RADIO LOG BOOK

Evening Star, Issue 23723, 2 November 1940, Page 4

RADIO LOG BOOK

The 8.8. C. overseas service is broadcast throughout 24 hours of the day. It consists of six transmission periods, separated by short intervals and radiated on a npmber of different wave lengths directed to various parts of the world. Listeners in certain European countries may also be able to hear the broadcasts,' although they are not primarily intended for them. A number of bulletins in French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese broadcast in the European service are transmitted simultaneously in the overseas service. * * * • James Lawrence Fly, chairman of the United States Federal Communications Commission, said a triple check should be made on all newscasts and commentaries released in a foreign tongue over any American broadcasting station. He said such broadcasts should be permitted to continue provided they are an asset to the station, but urged a thorough policing by way of advance scripts, English translations and transcriptions, of every foreign broadcast put on the air. « * ♦ ♦ The young residents of Boys Town, the Nebraska settlement made famous by the motion picture of that name, and the town’s founder, Mons. Edward J. Flanagan, known to millions simply as Father Flanagan, have been heard on an exclusive series of weekly programmes to be heard from WLW. There was a band, the same choir that appeared in the motion picture, and interviews among the boys on their sports, hobbies, studies, and unique self-government.

The forging of a powerful cultural link between the United States and its Latin American neighbours to the south was officially completed on October 12 with the dedication of WLWO, international -short wave station of the Crosloy Corporation. Representatives of the Department of State, Ambassadors and Ministers of most of the Latin American republics, and other nationally prominent speakers took part in a hour programme carried by WLWO, originating in Cincinnati and Washington, D.C./ First experimental broadcasts over WLWO at present power were conducted last April. The station operates with a power output of 50,000 watts, which, by virtue of a directional beam toward South America, reaches an optimum power of 000,000 watts in the territory it covers. The station’s transmitter is located at Mason, Ohio, also the site of the WLW transmitter. It uses a rhombic, or diamond-shaped an-

tenna, which focuses the radio beam in the comparatively narrow path used for transmission to the Latin American countries. Its programmes, like those of IVLW, originate in Cincinnati studios. Recently an application for power of 75,000 watts for the short wave outlet was filed.

It is a mistake when accumulators are used to drive radio sets to run them right down before sending them along to be charged. Experience has shown that several more current hours can be extracted if the battery goes,to the service station before it is flat. The total life of the battery will be shorter if it is regularly completely discharged. Listeners who use electric power are not much concerned about the amount of current consumed. It is different with those who have to rely on batteries, and some of these wonder whether short wave makes a heavier or lighter drain than medium wave. Actually there is practically no difference, except -when mofe volume is desired in the speaker. This does not affect A batteries, but calls for a slightly heavier discharge from the B *yp e - , , , *

Television will make its how in Cincinnati and vicinity when the Crosley Corporation starts work on its station. The construction permit stipulates that the new station will operate on television channel number one (50,000 to 56,000 kilocycles), with visual and aural power of one kilowatt, and A 3 and A 5 emission. The station will work with a transmitting system in which the picture is composed of 30 frames a second, interlaced. Tests will be conducted with 441 and 507 linos, as well as an intermediate number. It also contemplates research on wave forms, experiments on various types of antennae, and the effect of vertical and horizontal polarisation. The initial cost of the station is estimated to exceed 100,000 dollars. It is to America now that the world must look for the advance of television, with Great 'Britain having closed down meantime.