RADIO LOG BOOK

Evening Star, Issue 23325, 22 July 1939, Page 4

RADIO LOG BOOK

WORLD FIGURES FOR TALKS. Following the success of talks given by Mr Anthony Eden over 2UE (950 kc, Now South Wales), the management of that station has now arranged for a series of talks by world personalities. The next one, if no international complications develop in the meantime, was to be from Monsieur Bonnet, French Foreign Minister, during last week. Arrangements are now being made for a talk by Mr Hore-Belisha, Secretary for War. « • • • WHAT IS COLLECTED, New Zealanders are now paying approximately £400,000 per annum in listeners’ fees. Of that sum over £350,000 goes into the broadcasting account and £48,000 is retained by the Post Office to pay for cost of collection and for the maintenance of radio inspectors. The accumulated fund of the N.B.S. must greatly exceed half a million, and the P.O. must bo making a huge profit on its radio operations, * * * ♦ FROM DAVENTRY. Empire artists heard from Daventry early this month were: Veronica Mansfield (Australian mezzo-soprano), Noel Mewton-Wood (Australian pianist), Hubert Carta (New Zealand tenor), Montague Brearley (Australian violinist), Esther Fisher (New Zealand pianist), Brian Lawranco (Australian vocalist), James Walker (Australian pianist), Frederick Grinke (Canadian violinist), Edith Astall (New Zealand pianist), David Martin (Canadian violinist), and Billy Bissett (Canadian dance band leader). HELPING LOST HIKERS. Tests have been made in Australia to ascertain the value of portable re-ceiver-transmitters for communication between parties searching for persons lost in the bush. Another aim of the tests was to find the best type of set for this work, which it may shortly take up. Tests were conducted with three portable sets, of a type that could be used by rescue parties, and which kept in communication with a set at a central base. The control set kept in touch with another receiver-transmitter in Sydney. The portable sets' were used in varying types of terrain, the effects of which on communication were observed. • « • • NOTED MUSICIAN FOR AUSTRALIA. Mr Henry Gibson, noted English musical authority, will, in August, pay his first visit to Australia as Trinity College of Music examiner in practical subjects, pianoforte, organ, violin, singing, and elocution. Mr Gibson will examine in all capital cities and in country areas. He was a member of the orchestra at Royal Opera, Co vent Garden, and secretary and managing director of the Royal Albert Hall Orchestra under Sir Lan'don Ronald, and was principal violin and vocal coach in the Beecham Opera Company, also musical secretary to Sir Thomas Beecham. • » • • AUSTRALIAN LICENSES. The number of new radio receiving licenses issued in New South Wales in May—s,B97—was higher than in any other Australian State. The number of licenses in force in the Commonwealth on May 31 was 1,126,607. Of these, 2,346 were issued free of charge to blind persons. Licenses in force in each State numbered :—New South Wales, 431,149; Victoria, 327,889; Queensland, 132,678; South Australia, 117,210; Western Australia, 78,465; Tasmania, 39,216. The highest number of_ licenses in proportion to population is in South Australia (19.54 per cent.), and the lowest in Queensland (13.24 per cent.). The New South Wales figure is 15.72 per cent. 1 • • ♦ ♦ IDEAS FOR RADIO DISPLAY. A Sydney architect who recently visited several overseas exhibitions has submitted to the Sydney Electrical and Radio Development Association plans for the layout and decoration of its 1940 exhibition. The plans, which embody many of the latest developments in exhibition layout, will be considered by the association. • * • * . •PYGMALION’ FROM DAVENTRY, A radio version of the famous George Bernard Shaw play ‘ Pygmalion ’ is to be broadcast from Daventry on transmission one oh July 27, 28, and August 1, at 4.30 p.m. (New Zealand time). This will no doubt be followed with interest, if only for the comparison of Shaw’s works on screen, radio, and in book form. All are familiar with the story of the Cockney flower girl who broke into London society and was not discovered to be what she was by the circle. * * * * ON AERIALS. Except for arrays of special design, each aerial has more or less marked directional effect, in that it will give best results on signals arriving from a certain point or points of the compass. The further away the transmitting source the greater the effect. Contrary to popular belief, the most common types of aerials, tho “L” and the “T,” respond most strongly to signals arriving along the line of aerial and not at right angles. A long vertical lead-in modifies this effect to some extent unless the aerial is of the transmission line or shielded type. _ The reason is that a vertical collector is en-

tirely non-directional. Where best possible reception from one or more grouped transmitters is desired, use should be made of this characteristic of aerial arrays, but the average citv dweller can do little more than make the best of the limited scope of the backyard and take care to get the flat top of the aerial as high and as clear as possible. ♦ # • * BAGPIPE MUSIC WANTED. “ Bagpipe selections, as far as radio is concerned, are sadly neglected,” said Mr Gordon Maddey, secretary of the newly-formed Scottish Society and Burns Club of Australia. So far as he could remember, Mr Mackley said, “ only one pipe solo had been broadcast in three years by the A. 8.0.,” and that was by Pipe-major Forsyth, during his last visit there. * * * # motor car radio telephony. For some time it has been possible to. purchase a complete radio plant for aeroplanes, the whole outfit being compact and weighing little more than half a hundredweight. Indeed, the instrument now used as a standby plant by Serial Airways tips the scale at only , and yet has proved capable of reliable two-day communication over distances up to 3,000 miles. It has remained for an American to evolve a still more compact radio telephone which, he claims, will shortly be in demand for use in motor cars. A typical car radio is the base of this outfit. By adding a couple of tubes and making most of the valves in the car ' radio serve on both transmission and reception, ho has overcome the objections of space and battery drain. By employing a comparatively short wavelength he has avoided the necessity for 1 an aerial array and ensured a good I range.