TELEVISION

Greymouth Evening Star, 27 December 1934, Page 2

TELEVISION

GERMANY INTERESTED. Great advances in television are expected in Germany in the near future. These hopes are based upon the technical developments already made in this branch of physical science and u,pon the increased financial support given by the Third Reich, not so much for commercial reasons as for the propaganda uses to which it is hoped to apply the new invention. Whereas three years ago the annual research grant was not more than 30,000 marks (about £2400) to-day, according to the statement of an official, the Government is ready to apply ten times that amount for this purpose. Television in Germany to-day is entirely State-controlled and developed, states the “Christian Science Monitor.” There is a transmission plant at Berlin-Witzleben, using two ultrashort wave transmitters, the one for pictures and the other for sound, with the corresponding antennae fixed to the top of the Radio Tower (Funkturm) and the apparatus modulating the transmitters housed nearby. Experimental television transmissions are made daily for the purpose of testing television receivers and the range of transmission, and it is hoped that efficient apparatus will soon be ready for sale. To make television possible throughout the whole of Germany, a number of transmitters will have to' be placed in different parts of the country. Economic reasons dictate that there should be as few of these as possible, but, on the other hand, this means that transmission range must be considerably extended. Since the range of ultra-short-wave transmitters is greater, the higher the antennae, it will be necessary to fix them on very high masts in flat country, or on very i high peaks in mountainous districts, ' In central Germany, the famous Brocken, in the Harz Mountains, appears to offer an excellent site fpr a future television plant. From here the transmissions, covering a range of 60 to 100 miles, would include a number of cities, like Hanover, Brunswick, Magdeburg, Cassel, and Erfurt. During the summer of 1935 a transportable television transmission plant will be erected on the Brocken. It will then be possible to judge of the correctness of the various theories now held regarding range of transmission. Should the experiments justify it, a permanent plant will be! erected there and further experiments made with the transportable one on Schneekoppe, the Zugspitze, and other German mountain peaks. Once the Berlin-Brocken television experiments are fully proved, then it will be possible to modulate the Brocken transmitted directly by radio.

FAR BEHIND ENGLAND. Germany has hitherto been far behind England and many other countries in the matter of regular television transmissions for the public, but it is hoped during the next few weeks to give regular evening programmes. In the beginning, these programmes will consist of newsreel material, and special television items. The pictures already shown have not been more than 180 Hues of 15 x 15 square centimetres, and produced by means ol’ a cathode tube ray. Television sets cost in Berlin to-day 1000 and 2000 marks, but it is hoped very

soon, through mass production methods, to reduce the price to SQO marks.

Whereas in certain countries (England, for example) transmissions are made on the normal radio wave, German experts maintain that such pictures are not clear enough and they use an ultra-short-wave transmitter; that is, two transmitters, one ibr the picture and. the othei 1 for the sound. But German efforts are particularly concentrated upon utilising television for propaganda purposes and therefore upon producing pictures large enough for the modern cinema screen, so that parallel political meetings can be held in different halls at the same time without “the human touch” being lost. The transmission of openair scenes, over a range of about 25 miles will probably be made possible in the very near future. This means ■catering to the area covered by Greater Berlin. But the present system is successful only at very great expense, the special cable which is used to connect the transportable receiver with the ultra-short-wave transmitter costing more than 6000 marks a mile. Sihce existing telephone cables cannot be used for television transmission, special new types of cable have been manufactured which are shortly, to bo laid down in Berlin for experimental purposes. Should these prove satisfactory, then attempts will be made to transmit television pictures from any particular place to the transmitter, as is now done by radio. A further step will then be to combine television with the telephone, but, in view of the high costs, it is considered hardly likely that for a long time to come, there can be much more than one television-tele-phone connection between the principal German cities. It will probably take some years to work such a comprehensive plan, but so much has already been done that I television is obviously elaving the exI perimental stage and the televisor will soon be accepted as part of everyday life like the radio or the telephone. It was only six years ago that the first image was transmitted over the telephone wire, when a London caller was seen and heard in Glasgow. In 1932, there was another successful transmission in Paris between the offices of Le Matin and the bureau of the Gaieties Lafayette. Germany has now very definitely entered the television field and all the resources, in technical knowledge and money which the National Socialist Government can command, will be directed towards perfecting television both for propaganda and commercial purposes.