Radio Round the World

Radio Record, Volume VII, Issue 15, 20 October 1933, Page 41

Radio Round the World

‘THERE are 500,000 licensed listeners in Australia an dthis figure represents a receiver in every third home. e eR * "THE Director of Gramophone Programmes at the B.B.C. has a staff of 17 assistants. . By e a »J APANESE radio listeners have been forbidden to tune to any programmes other than those originating at Government of Japan stations. > Cd * OLLAND’S latest transmitter is a 50 kilowatt station that operate on 1,875 metres or 206 metres ag desired.

RAv!10 low-frequency amplifying apparatus will be employed by the expedition leaving London next month with the object of "plumbing" the Tndian Ocean’s bed. In this type of apparatus a low-frequency impulse is sent from’ the ship to the bottom of the ocean and reflected back again, the time of transit affording an accurate measurement of the distance. . = a

[ all goes well Capetown and Western Province will be served by the most up-to-date station in the Union by the end of the year, made and erected by Marconi’s, on behalf of the African Broadcasting Corporation, . at Milnerton. The studio will be situated in a new building at the corner of Darling and Plein Streets. The station’s masts will be the 600 feet towers which were constructed for the South African Marconi Co. before the advent of the "Beam" system. * * s (GERMANY has made a comprehensive investigation of the possibilities of "sport reportage," and with characteristic thoroughness ‘has spared no trouble to make. German broadcasting reporters efficient. It is difficult to get men with an intimate knowledge of the game and a vivid power of des: eription, and a series of tests both novel. and stiff has been devised to test the capabilities of candidates for such | mostss. vy

(THE Breslau station will soon be giving regular broadcasts for the benefit of German schools in foreign countries. Breslau was selected for this purpose because it has been found that the transmissions from that station are excellently received over a large part of the globe. 2 @ e

[Ha new broadcasting house at . Zurich is to be inaugurated shortly. The last transmission from the old studio took place recently, Haydn’s farewell symphony being very appropriately played as the last item on the programme. Pending the opening of the new building, programmes will be broadeast from the studios at Berne and Basle. gS s 2 (THE B.B.C. have received about 30,000 poems intended for recitation before the microphone. Among those who gave utterance in verse form to their ideas and sentiments about broadcasting, the feminine element gramme of "unknown poets" will be compiled.

1 view of the mountainous nature of the country and its consequent unfavourable conditions for broadcasting on the medium waveband, the Swiss authorities had hoped to secure from the Lucerne Conference the allocation of a "long" wave channel. As this was not allotted to them they have decided to increase the power of both the Sottens and Beromunster transmitters. The necessary work to the alteration of the plant will be undertaken in the near future. The energy of Sottens is to be raised to 50 kilowatts and that of Beromunster to 100 kilowatts. ON of the most impressive demonstrations was that utilising the new electrical plant, known as an impulse generator, which gives million-volt sparks which may last only a millionth of a second, and which are in effect miniature flashes of lightning. A nuin ber of condensers are charged up in parallel at a voltage of about 100,000, and are then discharged in series

give a total voltage of about a million, and the discharge current available may be 10,000 amperes. The apparatus is normally used to test high-voltage insulators, but at the demonstration the discharge was applied between the ends of a piece of wood about 2 feet long and 2 inches square in cross-section; a nail was driven into each end to oDtain good contact. As the condensers discharged there was a flash and a loud report, and the wood was split from end to end without a sign of charring. s . ‘s [tz is believed that five out of every six listeners in Spain are "pirates." 2 2 2 THE Zionist Congress was to discuss the establishment at Prague by the Jewish Wireless Association of a station powerful enough to cover all Germany; the suggestion is said to be causing German officials some disquiet. A reporter, who interviewed the German Jew refugees, found that many oft them were setting up in the wireless business,