WIRELESS NOTES

Evening Star, Issue 19310, 24 July 1926, Page 23

WIRELESS NOTES

133 y Electron.]

A COUNTRY TRIP. Having just returned from a short trip round Otago Central, where radiois fast gaining favor, I found conditions are very different from my last trip a Easter. All along the road one sees aerials at every town, and even at isolatod farms, where, after all, one should expect to find a radio receiver, the masts are in evidence. The road was too rough to devote much o the surrounding country until passing Lawrence, and hero an accident to the car necessitated a stay for the nig • We fitted up a very rough aerial, one end attached to the building a other end to a . clothes prop., J or ™ earth connection a gMvamscd pushed into the ground had to suffice. In spite of the unfavorable conditions we managed to get through some goad music on the ioud_ speaker, and spent an enjoyable, evening. Next day wc pushed on and passed quite a number of aerials. At Roxburgh I was fascinated by a very imposing lattice mast, structure on the roof of the liote > on inquiry found that they were havj g quite good results, Australian station, being audible all over the bhilding. There are.several good sets around tno Cromwell district, and the jpolice station at Arrhwtown boasts a fair aerial, though I did not have time to see the plant. At Queenstown it did not take long to erect an aerial and connect up the set, but the journey had knocked tilings about, and I spent most ot the evening repairing broken connections and adjusting matters, finally leaving the sot in front of the fire all night to dry out. Next night matters were back to jiormal, and we had a spip no id night’s entertainment. TJIO astonishment on the guests’ faces when the Australian stations were turned on was quite amusing. 4YA came through very well, but fading was particularly bad. Next night wo expected something good, but another set in the town was on tno air, and the howling, screeching, etc., was dreadful. The whole evening was spoilt, but fortunately there were not many guests present, and next morning I set out on the war path. I could hardly account for the intensity of the interference and the fierce character of the howling and mush that came through, and also the fact that no matter which station you tuned in, every station, New Zealand and Australian, were all jumbled up together. The explanation became obvious when I discovered an Armstrong Super, with power valves, on an outdoor cage aerial! If you want real interference try one of these sots,,and i realised that as long as this sot was on the air reception would be hopeless. There were other sets as well howling badly, but with a little diplomacy i managed to persuade the owners to ease off a little so we could get a few items through. . , Alter this we had many evenings oi real pleasure, and it was with regret that the listeners saw the set packed up for the journey home. On the who*conditions were fair. The New and Australian stations were quite satisfactory, and no one who heard the set had ever before heard such reproduction. One thing is certain, however, and that is until the Queenstown listeners stop reracliation horn their sots reception will be iar irom perfect. At Easter there were no other sets, and we had perfect reception; but now there are live sets, and it seems to ho a sort ot nightly batt.o be tween them. ‘RADIO IN NEW ZEALAND.’ No. 5, Vol. 1, has arrived and provides much interesting reading. Among the leading features are local reports from all over New Zealand, report ox Miss Dell’s communication with England, receiver, and amateui news. The illustrations are excellent and the articles are well written tor expert or amateur. LOCAL BROADCASTING. Our local station is going practically every night now, but thank goodness, wo have one night left to ourselves. Tho programmes from 4\A have been very good, and most nights it has not been a very great hardship to listen to them, and as long as the staudard is maintained there is ntcie to complain about. There is one matter, however, that requires attention, and that is tho broad tuning. Llicre is no excuse whatever lor the widespiead interference caused by 4YA and though this is recognised by the authorities it seems that they do not_ intend to enforce the radio regulations regal ding loosely-coupled transmitters at present. This is unfortunate, because I am sure that 4YA would be improved beyond recognition if the harmonics were collected up and tho energy concentrated on tho main wave. The harmonic below 200 metres is nearly as strong as the main wave, und with this euoig\ added the range of tho should be doubled. We _ are _ assured t.iat, though the station is being allowed to carry on in the meantime, the day i» not I'ar distant when 4TA will have to take tho matter of decrement m hand and bo required to-_ sharpen up the wave. In the meantime listeners aic devoting their attention to wave traps and similar contraptions in an effort to obtain distrait reception while the local station is going.

RADIO SUMMARY. ! During my absence I have not been able to keep np the usual summaiy, but ibis will be continued next week, also the Australian programmes. Deceiving conditions during the last two weeks have befen very variable, and we have had several very good nights and several particularly bad nights. Last Monday was poor, also Tuesday, while , Wednesday was even worse than Tuesi clay. Thursday was deadly. Static was 1 terrific and signal strength poor. The New Zealand stations were nearly as loud as 2BL, and when you find this ; rendition it may bo assumed that there is some intense electrical storm spreading over the Tasman. Probably conditions will be poor for a few nights, and then we will find a great improvement.