The Mysteries of Short-Wave Listening

Radio Record, Volume IV, Issue 23, 19 December 1930, Page 7

The Mysteries of Short-Wave Listening

Educating the Listener

E have recently received from Mr, Ivan O’Meara, of Gisborne, -a copy of the International Short-wave Club’s magazine, an American jour nal devoted to the interests of the short-wave amateur. As an illustration of the intense interest taken in this fascinating branch of radio it may be stated that though this magazine was inaugurated only a little over a year ago it has extended. over..-the world. in a phenomenal manner. and now the membership covers 40° coun: tries and possessions. ara A The issue to hand contains jan illuminating article on short-wave: listening, in particular on the seemingly inexplicable peculiarities encountered by the unenlightened listener on: his first attempt in experimenting .on the higher frequencies. These difficulties are often quite enough to discourage the beginner, with the result that he finally discards his set in disgust. It is in explaining these mysteries of short-wave listening that the following article will be of great -assistance, either to those who are already in difficulties or to those who'.are contemplating taking up this comparatively new and different form of broadcast listening. ieee "THE new short-wave broadcast listener invariably finds tuning a short-wave receiver different from tuning a broadcast receiver, Many heretofore unknown features on the: broadcast band are common to the shortwave field. Some such things are fading, harmonics-and ‘skip-distance. Some say that bringing up such a matter is adverse to the growth in popularity in short-wave, but we feel that such matters should be discussed openly and thereby the listener will become educated to short-wave tuning, and by becoming educated will become a -better listener and a more satisfied owner of a short-wave receiver. "The short-wave field is just recovering from its first period of ‘over-sell-ing’ A few months ago the novice was taught to believe that all he needed to hear hundreds of overseas shortwave stations was to gather up all the old discarded junk around the home and wire it together in a haphazard fashion, and these stations would come rolling in. "Hundreds, yes, thousands, of experimenters became discouraged over the results obtained and have ever since been decrying instead of ‘boosting’ short-waves. The present-day shortwave receiver is a marvel of efficiency -compact, well designed and built, and in every way equal to the broadcast receiver. However, the acquisition of a good réceiver does not overcome the peculiarities of short-wave reception. . i "Probably the first thing the beginner must learn is that stations do not cover a very. large..space on the dials. The short-wave field covers a band of. frequency 25 times as large as the broadeast :band,..In- other words, the ‘stations on the broadcast band could. be put into a space of 20 degrees on

the dials of a common short-wave receiver. To pick up a station properly the dial must be set exactly to the centre .f the carrier wave. A dial may be set one-third of a degree away from a station and it cannot be heard. but if moved directly on the wave could bring in a good clear programme. "The first requisite to successful tuning is therefore ‘tune slowly.’ Do not skim over the dials and expect the station to come rolling in. Instead, put your regeneration control up to where a slight hissing sound is heard in the speaker, denoting oscillation, and then keep it near this point while you slowly revolve the wavelength dial. If the hissing sound dies out, then turn the control up again. You will then locate the station by a whistle. After picking this up, then detune the regeneration until the musi¢ or voice is heard best. A little practice soon ma’ * an expert on this.

"The second noticeable peculiarity of short waves is that but a few stations can be heard at one time, Regardless of whether a certain station is on the air at a certain time or how much power it has, you may not be able to hear it. Certain stations can onlv be heard at certain times of the day, and certain seasons of the. year, regardless of their schedule. Many foreign stations have never been heard in the United States. Short waves offer 24 hours of entertainment eack day, once you learn to tune. . It is -not a fact that you can get better results at night than at daytime, It is possivle that better reception may b had ‘ daytime. . "Broadcasting on short. waves. is confined mostly to four bands of frequeney, although stations may be picked

up at other points on the dials. These are from 14 to 18, 24 to 26, 30 to 32, and 48 to 50 metres. The beginner would do well to locate these bands, and search them out before tuning over the other »arts of the dials." |