Radio Telephony with England

Radio Record, Volume IV, Issue 30, 6 February 1931, Page 7

Radio Telephony with England

t Service Still Experimental ARLY in December the: Post and Telegraph Department, with everything mechanical in order at this end, was advised from Australia that telephone speech would probebly be available between New Zealand and. England on December 10; later the date was postponed until December 20; and later still that it was postponed indefinitely because of certain static interruptions which were inconsistent with permanent anu reliable service. That does not mean that vocal communication with England from this end is not possible. Speech has heen made experimentally on more than one oceasion with England by the officers in charge. On such occasions it was % necessary for the tests for the. officer ‘ speaking at this end to know the voice’ of the man he was speaking with in England, because it was..essential in

judging the strength of the voice te know its natural quality, for the purpose of judging the efficacy of the service, for were the voice a weak-»or husky one, it would be no general. guide to work upon. That point was not a difficult one to overcome. The Chief Telegraph HWngineer (Mr. A, Gibbs) was able to establish communication with a man with whose speaking voice he was familiar; and though he was able to converse with him, it was not considered sufficiently satisfactory’ to ensure a telephone service that. would meet the demands of an everyday service for the general public. In the meantime the experiments are being continued, by way of Sydney, in the hope that the weakness in the connection may be overcome. That weakness apparently lies between Sydney. and England. New Zealand could establish a telephone service direct to Hngland, but that would mean rather heavy cost in new apparatus, which is not considered justified at present, particularly in view of the prevailing economic conditions. Toll Calis. EOPLE in New Zealand are apt to complain at times about the cost of telephone calls. These — rates in the Dominion, however, are cheaper than they are in any other part of the world, which in view of the comparatively small population, may be regarded as an achievement. Australian charges are closely akin to those in New Zealand, but as the distances grow greater the Australian charges jump a little ahead of those in New Zealand, while those for the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and South Africa are very much higher than they are on this side of the globe. To take one instance, for a toll call 400 miles (three minutes) the charge in New Zealand is 5/+, the charge in Australia is 5/3, in the United Kingdom 6/6, in the United States 8/-, in South Africa 8/