Short-wave News

Radio Record, Volume IV, Issue 31, 13 February 1931, Page 32

Short-wave News

Vatican Station Testing.; __ THE new Vatican City short-wave star. tion, of which So much has been written in the English and Continental radio Press, has at last come fon the air" with some very satisfactory -tests. The writer heard station for the first time on Wednesday morning at 5.45 a.m., when a male choir was received at good speaker volume, ‘with only one stage of audio, Several items were heard by ‘this choir till 6 a.m., when ‘ ‘Ffullo, hullo, is our volume all right?" ete., was called in excellent. Hnglish. . "Ffullo,, Paris!" . "Hullo, New York." "Hullo, London !" all the main cities of the world being called in turn, followed by "This is the, Vatican City testing.": The -wavelength was given as 50.26 metres. Reading tests in French, English, and Italian were carried ou _ It was that a rehearsal. would. take place on the 6th, and the station be opened on the 12th. Volume continued good till. about 7 a.m. Soon. after this station closed down. Similar tests have been heard each morning since, always at the same wonderful volume and clarity. According to the daily paper, His Holiness the, Pope will speak from this station on Thursday, February 12, at 3.30 or 4 p.m. As Rome observes Central Europe time, this will be equal to 2.80 or 3 a.m. on the following morning in New Zealand. If conditions are good, reception should be all that ‘could be’ desired. . KEQ,. Hawaii. ~ ME A, I. BREEN (Dunedin) . reports hearing KEQ, Kauhuka, Oaku, Hawaii, on 44.5 metres from 8.10 p.m. till 8.34 p.m, on January 30. Volume at best was R9. Rapid fading reduced readability to about 20 per cent. Orchestral, Hawaiian guitar, and vocal items were heard, News from U.S.A. WO9XAA is testing irregularly on "25.34 and 16.87 metres. W3XAL-W4JZ, 49.18 metres, revised schedule. Daily, except Monday, 4 p.m. til 6 pm. Tuesday, 10.30 a:m. Yin 11.45 a.m. Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday, 10 a.m. till 11 a.m., and Friday and Saturay, 40.30 a.m. till 11 a.m. Mr. Raymond M, Bell, Carlisle, Pa., USA. kindly sent this information. 42R0, Rome. ITHE ‘power of this station is 12 kilo watts. "Hours of transmission are: 4 am. to-6 a.m., and 7.30 a.m, to 10 a.m., N.Z, summer Short-Wave Station in Java, } Ge addition to the Government stations in Java, particulars of which were published last week, various radio societies transmit regularly between 11.40: p.m, and

2.40 am., N.Z. summer time, on powers varying from 0.3 to 1 k.w. The following are the most active :- PMY, Pandoeng, 58 metres, PKIiAA, W eltevreden, 74 metres, 49.7 metres, PRK2A¥F, Djocjacarta, 50 metres. Macassar, Celebes, 25.5 metres, an "PK2AG, Samarang, 95 metres. It is stated that the power of these transmitters will be considerably increased within a short time, Log for Week Ending February 7. RVs, Siberia, 70.1 metres-Hvery evening at good volume, | Vatican City, Italy, 50.26 metres-Test-ing each morning since Wednesday till about 7 am. Volume and quality excel- . 7LO, Nairobi, 50 metres (about) -Hach morning till 5.45 a.m. Then from 6 a.m. Volume about R5 on average, but readability always poor. W2XF, Chicago, 49.83 metres.-Till 7 p.m, each evening, R9 after about 5.80 p.m, WS8XAL, Cincinnati, 49.5 metres.This station has been testing lately at:a later hour than usual.. On Wednesday and Friday I found them best, reaching R9 with recorded music. Reports were asked for. On ‘Friday they signed off at 7.9 p.m, our time. WSXAL, Boundbrook, N.J., 49.18 metres.-The best American at present for volume and quality till 6 p.m. each day. R9 for last hour. W2XE, New York, oa metres.- Very weak at 5 p.m. on Radio Saigon, Indo-China.-From 11.30 p.m. Heard on Saturday only, when yolume as usual was .W8XK, Pittsburg, 48. 86 metres.-Sun-day, R3 at 4.45 p.m., increasing to R8 by 5 p.m., with very noisy background. HRB, Honduras, 48.62 metres.-Sun-day, best just before signing off at 5.5 p.m., when they were R5, but only 25 per cent. readable, ‘Radio Piacenza, Italy, 45 metres.Each morning good volume at 6 a.m. weaker by 7.30 a.m. JIAA, Japan, 37.5 metres-Monday, 9 p.m., R7, static, very bad. Typical Japanese and singing was heard. Static was too bad to stay more than a few minutes. \VK3ME, Melbourne, 31.55 metres.Saturday, from 10 p.m., test programme, consisting of records, relays of 3L0, a newspaper readings. Reception R9 one stage of audio. Quality very good. W2XAF, Schenectady, 31.48 metres.Sunday reaches R8 by 4.30 p.m., but very gushy. Saturday, with a programme, till signing off at 4.1 p.m.; quite good at R7. Zeesen, Germany, 31.88 metres.-~Hach morning; best about 6.30 a.m., but gushy each day recently; also a Morse station interfering. WIXAZ, Springfield, Mass., $1.35 metres signing off at 430 p.m., when they were Rb.