Notes and Comments

Radio Record, Volume IV, Issue 23, 19 December 1930, Page 12

Notes and Comments

By

SWITCH

NN December 14, 7ZL, Hobart, which incidentally is heard fairly well on occasions after 10 p.m. in Wellington, passed under the control of the Australian Broadcasting Company. No advertising matter, either direct or indirect, is now put on the air from this station. The number of licensed listeners in Tasmania now total 7600, and, despite the general depression, have increased greatly during the past year. = ™ x "Mac" (Newtown) writes to describe how he ascertained the relative amount of electricity consumed by his a.c. set, electric radiator, toaster, iron, and main house-lights. In his electric meter there is a revolving drum, and _by counting the number of times it revolved per minute when each of his electrie appliances was being tested for current consumption, he found that his radio set consumed only a small fraction of current as compared with each appliance. He has calculated that his radio set costs him:-only 3/- per month for electricity, although he listens in about ive hours daily. * * * THE falling-off in volume of the Melbourne stations, 3LO and 3AR, Was again apparent during the past week. The Sydney stations have been well up to standard, but 4QG, Brisbane, has lost its old-time clarity, being subject to frequent cycles of distortion and fading. The season and weather for this time of the year has been most exceptional, and until the normal type of summer weather sets in, all kinds of reception vagaries may be expected.

THE boxing relays through 2BL, Sydney, as heard by Wellington listeners, call for comment. The most important moments in these relays are consistently distorted and weak, as though someone were listening-in on the relay line. This was strikingly exemplified on a recent Saturday night when the speech from the Stadium ringside was particularly weak a moment prior to the switching back to the 2BL studio. The instant the announcer spoke from the studio, however, his voice rang loudly and clearly. Not three seconds elapsed in the change from one voice to the other. Trouble on the relay line itself, of course, may account for the peculiarity, but it seems more than a coincidence that reception falls off when anything important happens. = * = LAND agent whom "Switch" numbers among his acquaintances told the writer recently that he missed the

sale of a house recently because the prospective buyer found that the property did not permit of the erection of a satisfactory radio aerial, The buyer finally secured another property’ from another land agent, which, although not such a "bargain," afforded facilities for an excellent aerial. » ne % ‘HE above reminds "Switch" of a case which occurred some time ago When a Wellington resident sold his house and moved to another locality because there was so much interference from passing trams and local electrical noises. The purchaser of his first house was not a radio "fan," but 2 year later he joined the happy multi-

tude of listeners, and then he realised what was wrong with his property "snip." * * s LL this suggests that radio listeners, before purchasing a house, will some day obtain the services of a radiotrician to test the locality as to its possibilities for good broadcast recep- | tion. Some areas in Wellington are badly infested with continuous interference from electrical noises, and as they persist continuously, night and day, the sale of sets for "outside" reception in these areas is impossible. This is a matter which "Switch" coinmends to the radio trade for immediate action,

— ON some nights recently the Japanese . station JOHK, Sendai, has been coming in with unprecedented volume, although static was fairly lively. The fading, too, was only slight. A violin and pianoforte item was announced, and the Bnglish word "violin" was used, but. the equivalent in Japanese for "pianoforte" sounded nothing like English. The item was MBuropean, and was of a_ semi-classical nature, "Switch" learnt through an interpreter that it was played by Japanese performers, ; 2 * s "QWITCH" notices in last week’s "Record" that "D.N.A" (Timaru) mentions hearing a New Zealand B class station broadcasting for a considerable time without giving the call sign. This endorses a complaint re- * cently received by "Switch" from another listener that there is non-obsery-ance of the radio regulations concerning the giving of call signs. * * *. DPDERING Christmas the "YA" stations are giving us abundant music, commencing as they do at noon each day and remaining on the air till’ e at night. The radio traders have ample opportunity of demonstrating their sets, and holiday-makers within range of the "YA" stations can enjoy many hours of entertainment daily. s * = A WELLINGTON listener demonstrated to "Switch" recently the advantage of keeping an old-fashioned horn type of loudspeaker, with an adjustable diaphragm, in addition to his moving-coil electro-dynamic speaker. He found that the horn-type loudspeaker could: have its diaphragm so finely adjusted that he could hear speech from distant stations far more clearly than on his less sensitive electro-dyna-mic. " * * OMT broadcast commentators appear to have only an elementary idea of their duties. The man describing the motor-cycle racing at the Wentworth dirt track, Sydney, heard through 2BL Sydney recently, gave the colours worn by each rider in every race! There were other more desirable particulars which he omitted, but he seemingly thought the colours worn by each rider were an essential consideration.