REVOLUTIONARY IDEAS IN RADIO.

Radio Record, Volume IV, Issue 18, 14 November 1930, Page 6

REVOLUTIONARY IDEAS IN RADIO.

REVOLUTIONARY ideas in radio, as indeed they are in any other science, are rare. Wireless has proceeded along a quiet orthodox path and the number of outstanding revolutionary ideas are indeed rare. To revolutionise there must ‘be a sweeping and sudden change that alters the whole character of things. In radio we can recall only one, the discovery of the thermionic valve. Its application to radio has meant the establishment of radio as. we have it to-day. Following it there has been a gradual evolution from the very simple circuit worked. out by Fleming and improved upon by De Forest until we have reached our present achievement. The progress has been an evolution but revolution-no. Improvements have been small and each year has seen its quota until to-day we’ have seemingly reached the possibilities:of the present systems. The same can be said of television, for it is realised that unless some discovery akin to that of the radio valve is made, television will mark time for a while yet. In both radio and television we are confronted by two serious problems that have been unmoved for many years, interference and the limitations of broadcasting channels. Now it is well known that if two stations are operating on a frequency less than 10 kilocycles away, a heterodyne whistle will interfere with reception. A case in point is 1YA which has been quite spoiled in many districts through the interference of an American station, which though it cannct usually be heard itself, is strong enough to spoil the transmission of the New Zealand station. In Europe and America, where there are many stations all on high power, the problem is acute and many conferences have met to discuss the question. Sharp checks are kept on the transmissions of all stations, and those erring even as little as 3 per cent. are brought to book. Many stations have had to go off the air through not staying on their allotted frequency. It has long been realised that the prevalence of atmospheric noises necessitated the increased power of stations if reception was to be troise free. But the amount of ether space has been against this, for

every listener knows the amount of interference even a five-kilowatt station like Wellington can cause, and what elaborate apparatus is necessary to eliminate it without lessening the sensitivity or impairing the quality of the received signals. inf These problems have been with us for all time and anything that would provide. a solution could bé looked upon as truly revolutionary, providing, of course, it was nothing of an extremely simple nature such as one of the anti-static devices that were heralded as reyolutionary in the early days of popularised radio. At the present moment a British engineer is demonstrating in America a system of transmission and reception which is claimed to allow of the operation of three times the present number of broadcasting stations, without interference on the broadcast band. If it is successful it will probably lead to the realisation of practical television and the solution to radio interference. We await with interest the results of these tests. Interesting though the system be and revolutionary it promises to be there are several factors that must be considered before it can become universal even though it should sutceed. The present masket must be studied though it is likely that receivers now in use coyld be altered to accommodate this new system even supposing it should be released within the useful life of these sets.