Radio Round the World

Radio Record, Volume IV, Issue 11, 26 September 1930, Unnumbered Page

Radio Round the World

‘AN unoccupied motor-car, steered by radio from another car, recently made a successful tour of the principal streets of Barcelona. Surely a little unfair from the pedestrian’s point of view. The same distance to jump, and no one to swear at! , es a L ‘A SYSTEM has been devised by the Entomological Office of the Ameri-_ ean Department of Commerce whereby the exit from the hive of each worker bee is recorded by means of a microphone, amplifier, and registering needle which duly imprints its mark on @& sheet of paper. The bee-master may thus estimate the number of active workers in each hive. The number of stings will probably still be registered by the neighbours. . . * 8 ?TELEPHONIO communication between an aeroplane filying above Buenos Aires and the White. Star liner Majestic while nearing the English coast was successfuliy accomplished & few weeks ago. The plane’s transmission was picked up in Buenos Aires, relayed on short-wave to Madrid, thence by landline to France, followed by cable to Rugby, where radio was again employed for establishing communication with the Majestic. gs i a . Some months ago the wireless department of the Paris police over heard a conversation between a secret station in the North of France and & similar station in Paris. A request was made by the former that a certain message be conveyed to an American lady residing in the capital city. An investigation resulted in the discovery of three illicit transmitters, and proceedings were taken against the owners, not only for operating unlicensed transmitters but for the conveyance of messages for which the State holds the monopoly. ‘ % P HEART disease was correctly diagnosed by a doctor in America, after a "radio" examination of the heart of a patient in Madrid. A microphone was placed on the sufferer’s chest, and his heart-beats transmitted across the Atlantic to the listening doctor. Apropos of this, an English contemporary humorously asked: "Will the year 2000 see us, Robot-like, courting our sweethearts by means of graphs, records of pulse acceleration, and radio photographs of our heart action?" ¥ * * he Chinese Government has made a contract with one of Germany’s leading radio manufacturing firms for the erection at Nauking of one of the most powerful broadcasting stations in the world. It is expected to serve the whole area of the Chinese Republic. A group of prominent Chinese engineers has also been sent to Germany to inspect the stations of that country,

-_--_- "aa" OCCASIONALLY instances occur of _ the reception of radio programmes | by means of household utensils, kitchen stoves, and such like, but surely the’ most inexplicable occurrence . is that recently quoted by an Mnglish contem--porary. "Canon Peile, in a letter ring to the church at Bonavista, Nes foundland, remarks: ‘The’ new church hag @ copper roof, and in wet weather this roof, somehow or other, catches the ‘wireless waves from Canada and America. Standing inside, one can hear @ confused mass of wireless programmes coming across the air." It would certainiy be a rather difficult . business to concentrate on & sermon while a jazz vocalist was informing the congregation that she was "painting the clouds with sunshine." . . e + s . . "PIRAcy" appears to be rife in Bel- ~ gium, for though it is known that a@ quarter of 9 million sets are in use, only 10,000 licenses are in force. Drastie measures have recently been taken to cope with the situation. Failure to pay the license fee, which is only scven shillings per annum, is n0W punishable by 2 maximum penalty of 2000 francs and eight days, in gaol. & * g A "BATTLE of the ether" appears imminent between the high-power station in Moscow and those in neighpouring countries who do not altogether appreciate the propaganda transmitted by Soviet Russia. It appears that Germany has formally protested against the messages broadcast on May Day from Moscow to the "Policemen and "Soldiers of Germany," and Rumania has established a station which "jams" the Moscow station whenever it com--mences talking in Rumanian. A fur‘ther development is a report that Russia is planning a super-power station, for the purpose of drowning the religious broadcasts from Berlin with the "Godless hour" from Moscow and pre-. vent’ German settlers receiving Christian comfort from their fatherland. 4:3 Wnglish contemporary prophesies rather? cynically that when international disarmament is accomplished war will still be waged in the form of "slanging" matches through the medium of higher and higher-powered stations. . « % & IRELESS plays a conspicuous part both as an aid and a hindrance in the detection of rum-runners, in the United. States. On the one hand, we read of secret transmitters discovered by prohibition agents, and on the other of a sham SOS stating that the yacht in which the Mayor of New York was sailing was in peril. very coastguard patrol cruiser steamed full speed ahead to the rescue-and for two golden hours the rum-runners proceeded gaily about their precarious occupation without interruption. :