AUCKLAND RADIO STATION

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21089, 14 February 1934, Page 12

AUCKLAND RADIO STATION

. «. CONTRACT FOR NEW IYA HIGH POWER WITH GIANT SINGLE MAST CT.EESS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.) AUCKLAND, February 13. The tender of Amalgamated Wireless has been accepted by the New Zealand Broadcasting Board for the new transmitter for station IYA to be erected near Henderson, according to an announcement made by Mr G. R. Hutchinson, a member of the board. The power of the transmitter, 10 kilowatts, will be greater than that used by any otherstation in Australia or New Zealand at present, although plants of that power are now being erected in the Commonwealth. It will be double the strength of 2YA, Wellington, and 20 times that of the present IYA transmitter. In place of the customary two masts to support the aerial, only one will be used. It will be 500 feet in height, five times the height of the present IYA masts, and 150 feet higher than the two employed for the new 3YA transmitter at Gebbie's Pass. The tops of the masts of the present IYA transmitter in Karangahape road are 150 fetet above the ground. The new single mast, which is the outcome of recent developments in the science of broadcasting, will embody many unusual features of the type known as "the 8.8.C. halfwave mast." It will be insulated from the ground, being supported by a massive insulator, which will require to bear the 60-ton weight of the mast. Radiating Aerials The aerial will consist of three radiating conductors hung from the top at equal distances round the mast, and held at the bottom by anchorages some distance from the base. Three conductors are brought back to the aerial coupling transformer housed at the foot of the mast, where the high-frequency energy is transferred from the feeder lines to the radiating system. A great advantage of this type of aerial is that it radiates the maximum energy in a horizontal direction. The transmitter will be housed in a concrete building, the plans of which are well forward, and provision will be made for increasing the power of the station when necessary.