Should you stay up all night—to listen in?

Radio Record, Volume III, Issue 52, 11 July 1930, Page 1

Should you stay up all night—to listen in?

‘ago have become’ commonplace facts. — The magic bottle, variously known as @ the vacuum tube, the valve, et cetera, which came » : M OST of the dreams we weaved ten years. to the ‘country a few years ago has changed, Vérstwhile visions of. possible effects to everyday, _ matter-of-fact circumstances, Nowadays‘one is inclined to peer inside the cabinet of a friend’s new radio set, observe the’ number of valves and descant upon. the prospects of hearing a broadcast from. Siam or Zanzibar. But less than 10 years ago, when circuits and Sets "were not so. foolproof and banks of transmitting . valves’ as big ‘as footballs could not successfully span the earth, listeners. wete not so blase.

.. ,About eight years. ago there was a. fine frenzy for ‘trans~ mission on twenty or thirty thousand metres, when commercial . radio engineers were inclined to be derisive-of dogged experimenting ° by amateur "hams" with their junk piles of wire, loose-couplers: and ever-changing circuits. But the. scoffers were wrong. .. . -- Since then one has seen abundant. proof.that amateur ex-. perimenters were responsible for many of the ‘major:advances, | the results of their patient vigils till four and five o’clock in the —

yh morning giving the impetus to. scientists in the research laboratories of radio and electrical syndicates the world over. , Engineers: of commercial thought that distance was in direct proportion to wavelength (or so it would appear from their attitude at that time) and were only. too ready to suggest that amateurs could adhere to shorter wavelengths’ without very much harm. rebounding to themselves, or help to the industry. Tae achievements of New Zealand amateurs wete gazetted in news‘papers throughout the world. in particular: "Mr. W. M. Dawson, one-time instructor in mechanical and electrical en‘gineering to, Ashburton Technical ‘College, but now technical engineer with the.New Zealand ‘division of a prominent firm ;-Mr. Ralph Slade, technical associate s4 the same company,. but- at

one time the highly successful owner of transmitter 4/AG, in Dunedin; Professor "Bobby" Jack (Dunedin), Messrs. Frank Bell (Shag Valley), Jack Orbell: (Christchurch), and Ivan O’Meara. (Gisborne), who tank among those whose enterprise and practical vision earned them world-wide approbation and encouragement. . i -A.few days ago the "Record" had a short talk with Mr,. Dawson, reverting his memory to the days (but particularly the ts sé ~

This article concerns some who didand why!

early mornings) when he and Mrs. Dawson tol laborated in attempts to place radio transmis~ sion at the head of new pathways. Mr. Dawson smiled quizzically in retrospect. "T ife was full of real thrills then... it was a red letter. day when we worked two foreign stations, but when we had registered four or five-! "Tl! never forget those times. . Working Australians till they went to bed, and then the Americans. Going to bed at seven o’clock in the morning.. And the first time I got into touch with an English amateur! That was a thrill, but it was a coincidence, too! One afternoon I received the card of 2LZ, giving his wavelength and power, so I thought I’d try to reach him

with my own home-made little transmitter. "Well, it worked, with a power input of only 2.5 watts ! Nowadays it is nothing for. amateurs to work four or five countries every afternoon. _ "T believe the work of amateur transmitters will eventually be a-potent factor in the settlement of world peace. "T really became interested in radio about nine years ago. For some time before the first valve came into the country I had worked with crystals.

After experimenting wita works-manufactured valves [ thought I’d like to make.one of my own, so I blew my owh glass shape,.inserted the ‘filament of an ordinary’ electric lamp, evacuated then sealed it. The life of these valves wasn’t very long, you may be sure, but they worked. . T HE chief urge was, of course, to evolve new circuits. Once that branch of the hobby had been developed the question of promoting better efficiency ‘arose, and with that the reaching over greater and ‘still greater distances. It was a case of thrill upon thrill.in those early days, and ‘yet they’re not so far away after all, are they? "Then there’s that after~ _noon I got into’ touch with a French amateur. T'll ' never -forget that. For some time I had attempted and hoped to

reach him, and on this particular afternoon 1 tried ahd thtk™s but without any audible result. I was about to close down, disgusted with radio in general and French amateurs in particular, when through the telephones came my own call-sign, 3AL, followed by the station sign of the man whom I had so often tried to get. I was so excited when he had finished calling that my telegraph key developed a stutter, and it was some few seconds before I was able to straighten out (Continued on page 40.)

In the Early Days

(Concluded .from page 1,) my Morse. "Next afternoon I got into touch with an Italian, and the. foilowing afternocn I was talking to 2LZ4Z, England... ." No wonder, then, that article after article has been contributed to the world’s Press, dealing with what many writers have called the romance. of ‘radio. Like many another amateur, Mr. Dawson rarely shook hands with Morpheus before three o’clock in thé morning. None will deny that his achieyements are not commensurate with the long hours he devoted to research. The short-wave set which the ©. A. Larsen took to the Antarctic was a replica of the one used by the Government station at Awarua, a product of the skill and patient labour of Mr. Dawson.

On more than one occasion his little transmitting set at Ashburton was used for humanitarian objects. One Sunday morning. an Ashburton resident lay dying. A.close relative was in Auckland at the time, but could not be warned because the post office was closed. Mr. Dawson. realised the set he was then using -could not hope to reach Auckland, but he nevertheless transmitted a call in the hope that someone would hear and relay it. A Wellington resident listening-in at the time heard the distress eall from 3AL and sent a telegram immediately to Auckland, thus enabling the Auckland relative to leave by the evening mail train, Commonplace to-day, maybe, but then .-. .. Looking through a few clippings the other day, the "Record" observed some notes about another stalwart-Mr. Ralph Slade, who used to operate Z4AG, described then as "one of the best-known stations in New Zealand." Of Z4AG it was said "the station was built strictly for work and not for appearances, and the way the parts are suspended tends to give one entirely new views on the supporting capacity of thin air.’ It would be amusing to hear Mr. Slade’s views on his old station, and interesting to hear the stories of his early morning endeavours to reach some far away country.: How many of us, as we switch on our multi-valve sets, reaching with electrical fingers toward the transmitted beams of some foreign station, think, or even know, of those other days five, six or more years ago when the Dawsons, the Slades, the Bells, the O’Mearas, the Jacks, the Orbells slaved with enthusiasm-the enthusiam which inspires people to lose their sleep to the common good?