THE FREQUENCY TESTS.

Radio Record, Volume III, Issue 50, 27 June 1930, Page 6

THE FREQUENCY TESTS.

"THE frequency tests that were carried out from Z2YA on Saturday by the chief engineer of the Radio Broadcasting Company, Mr. J. M. Bingham, will certainly have appealed to listeners as being useful demonstrations of transmission and effective measuring-rods of the efficiency of speakers and sets. A test of a similar character was given .almost two years ago, and the Hawke’s Bay Radio Society rendered a useful service in asking for a repetition for the benefit of the number of new listeners who have since enrolled. Mr. Bingham ‘was admirably concise in his matter. He explained briefly but intelligently the principles of sound as related to vibrations and, following up with demonstrations of the characteristic notes of certain musical instruments, rounded off a valuable exposition with the transmission. of various frequencies. It was this phase of the test that had chief value for listeners. Few speakers and amplifiers indeed would prove capable of receiving all the notes transmitted from 50 cycles to 10,000. Some would be found to have a range of but from 200 cycles to 3600 cycles; below and above those ranges they interpreted nothing. While the tendency is always to improve speakers and add to their range, their effective limit is governed naturally enough by considerations of the market’ to be reached and the capacity of the prospective buyer. In this field as in all others quality must be paid for. It was therefore wise and timely for Mr. Bingham to give the warning that too much importance must not be attached to the test, for the reason that in practice many musical notes of the higher and even lower frequencies are but little used. For average purposes an average speaker will give reasonable service. It is, however, important and valuable for the listener to know the exact facts of his speaker’s capacity so that he may not expect more from it than it is capable of giving; and, moreover, that he may know that some of the notes that are actually being produced by the singer and the musician and are being put on the air by the station are not coming through his speaker-owing to-the range of the speaker itself. Armed -with that knowledge the listener can determine his course of action.

the best. in speakers that his purse can afford. If content with a average performance he may rest assured that he is getting all hi speaker can give him of what the station is putting out. . THE TEST MATCH. LAST week we quoted the observation of the head of the National Broadcasting Company of the United States that the ideal news feature of radio was a sporting event planned*a long way ahead with announcers on the field of action to give a running description of the play or contest. Those conditions were fulfilled with the staging of the first test match between Britain and New Zealand at Dunedin on Saturday. The historic ground at Carisbrook was packed to capacity with some 26,000 people, but in addition to that audience probably every loudspeaker within range of 4YA and 2YA had its audience of from two to 50 or more: The larger figure is a vi If highly musical, he will seek finesse in interpretation and means an exaggeration, for experience shows that on occasions of fhis nature the large-hearted hospitality of country set-owners is play and invitations extended to "the district" to attend and listen-in. In country homesteads, therefore, right throughout the Dominion and many hundreds of miles from the scene of play radio secured audience for a thrilling description of a tense and stern struggle, packed with thrills as fortune surged to and fro on the field of play. And what a final: thrill listeners got! With minutes only to go, how many listeners sat back as they realised the sternness of the defence and thought, "Oh, well, a draw it will be." But, no! Right on time came Ivor Jones’s dramatic interception of a pass, came that 75-yard race upfield with the flying Morley in support, came the timely pass and victory with no further time for an equaliser. Dramatic indeed and radio conveyed the tenseness of the moment admirably. — With knowledge of the intensity of interest taken by listeners throughout the Dominion in the match, it is fitting that the opportunity should be taken to thank the New Zealand Rugby Union for the opportunity to broadcast. Listeners who enjoyed that broadcast may well judge how they would have regretted its absence. Further, if, thrill be the life of sport, what a loss it would have been -to for the Dominion at large to have missed that final drama and th realisation that Rugby can give to spectators so dramatic a change of fortune. The game gained much by Ivor Jones’s last-minute brilliance and radio’s portrayal of it.