BROADCASTING

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 28, 2 August 1926, Page 10

BROADCASTING

THE NEW STATIONS

POWER O.UESTION DISCUSSED

AUCKLAND TO OPEN ON

SATURDAY.

It is officially announced that the new Auckland broadcasting station will be'opened on 7th August (next Saturday), and all arrangements have been made by the company for programmes for six nights in the week. There will be one silent night. The opening of the station will bo performed by tho Hon. the Postmaster-General. A special programme for the. opening night of speeches and music has been arranged, and further details will be announced later.

Iv view of tho various statements "and suggestions about broadcasting that have appeared in the ..Press recently, the Secretary, Post and Telegraph Department, has made the following official statement:—

It is quite clear that some confusion exists as to the power of the radio tclphdne broadcasting stations about to be installed by tho New Zealand Broadcasting Company. The confusion has arisen partly on account of the fact that three different methods of rating the power of broadcasting stations arc in use. The first method takes account «_• the unmodulated radio-frequency energy delivered to tho transmitting stations via the apparatus. Tho second rating is based upon the energy delivered to tho high frequency converter, while the third takes account of the whole of tho power taken from the power mains. The Australian and American stations are mainly rated on the second method, and consequently their apparent power is greater than would be the ease if they were rated according to the first method. It is. by tho first method that the New Zealand stations are rated, and they are therefore classified as 500-watt "stations because COO watts of modulated radio-frequency, voice-carrying energy is delivered to the radiator—viz., the antenna.

If the New Zealand stations were rated in accordance with the second or third methods, tho apparent power would be much greater, and as a matter of fact the energy taken from the city mains for use in connection with these broadcasting stations is no less than 5J horse power. The energy consumed by the valve filameuts of tho various electronic valves used in connection with the transmitting set and its accessories is no less than 500 watts.

It will be of interest to many to learn that more than 40 of the bestknown of the higher grade broadcasting stations of the United States are of the same type and of the same power as" the stations now being installed in New Zealand, with this exception, that the equipment being installed in New Zealand being the latest of its kind, has incorporated in its design all the modern improvements which scientific research has been able to provide.

it -will not now lie long before the Auckland station is put into operation, when listeners will be able to judge for themselves as to the quality and strength of signals that are transmitted. It is anticipated that the experience will be something of a revelation to those whose broadcast listening has previously been confined to local stations, and further criticism of the stations now ■undergoing erection by tho Broadcasting Company might well be held in abeyance in the meantime. AGAINST A "SUPER-STATION." The question of a super-station to serve the whole Dominion has also been raised. There are a number of sound reasons why a broadcasting station should be erected in each of tho four principal centres in New Zealand instead of erecting a high-power station at one centre to serve the whole of the Dominion. The most important of these reasons are as follows:— ' . ■ of the most serious considerations in connection with the maintenance of a satisfactory broadcasting service is the provision of the daily programmes, ■which must necessarily be of a, high quality and of a varied character. The erection of a high-power station at one point would localise the talent available for broadcasting to that available at that particular centre and its immediate vicinity. Were it practicable to link up all parts of New Zealand by suitable telephoiio circuits with tho central broadcasting station, t)i» difficulty referred to could be more oi- less easily overcome, but the provision of suitable land line circuits for such a purpose is at present impracticable. It is, therefore, most desirable that the talent available in the four principal centres of the Dominion should be availed of to the fullest extent, and this can bo done only by the. alternative method of erecting a broadcasting station at each of the four centres. There is an additional advantage in such an arrangement in that listeners in different parts of New Zealand are able to tune in to the various stations and thereby take full advantage of the different programmes that are being furnished. PRACTICAL DIFFICULTIES. Although it would be possible to erect a. comparatively expensive high-power station in AVellington that would give the same signal strength in different parts of the Dominion as four stations erected at the principal centres, the power required would be out of all proportion to the result attained, and there ■would still remain a very serious difficulty, viz., that listeners in remote parts of the country would suffer from what is known as "fading." This is a phenomenon associated with reception of distant broadcasting stations. It consists of a variation in the strength of the signals due to atmospheric and other causes over,which there is no control and for which no remedy has yet been found. _ The provision of four stations ■will bring broadcasting nearer home to the liste- ■ vs throughout the Dominion nnd will obviate, as far as is practicable, the difficulty referred to.

The operation of four stations would ensure a continuous broadcasting service throughout the Dominion, so that in the event of the temporary derangejnent of any one station, service would be obtained from the others. Further, the higher the power of tho station tho greater is the possibility of temporary derangement, and with one station only in New Zealand tho result would be more serious than would be the case were the interests distributed between the four centres.