RADIO Round the World

Radio Record, Volume VI, Issue 5, 12 August 1932, Unnumbered Page

RADIO Round the World

‘SOULE aoe — HE International Broadcast Union has decided to install at Brussels a new instrument for recording on paper the tendency of any particular broadeast station to over-modulation. ‘This is resultant upon many complaints of interference arising from over-modula-tion, laid before the union’s recent annual meeting held at Montreaux. Dd ot Da JOR the nineteenth successive year Mr. Hiram Percy Maxim, the wellknown inventor, has been elected president of the American Radio Relay League, which he founded in 1914. : * # (HE youngest amateur transmitter in America is not yet 10 years old. He operates a 5-watt station in California, which ‘he built from informa: tion supplied by the American Radio Relay Leagne. His father was an jamateur in 1910. 2 2 Rn 2. RECENT yisitor to Leningrad states that it is difficult to escape propaganda in that city." The task will be still more difficult in future, as the authorities have ordered an additional 82,000 loudspeakers to .be installed in factories, clubs, and in the streets. = % TF the plans of the British Post Office materialise there will be a chain of sinall wireless phone stations installed in fishing craft, yachts, and other sinall eratft around the coasts of Great BritQin and Ireland. A British company is offering two types of transmitters. one of 300 waits and one of: 60 watts Messages from the craft will be receiv ed at special receiving stations and telegraphed to their destinations. bod S o TIERE is a proposal afoot in Great sritain to installa powerful broad casting station on board an old ship which will be anchored outside British waters. The station will be used for advertising propaganda intended — for British listeners. a ES * T the end of last year there were 81,859 amateur transmitters registered in the U.S.A. The increase of 40 per cent. upon the previous year’s total which this represents is ascribed to "freedom from discouraging regula. tions." : . = g n HE radio equipment of the famous Sing Sing Prison was made and installed by a convict of -the gaol There are 2300 radio head phones and 21 loud-speakers distributed thronghout every cell and building of the prison, The new and oid buildings cover several squere miles, but all are connected to a central radio receiving set controlled by an official. a a bad HERE are more than 20 million houses in the U.S.A, wired for electricity, and it is estimated that 15 millions of these have radio receivers installed. This information has been supplied to the Manutacturers’ Association, which intends making an effort to supply the remainder with radio. The fact that many electricity

OC ia A ee | a supply firms have increased profits during the depression encouraged the manufacturers to expect large selon during the coming winter. a HE National Advisory Council of. Radio in education in the U.S.A. has reported that while not defending in the slightest degree the method. by which American broadcasters obtain their revenue, the council is: of the opinion that a license fee collected by the postal administrations in other countries is not ideal. It is further reported that in this comparatively young art or industry, this is to be expected, and the ideal cause is still to be sought. . ut 2 HEN Sir Charles Kingsford Smith flys the Tasman next month his plane will be equipped with a radio telephone housed in a -sound-proof cabin. The whole apparatus will weigh under 2001b. and through a land relay. station listeners throughout the world will be kept in. constant. touch with the plane. Ina recent interview Sir Charles stated: "It will be a thrill for us, thousands of feet above the sea and miles from anywhere, to sit in comfort and talk to thousands of unseen people." Qo o a

{tT is estimated that it will cost the Grimsby Town Council £25,000 to convert D.C. radio sets to A.C, in their proposed change over to A... current supply. As half the listeners do not use miins sets,.it was proposed to charge radio users a fee of four shillings per year for the privilege. This proposition, howover, met much opposition and was discarded. % BS Bd Il radio station of the League of Nations, like the League itself, is international in character. The shortwave transmitter, aerial, and telephone terminal gear are of British manufac: ture. A French company supplied_another transmitter, Germany is ‘Yesponsib] for the receivers and their aerials, and most of the power gear comes from Switzerland. t we st HE U.S.A. Department of Justiee is making a concerted raid on’ broadcasting and morse transmitters who have been aiding bootleggers. Any cryptic messages are copied over a period of several weeks, and submitted to. the Radio Division of the Department of Commerce. This has resulted in the discovery that several stations ave co-operating with liquor interests. 2 * % FROM the fifth annual report of the B.B.C., it is learned that the aggregate transmitting time was 63,466 hours 38 minutes, and the percentage of breakdown was 0.028, which represented a total for all stations for the year of only 17 hours 46 minutes, % * * un TIouse Owners’ Association of Austria has made a formal protest to Parliament respecting the recent introduction of gq weekly "Gymnastic

Hour" from the National Broadcasting Stations. It is held that the majority of. residents live in tiers of flats which are not built to withstand rythmical exercises on several floors. In the interests of chandeliers, the announcer has already advised caution, and emphasised the need for gentle movements. ‘THE American broadcasting station WCAU is to increase its power from 10 k.w. to 50 k.w., and use a vertical aerial 500ft. high. The earthing system will contain ten miles of wire. The Tennessee station WSM will use with its new transmitter a vertical aerial 878 feet high-the tallest aerial in the U.S.A. Following the usual custom, the towers will be lighted and beaconed so as not to be an obstruction to aviation. * + ¥ [* is reported from Cairo that caravans crossing the Sahara Desert nowadays usually carry wireless sets on the backs of camels. At several desert oases wireless receivers have been installed for travellers. Even some of the nomadic Arab tribes -ha their camps equipped with up-to-date portable sets. bd * * HP International Broadcasting Bureau at Geneva. estimates that there are 34,000,000 wireless receiving sets in the world, and the bureau, allowing four listeners to each receiver, gives the extraordinary total of 136,000,000 people making use of wireless broadcasting. "~ se

AKING income tax into account, and the decision of the B.B.C. to relinquish £150,000 of income for the fiscal year 1982-1983, it is estimated that the B.B.C. will receive rather less than five shillings from each license issued this year. *% % u Tun radio industry in America evidently has confidence in the future, for it is investing over two hundred million dollars in new machinery, dies, tools, raw materials, and other equipment necessary for the manufacture of radio sets. It is expected that the record of last season, when 8,500,000 sets and 50,000,00€ valves were sold, Will be easily passed in the coming year. ae De " (ONE of the most satisfactory features in connection with the new broadcasting regulations in Canada wis the intimation from the United States of America that they will be glad to make all necessary adjustments to render certain channels available for effective broadcasting in Canada. This friendly. attitude was gracefully acknowledged by the Prime Minister of Canada when speaking in the House Commons. a * % Pur result of the £2000 competition for symphonic compositions — snitable for broadcasting, sponsored by the National Broadeasting Co. of America, has been announced. A total of 573 scores were submitted for judgment, and 2 committee made a selection of the five most meritorious. These were broadcast and were placed in order of merit by 150 musicians scattered throughout America. When the compositions were presented later in their winning order, each composer briefly introduced his own composition. The winner of the second prize, who was in Paris, spoke to American listeners through a short-wave station in that city.