"Radio Round the World"

Radio Record, 29 April 1938, Page 54

"Radio Round the World"

"ERISTAN DA CUNHA, the "world’s loneliest isle," now has a "world's loneliest radio station." Ever since its discovery and settlement Tristan da Cunha has been isolated except for occasional visits by ships, but now its value as a meteorological outpost is being investigated. Permission has been given for the use of the radio call sign ZOE for communication with passing ships and the call sign ZD9AB for shortwave experimental transmissions. HE Australian Broadcasting Commission has decided to broadcast talks about some of the great Australians of the past. These talks will be given, from time to time, in groups of five. The first series has started from 2BL on Wednesday evenings, at 9.10 p.m, Others to come are: May 4, Sir Grafton Elliot Smith, by Professor J. L. Shellshear; May 11, Dame Nellie Melba, by Mr. Lindley Evans; May 18, Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, by Mr. Norman Ellison. A COMPANY has been formed in the U.S.A, to start facsimile newspapers in that country, probably at Sacramento. Subscribers to the service will leave devices in their homes switched on all night, and broadcasts will take place at intervals from a radio station sending out printed news and possibly photographs, charts, ete. The receiver will print these messages as picked up during the night, and in the morning all the householder will have to do is to take out his radio "newspaper" from the receiver instead of from the letter-box. HE extent to which radio propaganda among the nations has grown is well shown by the following reply by Lord Cranborne to a question in the House of Commons, He said that according to the information available to the BBO, wireless programmes directed to listeners outside the country of origin and given or announced in languages other than that of the country of origin are at present being broadcast from Austria, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Holland, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Luxemburg, Poland, Portugal, Rumania, Spain, Switzerland, U.S.S.R., U.S.A,, and Yugoslavia, also Vatican City. England has since added its name to the list. WIRELESS manufacturers in Germany, following the lead of other industrialists, are making great efforts to produce synthetic substitutes for the various raw materials upon which they have been accustomed to rely. In the course of their researches industrial chemists and metallurgists have evolved many substances of considerable value in radio work. This applies particularly to ceramic materials. A new substance known as condensa has been produced having an exceedingly high dielectric constant, thus enabling highcapacity condensers to be made with very small physical dimensions. Another useful insulating material that has been produced is ergan.