notes and Comments

Radio Record, Volume IV, Issue 10, 19 September 1930, Page 28

notes and Comments

B

SWITCH

ONE of the neatest and most effective broadcasts of an instructional nature transmitted by the "YA" stations is the "farmer dialogue" from 4YA Dunedin, On a recent Wednesday evening "Switch" tuned in the Dunedin station and listened to this feature. The material was most instructive and logically expounded, while the conversation between, the two farmers was most natural. LATELY New Zealand listeners have missed the Monday night broadcast ftom Sydney of the community

2 ee ee ee eeE-eeeeEeeEeEeoreorereieeelwOOOOCEO°. SE EO OOO O_O EE singing in the Ashfield Town Hall. The night was changed to Thursday, and, instead of 2FC Sydney being the relaying station, 2BL Sydne} was substituted. The master of ceremonies was, as usual, in great form, and kept his listeners and those present in the hall in a happy humour. EW ZHALAND is so well supplied in rural districts with electric recticulation that very few battery-model receiving sets are now stocked or sold by radio dealers. In the United Statesconditions are widely different, for, of nearly six-million farms in that country, only 7.2 per cent. have an electrical supply. Thus the American radio trade still finds a good market for bat-tery-operated sets. "THE other day the writer’s advice was sought by a Wellington listener, who was greatly disappointed with his reception of "outside" stations. He was inclined to blame his new a.c. receiving set, which, by the way, is a first-class instrument.

"Switch" examined his friend’s equipment and found the aerial hardly worthy of the name. It was scarcely higher than a clothes’ line, When the aerial was raised to 30 feet-above fences, shrubs, and buildings-the "outside" stations came in with exceptional volume. When will beginners realise that a good aerial is an essential? FoR many years radio in Western Australia has been practically at a standstill. One of the reasons urged by listeners was the abnormally long

wave-length employed by 6WI', Perth, was beyond the tuning range of sets. Eventually the wavelength was reduced to 435 metres, and the number of, listeners increased considerably, but until eleven months ago, owing to the indifferent programmes, there were still only 3888 listeners in Western Australia. Programmes were then improved, and the number of listeners in that State now totals 6625. The Western Australian station can usually be heard in the vicinity of midnight on the loudspeaker in Wellington. ANOTHER small broadcast station will be on the air in Victoria in about six weeks’ time. It is being in-

stalled at Geelong, about 50 miles from Melbourne, and will have an aerial input of 50 watts. The wavelength is to be 214.2 metres, Who will be the first to log the newcomer? oo ( PooR quality of reception, which one occasionally hears, may, ‘in a number of instances, be found to be due to worn-out valves. The writer had brought under his notice recently a set which "gurgled" slightly on the shorter wavelengths of the broadcast band, and it seemed as though some of the stations had fallen off in power. After a series of careful tests of the various valves in the set, an a.c. model, it was discovered that the power valye had dropped considerably in emission. A new valve was inserted and the set then performed faultlessly. A WELLINGTON youth, Master Wesley Chisholm, who has a;bent for wireless set construction, wor two first prizes at the recent Y.M.C.A, hobbies competition, his exhibits being a erystal set and a two-valve set. These make six first prizes that this young amateur has won for radio construction. He is now only 15 years of age, and has made a good start in life in the Wellington City Corporation electricity department. "QIWITCH" heard an announcement on the air that the Melbourne "Herald’s" broadcast station, 8DB, although burnt out by a fire which started at 5 o’clock in the morning, was substituted by a temporary station which commenced broadcasting on schedule time. It was rather unfortunate that two expensive microphones at 83DB were destroyed. "FT ELIX" (Lower Hutt) writes :/- "Could you kindly tell me the difference in time between New Zealand and Japan?’ About a fortnight ago ~ "Switch" heard the hour being struck in the studio of JOHK, Sendai, after the announcer had made:a statement in Japanese, which, when translated by a friend, proved to be an announcement of the time. This was checked up with New Zealand standard time, and showed Japan to be 2 hours 10 minutes beind, "'TURBINE" (Masterton) writes :- "Can you tell me what a Beveridge aerial is? Has it exceptional pro-. perties Kindly publish the data on it." This query has resulted in much research on "‘Switch’s" part, but he has not’ been able to discover the data required. The writer well remembers when the Beveridge aerial was first exploited. If he remembers rightly the aerial is about 500 yards longt 1pported by many posts, and is ng fairly close to the ground, about seven feet at its lowest point. A condenser (.00025 mfd.) at the distant end is employed for "tuning" the aerial. This aerial is amazingly sensitive, but is strongly directional and must be pointed in the direction from which reception is desired. "Switch" would welcome any further particulars from listeners regarding it.