WONDERS OF RADIO

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 149, 21 March 1927, Page 17

WONDERS OF RADIO

remarkable microphone Several broadcast listeners in Wellington, who owned either four or fivevalve receiving sets were entertained, with good loudspeaker volume, by a number of scientific tests from the Queensland broadcast station, 4QG, Brisbane, last night. It was explained bv thq announcer that a special microphone had been constructed for the experiments, and by means of amplification the various sounds were tremendously increased in volume. Tlie ticking of an ordinary alarmclock sounded like noise in the engineroom of an ocean liner steaming at full speed. Of a higher pitch and a little less clamourous was the ticking of a watch and of a lady’s wristlet watch. The writing of words on. a piece of paper, the cutting of a piece of paper with scissors, and the action of stitching doth with a needle, and thread produced strident ami varied noises. Cockroaches were permitted to run across the surface of the special microphone, causing sounds like the tattoo on a side-drum. The microphone was next placed so that the vibratory sounds of the State building, upon which the broadcast station is located, could be heard. The result was astonishingclanking, roaring sounds like a train rushing across a bridge. Finally the microphone was placed out on the roof of the building and so caught many sounds of the night, some of which are inaudible to the unaided human ear. The announcer stated that it had been intended to place a nearly hatched egg on the microphone, so. that the heartbeats of the embryo chick, within, could be heard, but, he explained, tlie egg hatched out during yesterday afternoon. This, lie added, was not mentioned as a joke, but as a regrettable fact. Brisbane, where the tests took place, is about 1600 miles from Wellington.