News and Views of the D.X. CLUB

Radio Record, Volume IV, Issue 33, 27 February 1931, Page 11

News and Views of the D.X. CLUB

Addresses and Addresses Wanted ’ IP" (Dunedin): ZL2XY, ¢e/o Collier and Beale, 70 Ghuznee Street, Wellington. ‘ A. H. (Bay of Plenty) would like * to correspond with ZLDX (P.N.) and with a short-wave enthusiast ‘in Canterbury, Identification Wanted At 12.15 am. on Feb. 16 station heard on approximately 380 metres (790 Hymns "Blessed Redeemer" and "Come, Holy Ghost, Our Souls Inspire," prayers, and apparently an inyocation with organ accompaniment. Finally the. National Anthem was sung by a choir with organ accompaniment. Strength about slight fading, No call was given, — ‘Also, unknown American on 1YA’s. frequency often heard faintly behind that station. He’ may be heard on 1YA’s silent day until about 8 p.m. Call sounds like "KHJ," I would like to hear from "R.J.R.," Palmerston North. as he seems to be able to receive

the stations that I can hear-

Dink

Helensville

Did any. DX-er hear the Boston station on 808 metres (990 k.c.) on the 10th giving the call WBD? It may possibly have been "WBZ," allowing for accent, but I don’t think that the Springfield station would announce Boston time. Just prior to 8 p.m. "Springtime in the Rockies" was played, and the announcer remarked that they were broadcasting from some hotel. 83YA then started its concert session and obliterated it. WTIC was heard testing the same evening.-W.S.K. (Nelson). American station heard about 8.30 p.m, on Feb. 2 on about 770 k.c. (389 m.). Call-sign sounded like "WGBM, Chic-

ag0 "3

Ocol

(Hawke's Bay)

{Probably WBBM, ‘tlass Company Ine., Chicago, Illinois, operating on 770 k.c, (889 metres), with a power of 25 k,w.-Ed.] American heard at 8.50 p.m. on Feb. 14 operating on 260 metres (1130 k.c.). He was just closing down and I heard the announcer say: "By the Radio Cornoration of Americas." Wonld this be

WNBR ?

Red Bird

(Wellington).

{No. WNBR_ operates on 1480 k.c. (209 metres). You cannot hope to have your station identified when such scanty particulars are given.-EHd.] Stations Identified H.F.A. (Masterton): Station 2 deg. above KGO heard on the 9th is WBBM, Atlass Co. Ine., Chicago, Mlinois. I also heard the concert and the handclapping, ete. Paul Whiteman’s orchestra was mentioned occasionally. Address of 83ZR, Greymouth, is: 5 Cowper Street. T always understood that WEXNR was "The Voice of Chicago," but on referring to my last letter from them I find WENR is "The Voice of Service," and their address is Great Lakes Broadcasting Co., 20 North Wacker Drive, Chic-ago.-J.0.8. (Beckenham). Cromdale (Otago): I also heard station giving call-sign KFTB on approxi--mately 236 metres (1270 k.c.) on the 15th, when he stated he was testing until 5am. W.R (Morrinsville) : Station heard on eh "would be KGB. San Diego. Cal., owned by the Pickwick Rroadeastine Co.. oneratineg on 18646 Ire.

(99% matres)

W.S.

K.

(Nelson).

* "Red Bird" (Wellington), L.A. (Pahiatua), and others: ZL2XY is an exerimental transmitting station at pregent testing in Wellington, It operates

on approximately 1125 ke. (266 metres) with a power of 250 watts. Address: C/o Collier and Beale, Electrical HDngineers, Ghuznee Street, Wellington. No definite schedule has been arranged.-Hd. J.C.8. (Beckenham), 83ZR, Greymouth: I heard the items mentioned myself. They also announced that they were indebted for the earthquake news to the "Grey River Argus.’"-W.A.O. (Sydenham). "Qatchem" (Wellington): 1ZR Auckland, operating on 1090 ke. (275 metres) with.a power of 100 watts. Address: C/o Lewis Hady, Ltd., Queen Street, Auckand. 6 ys reply to "Iilocycle" (Auckland) and "Scotchman" (Whangarei), and

others, 3ZR Greymouth, power 50. watts, operating on 830 ke. (861 metres). Address, M. E. Spiers, 5 Cowper Street. D.W.H. (Masterton): ZL2XY, ¢/o Collier and Beale, 70 Ghuznee Street, Wellington. "Mark" (Dunedin): WMBI, Moody Bible Institute, Chicago. H.F.A. (Masterton): Station you have as WBEN (780 ke.) is WBBM, Chicago, ‘770ke., 550 kw. I hear him almost every

night.-

J.P.

C.

(P.N.)

DX Topics ON the 15th KRLD, Dallas, Texas, was heard at splendid volume on 1050 ke. (286m.). Is there a list of American stations in kilocyecles in this year’s

"Guide" ?

T.G.L.

T.

(Wellington

[Yes. There is a list of over 300 of thése with full particulars of each. This, however, is only a portion of our comBat and up-to-date call-book section.ON the 12th I heard WTIO, Hartford, Connecticut, at good volume with a test programme. He was on 660 ke. (454 metres). According to the latest callbook he should be on 288 metres (1060 ke.), The next evening on the previouslymentioned frequency I heard WEAF,

New York City, testing, also at good speaker. strength-J.C.S. (Beckenham). RECANT loggings include KVOO, Tulsa, Oklahoma, on 1140 ke. (263 metres), and WJDK, Jackson, Missisippi, on 1270 ke. (236 metres). On_ the 17th at 8 p.m. WSAI, Iowa City, Iowa, on 880 ke. (841 metres) was coming in at good strength. Its power as given in the latest call-book is’ only 500 watts. It is owned by the State University of Iowa. JFTIONVY. Wellinston. on 1110 ke. (270

metres) is received well here-

N.

J.

(Masterton).

RECENT additions to my log are WMAQ, Chicago, 670 ke. (447m.), WHAF, New York, 660 ke. (454m.), and WTIC, Hartford, "Connecticut, on 1070 ke, (280m.). On the 12th I jogged a latter testing on approximately 660 (454m.). T notice. 2ZD. Masterton. wa

-back on the air on the 16th.

B.H.

B.

(Masterton).

"QHORTY" (Wellington): I also reeeived WIJBX, Jackson, Missouri,’ on Jan. 29. At 8.37 p.m. he played two well-known foxtrots. Have written for

verification.

A.W.

H.

(Westport).

D N.A. (Timaru): Gives the address * of WIDX as Jackson, Missisippi.

This should be Missouri.

A.

B.

(Gis-

borne

Verification from JIAA. LLOWING is a_ .letter received from JIAA, a Japanese short-wave station, L.W.R. (Waitara) :-"I _re‘eeived your kind letter with thanks, This station, JIAA, belongs to the Department of Communications, and JIAA is only the experimental telephonic transmitter. JIAA has two frequencies, one is 7880 ke. (38.07m.), and the other is 15,760 ke. (19.036m.), and the antennas are directed to America and Europe, ete, The antenna of America is the beam one with reflector, which has two bays and 82 horizontal radiating parts. The antenna power is about 5kw. Well, I will close here. If you let me know by card when you receive my signal I am very much obliged-Hidewo Hikutami (Hn-ginner-in-Chief) ,"’ Unusual Conditions. STATION KWKH, Shreveport, Indiana, was picked up on 2BL’s frequency after the latter closed down on January 27. WOAI, San Antonio, Texas (near 3ZC) was also picked up recently , hh

with fair clarity, Of particular interest was an announcement concerning a mes-, sage received from Wellington, N.Z., of the disastrous earthquake at Napier, Reference was made to an estimated heavy death-roll, and to Napier’s position and population. Although situated on the sky-line in an elevated part of Wellington (where I should expect favourable long-distance reception) I had almost despaired of receiving American stations, and it is singular that at this time of the year these should be coming in clearly for the first time during the six months or so that T have had mv set fan Ravalva

a.C.

P.W.

G.

(Wellington

Verification News. I FOUND February 16 a great night for American reception. I logged three. new stations: KRLD on 1070 k.c. (280 metres), KFWB on 950 kc. (815 metres) and WBBM on 770 k.e. (889 metres). All three were coming in at full loudspeaker strengthh KEFOX was simply booming in. I have just received a letter of verification from KGHR, Long Beach. ‘This station operates on 1360 k.c. (220 metres), with a power of 100 watts. At the time of writing they had decided to increase their power to 1 kilowatt, so that in future KGDR should come in with more volume A verification card from 3ZR, Greymouth, states that this station has a power-. of 50 watts. They did not state their wavelength. Does anyone know what frequency they have been allotted? Many thanks, ‘"‘Keijo" (Invercargill),.for your information re JOKK. I wonder if the "Record" would be good enough to publish a list of "B" class stations? So many seem to have gone off the air lately and new stations have come on that I'm sure it would be a great help. to all of us. Did anyone stay up to listen to the rebroadcast of the new Vatican station at Rome? Reception was wonderful here.-‘‘Cockney" (Inglewood). [Owing to the copyright problem, the position of most of the New Zealand "B" class stations is at present very uncertain. Hence a list of these would probably be out of date a week after publication. However, in a few weeks’ time the position should be more definite, and your request will then be aitended to.-Hd.] Recent Loggings. N a recent issue "HW.0." (Christchurch) remarks he heard KRLB. On February 15, at 10 p.m., I heard an Ameriean testing, and he distinctly announced KRLD, Washington. Is there a KRLB also? [No. Also, location of KRLD is given in latest call-book as Dallas, Texas-EHd.] At 7.80 p.m. on 18th, I heard an American closing down. He gave the time as one o’clock mountain time, and gave his call as KDYL. What is his location? [Intermountain Broadeasting Co., Salt Lake City, UtahKid.] Algo American 2 degrees aboyt HCL, Adelaide, heard at midnight on 16th, broadcasting banjo items. An-

nouncer spoke about a new type of oilburner made by International Oil Co. Call WR-., emainder drowned by static. Is this WRVA, Virginia?--

Candidus

(Timaru).

News from KOA, 1 HAV® just received a card from Station KOA, the address of which is National Broadcasting Co., Inc., Denver, Colorado, operating on a wave-length of 361.2 meires, 880 kilocycles. On weekdays they broadcast between the hours of 7,00 am. to 12,00 midnight, mountain time. Further, I have a letter from the manager of Cosmopolitan Hotel, Denver, Colorado (from which place Station KOA. broadcasts each Monday, Iriday and Saturday), stating that my° renort to tham was tha fret rpraraived

from such 2 distance.-

W.

B.

(Gisborne),

A Wrently Identified Station. N last week’s issue "K.M." (Kaiapoi) identifies a station on 2YB’s frequency as 2KY. Iam quite sure he is wrong as I get 2KY very well, but 6 degrees below BYA. 2NG, Newcastle, is on 2YB’s frequency, so no doubt 2NC was velaying 2KY. 2YB reads 15 on my set, and 2KY 31, so they are well apart. I think. the station "Amure’"’ was inquiring about is K'TM, Los Angeles, operating on 780 k.c., just below QG, The announcer mentioned that KTM operates on the same frequency as a Mexican station (I don’t remember the eall-sign), so no doubt the Mexican was the station "H.C." (Christchurch) was inquiring about. Like "Redbird" (WelJington), I have had a Jap. near 4QG,

but after waiting have got no eall-sign, He comes in very loudly after 11 p.m,

New Healiand time-

M.

S.

(Onura).

Phenomenal Reception. ECEPTION has been excellent down here for this time of the year, and augurs well for a good DX winter, I received a few U.S.A. verifications last week, among them being KGW, WBOQ, KWK, EVI, KJR and On February 15 I "logg ged KEBB on a special test programme, and KRLD was received at maximum strength on a recorded programme, on short-wave has been excellent, and many of the U.S.A. amateurs have been heard ga phone on the 80-metre band. Allow me to enter a protest with regard to the stations which were taken into consideration for the DX Cup. I contend that the Australian stations as well as the Japanese should be barred from the competition, and it be restricted to the receiving of U.S.A. stations. The other night I logged 82 Australians in a little over an hour after waiting for the call-signs in each case, I have sent over requests for verification to some of the smaller Aussies, but have never had a reply. With regard to the Japanese stations, one may spend the best part of two hours trying at catch a eall-sign. It has often puzzled me what items the DX fans state they hear when writine to the Jans for verification.

D.T.

H.

(Timaru)

{The majority of DX-ers appear to favour the inclusion in the competition of Australian "B" class stations, for in most cases they are not easy to log, especially in some localities. You were extraordinarily fortunate in getting cailsigns at the rate of one in two minutes. Our experience has always been that one is lucky to get the call of a weak station in half an hour, and of the Australian total of 37 stations, 12 are under 50 watts.-Ed.] .

Continental Loggings, (CONGRATULATIONS to Mr. Peters on his verification from Bratislava. This is the station (which I mentioned in. September 26 issue), from which I heard some splendid violin playing. The announcer said, as near as I could make out, "Wee sama, callama etercme." As I: didn’t know as much then as I know now, I could not write for verification. However, I wrote to Bucharest, the sta-. tion Mr. Peters mentions on 760 ke., as also did M.B.S. (P.N.), just about the same date, so I am living in hopes. RJR. (P.N.): I received verification from JIZS, Auckland, a few days ago. Power 5 watts, operating on 1420 ke, (211 metres). "Cromdale’ (Otago) : The two stations you mention, KFTB and WTHI, must be KSTP, St, Paul, Minnesota, 1460 ke., and WCHI, Chicago, 1490 ke. It is so easy tO get them wrong in the announcing. I have logged them both. "Sereen Grid" (Opunake) mentions the booklet he received from WBBM, Chicago. It is even more interesting than he says. It contains.a log of every American station, their power, and location. I would advise anyone hearing this station to write for verification to WBBM.

if only to get this booklet.

J.P.

C.

(PN)

[Yes, J.P.0., we accept your kind of-fer.-Ed.] P.C.J. Testing HE Dutch shortwave station, PCJ, is at present conducting a series of interesting experiments with various aerial systems, in order to improve the reception of its signals in various countries. ; Philips’ Wellington office will appreciate reports on reception of this station from any New Zealand listeners. Reports received so far include one

from the Heinrich Hertz Institute of Berlin, another from the Rajah of Secundarabad, with a third from the Vice-Regal Office of India. Short-wave Stations Listed Wavelengths OR the convenience of the huge band of shortwave listeners in New Zealand, the most important shortwave stations are tabulated below. There are, of course, @ great many more shortwave stations operating than those tabulated, but their power is too small and their operating hours very irregular, so that One can never be sure of picking up their signals. Wavelength, Station, 15.02 LSG, Buenos Aires. 15.94 PLB, Bandoeng, 16 XDA, San Lazaro (Mexico) 16.8 PCK, Kootwijk. 16.8 PLY, Bandoeng. 16.9 HSIPJ, Bangkok, Siam, 19.56 W2XAD, Schenectady. 19.72 WS8XK, Pittsburg Hast, 21.3 San Lazaro, Mexico. Rome, 25.58 G5SW, Chelmsford. 29 Paris Experimental. 31.28 PCJ, Hindhoven. 81.38 Zeesen, Germany. 31.48 W2ZAKF, Schenectady. 82 San Lazaro, Mexico. 82.5 Paris, Hiffel Tower, 49.18 W3XAL, Bound Brook, U.S.A 49.83 W9XF, Chicago. 52 AFL, Bergedorf, Germany. 80 8RO, Rome.