THE LIGHTER SIDE.

Grey River Argus, 24 July 1922, Page 4

THE LIGHTER SIDE.

The broadcasting of wireless is [ I commonplace to-day in America. Some , I humorous or timid person there has ? [conjectured that the “fieds” will set j • the ether aflame there yet. Certain it I I is that at opposite sides of the contin- ? tent people habitually “listen in” on £ i concerts, speeches, and sermons. Some | day tho politicians may remain all the ; time at the capitals and harangue their constitutents by wireless, from within

may not loud any chcchaibmcnt when the voice of Caruso, or Leirazini, or Melba floats on eatiiereal 'Waves across the surface of the globe, biu the perfection of transmission is now such that the very sound of the voice itscii is as enchanting us if distance never cii'iei’ed into it at all. The Telegraph Department contemplates arranging lor the transmission of news and weather reports, as well its music su that in a siimi nine we .shall witness the inception of a new order, one tiiui is sure to revolutionise the methods oi communication. In lime the world s press will be incalculably aided by wireless. In the meantime, how•cvci, the humorous side may come uppermost. When '.lie french Postal administration recently grunted licenses lor experimenters -u erect aerials ami “send,” hosts of amateurs began pumping out morse signals and very bad gramophone records in bewildering streams. Not long since in -England the wireless votaries hud but puny ••tuning fork” aerials, which crossed out phosphor-bronze feelers for the Yankee amateurs gossip. One or two were alone able to get the messages with any degree of coherency. An American, however, was allowed to put up m England "fin aerial nearly 1000 feet high, or about ten times as high as the English allowed their own experimenters, and he naturally outshone everybody. The high aerial did the trick! When the French ainat-eurs began barking out their arrows on the ether from little aerials, the “fencing wire’’ and “toast fork” aerials

London amateurs thought th<-v were ail Marconis as they could get these signals. A pandemonium then reigned ou the wave lengths, of the amateurs, for in the din that deafened those with receivers to their heads, all the senders were trying to tell their “alliesthev were at last distinctly heard in distant England! The Frenchmen, however, were merely “yarning ' to each other. An expert says of the experience:—“Little did it matter that our enthusiasts knew neither French nor Esperanto. The comrade of 1914-1* must be informed without delay iha’. England had heard him. In spite of all the noise and bubble and sqeak, the Frenechman took not the slightest nutice; so the Britishers pushed up the handle h little more obtaining maximum current in their aerials, and tried iio-uiu, but, with no result. After * time, when wrists began to get tired, voices hoarse and apparatus heated up to burning point, the commotion died down. Every pair o£ ears was glued to its owners’ telephone headgear; everybody listened breathlessy for some reply from France. Then a loud, juicy, full-blooded, whistling "note broke suddenly upon the silent void. It was the long-suffering operator at the Air Ministry, totally fed up with it all, sitting viciously on his Morse key. And there the blighter sat until all the amateurs had gone to bedThings, may not become so lively for many days iu the wireless realm ot God’s Own isolated country, but aS soon as broadcasting starts, so will the fun. There are many eager young people will say: The sooner the better. After the novelty is over the. country will be accustomed to the more mundane but commercially useful side ol ii, ami the economies obtainable should be very considerable.