Me and Little NRH

Radio Record, Volume V, Issue 7, 28 August 1931, Page 33

Me and Little NRH

"M2 and Little NRH,"’ by Amando Cespedes Marin, Heredia, Costa Rica, is an interesting book, consisting of 272 pages, with many illustrations. It starts with Cespedes’ first interest in radio listening, his troubles in obtaining parts in his country. The first components were bought from a junk store in America, and after building up 4 nice-looking receiver and inviting friends to come and listen, he had the usual luck that many of us have experienced, the darn thing wouldn’t work. Examination proved that the valves were dead, transformers burnt out, batteries flat, ete. etc. so he decided that cheap goods were not worth while, and sent away another order to New York, this time to a reliable firm, and in the course of time built up a receiver that worked. The book goes on to describe the w riter’s experience in logging distant programmes over the air and sending in ‘letailed reports to the stations responsible. This was ten years ago, when broadcasting was in its infancy and transmitters were working on very low power compared with the present day. Senor Cespedes goes on to describe how he decided to build a station of his own, not with a view to being heard all over the world, but to give the

population of his own small country a reliable local station. On account of such good results on a broadcast band, he decided to wy short waves, and was surprised to yet reports from the Panama Canal zone, and then from North and South America. Later they came in from still further away, till New Zealand and Australian listeners reported hearing music, bugle calls, the tic-tae of the clock, ete., from this wonderful little station, NRH. To show how NRH is received in New Zealand compared with the more powerful short-wave stations, an extract from the "Record" of Friday, May 25, 1930, is printed, giving the writer’s log for Friday, May 16, where NRH compares very favourably with other stations heard on that day. The book, which is very interesting from start to finish, is, as its writer describes it, "a lively, queer, and interesting story of the smallest radio station on earth, by Amando Cespedes Marin, its owner.’ It is dedicated to radio listeners, to whom NRH owes its wide fame. ---