OVER THE AERIAL.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 22, 27 January 1928, Page 14

OVER THE AERIAL.

<(r "PHONOS.")

Mr. Orbell, engineer-in-charge of the transmittitng plant at IYA, went South on annual holiday at the beginning of the week. He is being relieved by one of the assistants from the Southern stations.

3LO, Melbourne, a fortunate company with a fine revenue, provides many side avenues for holding its listeners. The latest is to offer a free trans-Con-tinental trip to Perth to two fortunate holders of licenses in Victoria.

It is officially announced that the Dutch short-wave station, PC.JJ, is now on regular transmissions (wave length 30.2 meters) every Wednesday and.Friday morning between the hours of 5.30 and 8.30, New Zealand time. It is presumed that this, for the present, means "Sidey" time.

Amalgamated Wireless has now taken Over control of radio telegraphy and broadcasting in Fiji. Programmes from these adjacent tropical isles must be. rendered under a severe handicap of very restricted available talent, but we should soon come into closer touch with the archipelago of sugar and bananas.

Radio is now being applied to a variety of commercial and industrial purposes. In San Francisco, or rather in a certain district of the city, radio waves are being utilised for the switching on and off of the current whereby street lighting is supplied. Though this method is yet experimental, most successful results have been achieved, and the economy in wiring justifies extension of the experiment. The wave used, 9000 metres, creates no interference with ordinary programme reception.

IYA closed down at 9.15 on Sunday' night, a-quarter of an hour before the usual time. -This curtailment of the Sunday evening programme was a source of disappointment to many who, in these times of do not tune in till 8.30 p.m. When extension of hours comes under review the question of a 10 p.m. night on the Sabbath should receive full consideration. It is the one evening of the week when almost every set is in operation.

In the opinion of Sir John Reitli. of the 8.8.C., it will not be possible, until there have been further scientific experiments, to fix regular dates and hours for the interchange of programmes between Sydney and London. He deprecates too much being expected from the result of the successful experiments that have already been carried out betweeu Sydney and London, and trusts that the further* experiments now being conducted will result in Empire broadcasting being placed on a more satisfactory basis.

What a profitable field the radio industry has opened up for the legal profession. It has barely been touched in this Dominion as yet, but our higher Courts may soon be invoked to make weighty pronouncements. In Australia many lawyers are engaged in wrestling with wireless _litigation, but Amcrica, the land of delayed actions at law, can claim the palm for radio lawsuits. There the trade commission attorneys have just completed their presentation of their case against the Radio Corporation of America, a case that was begun in 1D24. "Patent rights" and "monopoly" are the words that loom largest in this duel of argument that seems interminable.

Another development that has progressed beyond the experimental stage is the supplying of radio programmes over the telephone wires which almost everywhere connect American houses with an exchange. The private telephone services instal a special small receiver, and the telephone wires that carry ordinary gossip bring in at the same time selected radio programmes, while the conversational use of the telephone is not interfered with in any way. The scheme is rendered workable by using the so-called " inaudible" frequencies for radio entertainment, and the service, on a rental basis, is so economical that every telephone user can afford it, and avoid those special worries that the nontechnical set-owner finds so distracting.

Both the Canterbury Park Trotting Club and the Wellington Racing Club declined permission to broadcast recent racing events under their control. The Wellington Club brought the vexed question of relaying sporting events to a head by demanding payment for the privilege. It has every justification for this demand, seeing that relays from racecourses have been the one factor in the taking out of very many licenses. There may be advanced the argumerffc that very many sporting bodies permit of the free broadcasting of events staged by them, but on the other hand there is the undeniable contention that such bodies are thus contributing directly to the profit of a company that is itself a money-making concern, and that by allowing free broadcasting they are handing this company the thick end of the stick. Broadcasting of such an athletic event as the Dempsey-Tunney fight was not possible until heavy fees had been paid, and readily paid. The whole question in New Zealand is one that can best be settled by a full round-table conference of all interested, with a definite policy resulting therefrom.

The storm that has raged round the question of classical music has subsided, but it has left definite results in its wake. Last night the instrumental trio from IYA came well down to the level of the complainants, who say they cannot appreciate varied selections from the works of the great composers. Anv entertainment that depends for its existence upon catering for general public taste must accommodate itself to that taste, but it would be a ghastly reflection upon the standard of our musical appreciation were we forced down to the level of the "Bye, Bye, Blackbird" type of music in which quite a number of listeners would revel. Surely the jazz-loving element in the community is already sufficiently catered for. If those who complain so loudly were to study the wonderful programmes of the 8.8.C. they might realise that the best in music must have its place on any wellbalanced broadcast programme. A recent arrival from the Motherland only last night emphasised the remarkably beneficial effect that the continued presentation of good music had had in Britain, and though he himself has had no musical education, he admitted that radio had given him a true liking for music : which under other circumstances he might not even have heard.

WIRELESS NEWS FROM FAR AND NEAR.

TROUBLES IN RADIO RECEIVERS. The majority of wireless 6et owners are quite well acquainted with the "friend who knows all about wireless," and will on any pretext whatever crave permission to monkey round with their set. It is well for all to beware of this set. The reply of a well-known Auckland dealer to a client who came to him for advice and assistance after a so-called ''expert" friend had tried to improve his set is well worth noting. He said: "Yes, I only know of one street in Auckland where i there is not at least two 'experts,' and I that's a street in Parnell with only one J house in it, and that's empty." This reply is very correct, and gives the answer to quite a lot of listeners' troubles with their sets. The average so-called expert is only interested in altering other people's 6ets to suit his own ideas, and the result in the majority of cases is trouble. If your receiver is a factory-built machine, and purchased from a reputable radio dealer, then you can be quite sure that it cannot be improved by anything a radio enthusiast can do to it. Possibly it may be "improved" 'to the extent that it may put one to a considerable amount of worry and expense. However, there are certain minor defects that are liable to happen with any set, and if one knows how to find and eliminate them then there is no necessity to call in the "friend who knows all about wireless."

Quite a common complaint is j "crackling noises." These may not be very serious, but still the average listener looks on his set as a musical reproducer, and not as a sort of new toy to play round with. Crackling noises arc often put down to "static," very often quite unjustly. The most common cause of this trouble is "B" batteries. This fault can be traced by taking a reading of the voltage of the batteries with a voltmeter. A 45-volt battery will give very poor service when the voltage drops to as low as 30 volts, and creates a considerable amount of noise if the voltage drops below 25. For the multivalve receiver it is false economy to buy small size "B" batteries, as these do not give the service. The largest "B" battery, though its initial cost is greater, is by far the most economical.

"A" battery terminals should receive attention periodically. Keep them clean and tight, and see that no corrosion is allowed to develop.

Audio frequency transformers are another source of distortion and crackling noises. It sometimes happens that a transformer will test out perfectly for continuity of the primary and secondary winding, and yet prove defective. Due to faulty insulation between different layers of the primary or secondary windings, a leakage of current may occur, causing a very small spark, which will cause quite a large noise in the loud speaker or 'phones. Eventually, of course, the transformer will burn out,

but may cause quite a lot of noisy interference for a considerable time before doing so. The best cure for this is to substitute another transformer for the suspected one, as it is not an easy matter to determine otherwise. Crackling noises are sometimes caused by outside interference, bot these are due to no fault of the set. The remedy for these, of course, is out of reach of the average broadcast listener. WIRELESS TELEPHONY. "The year has been remarkable also for the opening of wireless telephone services between London and New York and the subsequent extension of the system to practically the whole of the North American Continent, including Canada," so states a British expert in reviewing radio progress during 1927. This service is on the long-wave system of wireless, and is conducted from the high-power Government wireless station at Rugby. "There is every prospect that commercial wireless telephony over long distances will be still further extended. The operation of the short-wave beam stations has, indeed, enabled the confident prediction to be made that a direct telephone service between London and tjie Dominion is possible during considerable periods of the day simultaneously with the wireless telegraph service by means of these stations, and it is expected that this will be an actual achievement during the next twelve months. PROGRAMME EXTENSION. If the "Radio Record" speaks with any authority (it is the official organ of the Broadcasting Company) there aTe bright prospects of extension of programme khours during the coming year, for the weekly wireless journal duly forecasts these, but gives no indication of the manner of the extensions. sessions, and more on Sunday nights," would be a popular demand.