Radio Round the World

Radio Record, Volume V, Issue 11, 25 September 1931, Unnumbered Page

Radio Round the World

GERMANY and Britain are running. very close in the race for the fourmillionth receiving license, Although’ the population of the former country is considerably larger than that,of Britain, the license figures remain remark: ably close. On July 1 Germany had 8,719,594 registered listeners, while the British: total on the same date was 8,756,331. No wonder the B.B.C. canpay their way. iy UST as "Radio Paris" was about to give a running commentary on a motor race recently, the Post Office authorities, without warning, took possession of the telephone line which bad been hired for the occasion, with the result that the commentator poured his lurid story into a "dead" microphone. No reporter was present when he learned the truth. * * * jt is reported in. the London "Times" that Marquis Marconi is devoting much time to the perfecting of some standard commercial short-wave receiving apparatus. He is also said to be preparing tests of the practical value of waves a few centimetres in length, . with a view to their application to some special ship-to-ship and shore-to-shore wireless safety device, principally to establish the accurate position of vessels in a fog. * a * "A NOVEL and enterprising business idea is carried out by a South African radio dealer. Mothers desirous of going shopping can leave their children

at his store, and the proprietor amuses the youngsters with a wireless entertainment during the parents’ absence. ° s oi wn . Sup letter telegrams at a reduced rate are now accepted aboard ships at sea for transmission by wireless to Ruglish post office coast ‘stations and thence by post to the addressees. The service is at present available only in the ship-to-shore direction, and reply telegrams to ships can be sent only as ordinary radiograms, The charge for a ship letter telegram is 38d a word, with a minimum charge of 6/3 for 25 words. bd * x HE Glasgow Municipal Transport Committee recently adopted a scheme which, it is thought, will eliminate all tramway interference with broadeast reception. The scheme _involves the scrapping of nearly 1000 trolley wheels at present used for picking up current, and replacing them with Fischer Bow collectors-a type which has passed rigorous tests in Budapest, Vienna, Leipzig, and other Continental

cities, and was the subject of a fayourable report by the British Post Office two or three years ago. An English contemporary states that Glasgow’s example will shortly be followed by many other municipalities, "THE Duke of York has completed a two . screen-grid receiver, witn which he listens to European stations which, when they hear him tuning in, preface their announcements’ with ‘Your Highness, ladies and gentlemen.’ " -Australian paper. Comment would be superfluous. * * ® S a first step toward the establishment of America’s international relay broadcasting service, the Federal Radio Commission has just authorised the formation of the Short Waye Broadcasting Corporation with four channels with which to commence operations. The corporation’s first object is to furnish programmes to the Latin-Amcri-

ean countries during 1981; but arraneeM ments are already. in hand for ‘supplying a service to Jupan,; China, and the Far Bast, as well as certain countries in Europe. The: nucleus of. the system will be a new 15 kw, station located on the eastern seaboard. ‘The wayelengths to be used will be 49.67, 25.42, 19.67, and 13.97 metres, SfUDENTS of the Budapest Technical School recently constructed a shortwaye transmitter and. receiver for the purpose of broadcasting a running commentary on the Budapest University boat race. The transmitter, which was carried in a boat following the rival crews, operated on 41.5 metres with a power of 10 watts, and the description was picked up on.a receiver contected to a public address system. ? HW N.B.C. of. America recently announced that in the near future it will make a_ serious of. awards amounting to several thousands of dollars for the best orchestral work written by an American composer. In a preliminiary announcement of | the competition, made by Mr. H. L. Aylesworth, the president of the N-B.C., he stated that the relationship between music and radio must .be close and continuing for their mutual advantage. "Music, the only true international language, needs no translation. It has been a leading factor in the tremendous growth of broadcasting," he said, "and as. good businessmen, the officials of the N,B.O. have decided that this -debt sliould be acknowledged in some tangible manner."