What the New Year holds for RADIO

Radio Record, Volume IV, Issue 25, 2 January 1931, Page 1

What the New Year holds for RADIO

In this outspoken article the likely features of the 1931 season are critically examined. Some are . classed as.improvements

and others are questioned. It is an interview with a gentleman well-known in N.Z. radio circles, who for various reasons wishes to remain unknown. .

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We = --- ~. LGHT from the onset, let me say I don’t know. No one ;| knows; there are some clear indications, but, like the weather, radio is likely to change without taking anyone -into its confidence. It has not done so for quite a long while, but there is no foretelling when it is going to do it again. . \: The year just passed has, more or less, been an uneventful one. It has seen the universal application of the screen-grid valve to the electric set, and this has made a receiver that is as powerful as noise will allow. Here we raise an important point. Can radio progress much further without a sweeping change that will carry ‘if its stride interference of all nature and, of course, static? Manufacturers and engineers are inclined to think not. "The modern retéiver is sensitive, it will bring in all the noise there is going, it Kis easy to operate, it has a fairly natural tone, and it can separate stations that are on adjacent frequencies, and unless one takes some care in dialling he is likely to cause distortion through the very simplicity and selectivity of the machine. — . i O much for’ the 1930 instrument. What ee are they going to do with it to make a -1931 model? There will no doubt be alterations in the design to make it look different-that is one of the essentials of any new models, whether it be motor cars or milking machines. Generally speaking, it seems that there is a great deal of waste space in the ‘modern set, and one of the advances of the new year will be to eliminate much of the waste. This means that the cabinets will .be smaller. And probably plainer, for set manufacturers are beginning to realise what furniture manufacturers realised many years ago, that the plainer the article the neater it looks and the more it will be appreciated by the housewife who has to keep it clean. Already there have been some of the new smaller machines on the New Zealand market, and the trade reports that they are taking well. QM. a couple of days.ago, I was in a wholesale warehouse and not help remarking that the sets appeared much smaller than they" were last time I was there a few months ago. It was then I was told that size was to be one of.the trends in 1931. This idea of smallness can be overdone, as it undoubtedly is with the midget sets. In many, not all, efficiency has been sactificed in order to preserve smallness, There is a certain amount of space required for components, which, if cramped, must be made less efficient, and this crowding has been carried to extreme in this receiver. Few of the big American manufacturers have brought out these small sets. In talking about the new sets we must mention the supergheterodyne, for according to. the reports in the American magazines this is to be a superheterodyne year. Actually the effect this "will have upon New Zealand sets is doubtful. Do we want superheterodynes? If so, why? We shall not stop to consider the technical features of the receiver; sufficient to say that it works on an entirely different principle from the usual set, which we chose to call

the "‘t.r.f."’ or tuned radio frequency. In the super-het. there are only one or two tuned stages-that really means condensers that we have to rotate when a station is desired-whereas in the t.r.f. set there were four or five. If these were not all in line, and it is difficult to keep them so all over the range to be tuned, much of the power of the incoming station or noise cannot be tuned in. With the superheterodyne this difficulty does not occur, and it is consequently a little more sensitive and a great deal more selective. But do we in New Zealand want sets more selective? In America and England, yes; but out here, where there are few stations, no. So there is no point in making our sets more selective, or, for that matter, more sensitive. But there are other "improvements" that the manufacturers are introducing. One is tone control. In plain language, this provides a means of making your set sound (Concluded on page 2.)}

The ‘New , Year’s Radio j (Continued from page 1.) "different from the studio presentation or the record. It consists of a device whereby the upper frequencies, those are the things notes of music are made up of, can be cut off. The music is then dull and heavy, with plenty of bass, and without sparkle or interest. "But," I can hear someone asking, "why do the manufacturers put these things on if they only introduce dis- . tortion?’ For the simple reason that they are asked for, and more than ‘that, are demanded. Someone tried a tone control last year, and the public found that when turned to the bass much of the noise that would otherwise "come through the set did not. And so tone controls had to be added by other manufacturers in orde~. to sell thei~ ' radios.’ Now many of the sets are com- ’ ing out with tone controls, while others -are coming without them. Like as many other devices, they are excellent if properly used, they can eliminate a great deal of static and power noise, and provide passable reproduction. Another important advance of_ the season which is not in the design of the set, but will meet with universal approval,. is the American idea of ~ "keeping the set sold." This turned into English means that manufacturers proVide means of having experienced technicians to look after the sets and keep . them in order once they are installed. Phis-is a very big forward move which alk listeners will appreciate. When a . Set is sold a card is sent by the pur- . chaser to the manufacturer, or, in our case,-to his agent, and when the hecesity eecurs another card from the consumer will bring along the service man. This, I think, is one of the greatest adyances radio has made for a long time. We have constantly advocated some such system, especially for country. listeners who have no means of _,.keeping their sets in order and who are more dependent upon them than are any other . listeners. It appears that this system has been in operation in at least U.S.A. for some considerable time, and has had a start here, but it has, with a few exceptions, hot been very fully developed. ' The Battery’ Set. VERSEAS manufacturers are beginning to realisé that there is ‘still a market for the battery set, and ‘that, like the electric set, must be kept sold. ‘Many firms are consequently | manufacturing complete lines of receivers from the battery set right up — .to the a.c, superheterodyne. ‘Some of ~-

these are finding their way out to New Zealand. Naturally they will not be inexpensive, for their design has meant considerable research on the part of the factory engineers, in some cases more so than the electric sets, as there are certain economies that must be observed. The screen-grid valve will be used with probably the new two-volt American valves, but there is a market in this country for a specially designed battery set.’ The valves are already here. It remains for some enterprising local manufacturer.to design such a set and market it. Of course one might already be in existence, but I haven’t heard of: it, and I know the market fairly well. Some good ones were manufactured .a year or so back, but ‘these manufacturers seem to have all gone "a.c." and the country listener has either to use an old model or one of the American ones that are fairly heavy on _ batteries. Generally speaking; the outbacks people do not want old models at £5 or lessthey want a modern ‘set, and are prepared to pay for it. .