. DPfforts to locate the offending transmitters have proved unavailing, because it only operates while the police are broadcasting information of crimes. * * KYEN the tiny tots are discovering the value of short waves, to judge from an innovation at the Radio Bxperimental Station, Paris. This station now transmits a childrens hour on 81.65 metres. It is intended specially for the benefit of children in the colonies. * * mn FPRENCH wireless manufacturers have made the alarming discovery that, in the matter of aerial output, France is 30th on the list of broadcasting countries. French listeners number approximately only 500,000. % * * USTRIA being a_ chess-playing nation, tremendous enthusiasm was aroused among listeners by the recent tournament staged by the Vienna and Linz broadcasting stations. Six games were played simultaneously, the players being seated in the studios at. Vienna and Linz respectively. Listeners, who were provided with cuessboard plans, were able to follow the course of the games from announcements at the microphone. -aaware

Ravr0 has never met with much success in India, and now comes the not unexpected news that the Indian Broadcasting Company has found it necessary to cease operations. Commercial interests behind the scenes have tried to carry on, despite tremendous difficulties and heavy losses, but all in vain. This is all the more unfortunate, as broadeasting in India was doing considerably more than its bit to consolidate England’s position in a country teeming with a people embracing numerous and widely differing creeds.