RADIO RECORD

Greymouth Evening Star, 2 July 1936, Page 4

RADIO RECORD

NOTES FOR LISTENERS-IN

(By

“Reception”)

8.8. C. AT PLAY.

RECREATION FOR STAFF.

Written by W. J. Cross, in the 8.8. C. Overseas Press Bulletin, the following article gives interesting information •egaiding the off-duty activities of the L.B.C. staff: — The 8.8. C. is essentially a young

organisation, young in history and young in personnel. Its employees are selected from people in all walks of life. The present staff numbers well over 2,000 persons—probably a surprising figure to many people and

it does not consist solely of announc-

ers, programme producers, and engineers, which is a popular supposition. Besides these officers, the staff ncludes accountants, editorial staff, legal advisers, auditors, publicity experts, stenographers, 2iiliug clerks, vatchmen, liftmen, commissionaires, ibrarians, advertising representa.ives, labourers, carpenters, caterers, telephonists, cleaners, waitresses, •loakroom attendants, bookkeepers, •.ages, draughtsmen, porters, firemen, . ackcis, studio attendants, and photographers. As in the Navy, so with broadcasting: “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,” and even more makes Jill a dull girl; so that in the interests not only of its staff but of its own efficiency, the 8.8. C. has made ample provision for adequate recreation. It has followed tho example of some other large employers by adopting as far as possible the five-day week, work on Saturdays being reduced to a minimum . This concession, which was introduced, in die interests of the general health of the staff in order to allow greater dme for exercise, fresli air, and outdoor pursuits, has shown that there is no reduction at all in the general output of work, but rather an increase in all-round efficiency.

Nearly all members of the 8.8. C. staff belong to the 8.8. C. Club. From a very modest beginning the 8.8. C. Club, in the course of a few years, has become the possessor of facilities for recreation probably unsurpassed by any other organisation in Great Britain. The headquarters of the club are situated at Motspur Park, where there is ample' provision for cricket, football, hockey, tennis, and netball. There is a magnificent clubhouse, .with facilities for every kind of in-

loor game—from billiards aud bad-

ninton to shove-hu’-penny—aud containing not only a restaurant, but a small swimming bath. There is also a, large central ball where dances and concerts and other activities take place. In addition to Motspur Park, there are branches of the club at all regional stations, where adequate provision has been made for recreation.

At Daventry, the homo of the Empire Broadcasting Station, for instance, there has been many a. tussle at billiards, cricket, football, and tenuis between the 8.8. C. engineers and the inhabitants of this ancient town.

Cricket matches betweeu the 8.8. C. and tho Town Council are held each year. S. Fry, tho sou of the famous 0. B. Fry, plays cricket regularly for tho 8.8. C. He is in every respect a worthy sou of his father. The redletter day in the history of 8.8. C. cricket is when a visit is paid to ■ 1-lamble to meet the team captained by “C. 8. who, despite his sixty-four years, is still more than a match for many of the younger generation. Sunday cricket matches are a great attraction. The great event so far this season has been a match between the E.B.C. and a team brought down by the famous English cricketer, A. P. !•'. Chapman, which included several other first-class players in addition to himself. The head groundsman at Motspur Park was a well-known county cricketer in his day, and takes the keenest interest in maintaining the standard of cricket at the highest level. Among individual players. C. G. Graves, formerly Director of Empire and Foreign Services, and now Controller of Piogrammcs, is an exceedingly useful bat. B. Walton O’Donnell, of Military Band fame, is another very keen cricketer. The standard of Rugby football is also high. Several men who distinguished themselves at their universities are now playing tor the 8.8. C. Howard Marshall, formerly of the 8.8. C. staff, and now one of the bestkonwn commentate rs on sporting and general events, at one time played for tho Harlequins. The swimming section of the 8.8. C. Club also has a large membership. The motoring section of the club is in a nourishing condition. Extraordinary ingenuity is displayed in maintaining interest on the part of the members. There are treasure hunts, scavenger parties, and reliability trials. During a recent evening competition, members of the motoring section had. to collect among other articles, a fircone, the top of a milk bottle, one ounce of silver paper, bulb consuming only one watt, and three different yellow flowers. The rifle section is one of the mere i ecent activities of the club. Naturally, its appeal is mainly to men, but the membership includes a number of promising shots drawn from women members of the staff. Matches with other organisations are regularly held. The tennis section probably has the most general appeal to all. although closely rivalled in popularity by its younger brother, table tennis. Squash rackets are available within easy travelling distance of Broadcasting House. Hockey and netball also flourish mainly among the women members of the staff, but quite a number of men have now taken up the former game seriously. Physicalculture classes are also held near headquarters, and violet-ray treatment fs at the disposal of ail who care to apply for it. It may be mentioned, incidentally, that the 8.8. C. is most careful of the health of its employees, and at Broadcasting House a matron and nurse, with a well-stocked dispensary, are constantly in attendance, facilities arc also provided for more ' expert medical advice and inoculation against the common cold. '

Many members of the staff known especially to Empire listeners take part in the activities of tlio dub. \\, Ji. Shewn, chief Empire

announcer, is captain not only of the men's tennis club, but of the 8.8. C. squash team. He is also an enthusiastic hockey and cricket player, and an excellent shot. R. N. Dougall. another Empire announcer, has for the past two years won the squash cup. and is also a keen cricketer. A. W. Russell, of the Empire News Department, who hails from New Zealand, is also an enthusiastic cricketer. J. C. S. Macgregor, Empire Progiamme Director, finds his relaxation in golf on one of the couises on the northern heights of London, while J. B. Clark, Director of the. Empire Service, finds the hobby of carpentry an exceedingly useful recreation and a relaxation from his ordinary duties. In addition to purely sporting activities, the 8.8. C. has debating societies, a photograph section, and a veiy live dramatic section. .Many ambitious plays have been produced, such as “The Passing of the Third Floor Buck," and “Trelawney of the Wells.” but pantomimes and rcvuct are probably the most appreciated. In these productions the 8.8. C. is otter, thoroughly “guyed’’ by members ol its own staff. The next play to be produced by the 8.8. C. Club is “The Sport of Kings,” in which the DirectorGeneral, Sir John Reith, will take the part of a butler. Through the generosity of its members the 8.8. C. Clul maintains a welfare centre for unemployed workers, known as “8.8. C. House,” at Gateshead-on-Tyne, in the heart of one of the most depressed areas. This dub for unemployed nov has a membership of over three hundred men and one hundred women There is ample provision for both outdoor and indoor games and general recreation. The main object of the centre is to find occupation for men and women out of work, and “8.8. C. House” contains facilities for in-, struction in woodowik, shoe-repair-ing, hand-weaving, and other trades lor men, and all kinds of needlework for women. At a recent exhibition o handicraft held in Newcastle for unemployed. clubs throughout the Nortl of England, members of "8.8. C House” won the championship. At Christmas, seven hundred toys were made by members in the club workshops and distributed to children of the unemployed.

RADIO RESEARCH, PROPAGATION OF WAVES. 1 LONDON, .May 6. ; Research workers at the National > Physical Laboratory have continued during the year along two principal lines in the investigation into the mode of travel of wireles waves through the atmosphere. In the first case the ionosphere, which is the upper pci Lion of the earth’s atmosphere in which lellection of waves takes place, has bocn studied by projecting wire-

less signals vertically and studying the properties of the echo which arrives back at the earth’s surface. In the second case, the signals from a transmitting station several hundreds cr even thousands of miles away are utilised, and the manner in which they auive at a receiver are studied in detail. The results obtained from this work are of considerable importance both in practical wireless communication and in extending knowledge ol the properties of the upper atmosphere. For the sounding of the ionosphere at vertical incidence wave-lengths between 30 and 250 meties are employed. The transmitting and receiving stations are located about 50 yards apart, and are linked together so that the whole of the observations may be carried out by one operator, or alternatively the apparatus is ariangedfor automatic control. The main objective of regular recording is to study the diurnal and seasonal variations which take place in the ionosphere. It has been found that there are at least three fairly well-defined reflecting legions in the atmosphere. The reflecting power of these regiqns is generally greater in summer than in winter, but this factor depends greatly upon the frequency or wave-length in use. Close contact is maintained with those responsible for observations on the sun in astronomical observatories, and close co-relation is frequently found between solar activity and the properties of the ionosphere. The compilation and study of the radio data over a period of a solar cycle of 11 years will considerably increase knowledge ol this aspect of the subject. DIRECTION FINDING. The laboratory has continued its extensive work in the development of radio, direction-finding apparatus of greater•accuracy, and in the . use of this apparatus for the study of the reliability of direction finding.'Spdcial attention has been given to the design and construction of apparatus using spaced vertical aerials and to the application, thereto of the cathode ray oscillograph. A recent model of this type of visual direction-finder covers a wave-length range of 10m. to 230 m. and is considered to have an instrumental accuracy of the order of Ideg. Observations taken on two types of aural medium-wave direction finders have been made over a considerable period, using the transmissions from' the Kalundborg Broadcasting Station on a wave-length of 1260 m. The results showed that under those conditions about 00 per cent, of the bearings were less than 2deg. in error, while the maximum errors were about lOdeg. and 16deg. in the case of the two models. This type of work is now Leing extended to cover the shorter wave-lengths between 30 and 70 metres and special attention is being devoted to ascertaining the accuracy of such direction finding in its special application to the navigation of aircraft.

It is important in modern radio communication that the frequency of transmitting stations should be kept as constant as possible. For stations opoiatiug on one or more fixed frequencies, this is usually secured by some form of control such as a tuning fork or quartz crystal. In many cases, however, it is desired that the frequency oi a station shall be adjust-

able, and that it shall remain very constant at any value to which it is set, in the absence of such a control. Work has been proceeding at the laboratory lor some time on the development of a constant frequency oscillator suitable for this purpose. It has been ascertained that the major factors causing frequency variations are the effect of temperature in varying the inductance and capacitance ,of coils and comlonsers respectively, and extensive measurements of this effect! have been made on a variety of coilsl and condensers. As a result, it has, been possible to design and construct a coil and a condenser, the electrical values of which arc almost independent of temperature. The apparatus so far constructed is of a fl.-boratury type, but the design of more practical forms of temperature-compensated coils and condensers is in progress.