THE WIRELESS WORLD

Grey River Argus, 9 May 1936, Page 10

THE WIRELESS WORLD

NOTES FOR RADIO AMATEURS.

(By

"Cat's Whisker"')

Future of the B.E.C. The report of the THlswater Coin’iiittc-', which was set up in April, of last year to consider the “constitution control, and finance" of the British broadcasting service. has non come to hand and will no doubt be eloselv • fnd’od bv 'ho New Zealand Cabi.net before deeidirio- noon the "radical changes’’ in New Zealand broadcasting promised on numerous occasions fiv the Prime Minister Tim terms of reference of ‘ho committee. which comprised Lord CTlls-w-it'-.v fehairmanb Mavor Astor. M.D.. Mr C R Yttlee M.P.. Mr. E. Clement Davies. K.C.. AI.F Lord Ellon, ciir Wil’iam McLintoek. T.aJv Read n< T T.nrd SeLdon. and Mr. IT. Graham White. M.p wore ‘o advise generally r,., 11l comT’tions under which tie .. .vice, ■nehidimv bmadenstino- to the Empire. television broadcasting and ili r . evstom of wireloss I'xchon "os Arnold b.. conduct ed afl or tlm. 8.8. C. .dcirfer expires nt the end of Uns year. RECOMMENDATIONS. In general the Committee rec.ommend.shhe maintenance of the general structure of the British broadcasting svstem as it now stands..

' Its principal recommendations may be summarised as follows: — The Charter of the Corporation to be extended for ten years from Januarv .1. 1(137; The number of Governors to be increased to seven, the outlook of the vounoer generation to be reflected in some”of the appointments made; the retiring Governor not to be renominated; The present policy of decent ral.sation to be continued. Major staff vacancies should be advertised and appointments made on the recommendation of a specially-consti-tuted selected board. All facilities should be given for any representative organisation which the staff may wish to set up. . The programme staff should abstain from iinv prominent part in public eontrovesv, but the private lives of the staff should in other respects be free from control bv the 8.8. C. A critic of the It.'B.C. should no' be i] I i God Innn broadcast inp. The General Advisory Council should eont'ntio; there should lie a general Advisory Committee in each region, as well' as a full svstem of central and regional specialist advisory conf mil tees.

The fi-rm of appointment should be four years, but there should he no bar against reappointment. The committees should be as widelv representative of varied interests as possible, so that not only exports but the listening public and the younger generation in particular should lind a place on them.

Minor issues, measures of domestic policy, and matters of day -to-day umimgemenf should be .left, to the free jmlgtiieiil of the corporal ion. The Min’ster responsible for broad questions of policy and culture should he a. selected Cabinet. ’.Minister in the House of Commons, free from heavy departmental responsibilities and preferably a senior member of the Government. This 'Minister should have the I’ight to veto over programmes. Payments to authors and composers should be generous, and fees payable in respect of copyright, etc., should he settled, in ilefault of agreement, hr arbitration. .I’jreot tfid vert 1 semen t. remain excluded from broadcast service. “Sponsored” items need not Im ont’<’rely excluded, especially in the earliest stages of television broadcasting. Iml their admission should be carefully regulated by the P.Tt.C*. <)n Hi,- question of sponsored programmes Lord 'Elton. Major Astor, ami Mr, Graham White make a reservation 'n which they say:— “We cannot agree that, the admission of ‘ sponsored ’ items is either necessary or desirable. The costs of a public service such as television should Im im t out of public funds. And in making our financial recommendations rve have in fact expressly stated that we ‘had in view, apart from other poss'lde contingencies, that television broadcasting is likely |o reullire, increasing funds.’ This being so, I lie (elev'sion service should surely be able fo develop adequately without <nv dependence upon financial eontr'bnlions from private firms in search rd' publicity. ” ****** Wanning by Radio: A fantastic story came from Moscow, where, it is alleged, policemen on duty in winter are to be given coats having a network of wire included in the linings. The broadcasting stations of (he city -will heat the linings by inducing currents in the 'wires. Theoretically the scheme is possible. The electrodes of assembled valves, for example, can be made red hot when the valve is placed within an intense high-frequency field. In practice, however there is nothing in the idea, as ,a livid s'rong enough to be of use would be very expensive to generate, apart from the fact that it would heat every metallic object within its influence. * * * * * * « Rescue by Radio; One of the most i xtr.'iordinarv shipping rescues in the history of wireless was brought to light, recently ■when a ■t 2,01 m award was made to the Liverpool strainer Newfoundland for her wonderful work in extricating another steamer, the Tower Bridge, from pack ie., in the North Atlantic last April The two ships never came within sight of one another during the whole incident. The Tower Bridge, 'when holed ai'd leaking badly, sent out an SOS message, which was picked up by the Newfoundland. The former ship was then surrounded by pack ice, and believed that her only way out was to steer southwards. The Newfoundland, however, was able to tel! her captain that he would have to go (it) miles in that direction before reaching open voter, but that, if he set tin easterly eour I:’ mihs would see him clear. These instructions were acted upon, and the Tower Bridge safely reached St Johns. the port lor which she was bound. Wireless Ims intniy ship rescues to its credit, Iml this extraordinary fen I Ims no equal. **** * * * A Hint on Wiring: When you connect up a receiver.

from a diagram, you will find it helpful to ovserve the following procedure described by "Spark Gap’-’ in "The Australian journal" for April.— Start at the aerial terminal screw and connect it to the instrument as shown in the diagram you are following. When this connection has been completed, draw over that connection on lie l diagram with a coloured pencil. You will then know that that connection is complete. Then. from the other terminal of the same instrument connect a wire to the next instrument ns shown on the diagram. Cover this connection on the diagram’ with a coloured pencil line and do the same thing with every line on the diagram. When all the connections are redrawn in coloured pencil you will know that if has been done corroctlv. This will eliminate mistakes and make 11,,, job simple. ****** Valve- Troubles; Besides the common trouble o’ valves weakened by overloading, there ar.- other acute troubles which mav proven 1 valves from functioning properil' or may even endanger other parts of a receiver. The most common of these troubles are grid-to-filauiont

! mid grid-to-plate short eireu'ts. loose valve bases causing short circuits inside of the base, faulty contacts of socket prongs and valve lips, the incorrect use of valves, inadequate filament supply and “microphonies,” a trouble to which many valves arc subject. G rid'-to-f l 'Jamont short circuits are generally caused by the filament sagging against the grid. Anv valve suspected of this trouble should be d’SC.nrded until found to Im perfect. Grid-to-r.late short circuits are not so common ns grid-to-'filament short circuit" When tlm gr’d and idate touch thero is ;i danger of the valves being burned ou t. Faulty contacts of valves m sockets usually occur after the receiver has l,nr>n i’i use. for some time. Crackling and frying noises, reduced volume, ano sometimes total inmidibiffv max result. The eau=e of thi< trouble is th" pradwil formation of eorros’on on the socket prongs and on the ’-.live tips, mnk'iio a h:gh-re<i<lan<’.. joint. r |' n mre mir ronlion les try mount ng (he receiver on snonu ■ rnbbi r , mutants o, i,lacin''- :i drinking <-n the detector valve. JOTTINGS FROM FAR AND NEAR Fileen .Toveo. the brilliant Australian pianist.' will probaldv tour New Zealand on the termination of her contract with the Australian Broadcasting Commission. The Berlin television station is to broadcast the more important events of the Olvmnie Games direct. It will be remembered that roeonGy there was news of a German television van. but this will probably be the first time in the world that comprehensive television pictures of an important open-air gathering will be transmitted. 'l’lie Soviet is building a new aeroplane to replace Hie Maxim Gorki, the biggest plane in the world, which crashed” on its trial flights after a small plane had run into it; the new plane will carry a powerful radio station instead of the printing equipment installed in the original. Tn Rumania, in future, talks -will not bo road by those who write them, but bv announcers or actors specially trained. The authorities have also formed a special broadcast iim repertory company because ihov are disI satisfied -with studio pci-fornirinccs nt stage actors without microphone framing. Japan. with thirty broadcast stations. three of which are elm-1 waves, lias a npi'ox; mil I r-'i v I,^OO,PPI) sets in operation. Italian stations, whb-h broadcast in Arabian, Albanian Greek and Bulgarian. are now to include regular items mid announcements in Jiumn'ii a n. Swedish radio stations are oonerate with the timber indust' by directing fire-guards. The Broadcasting Board is nrrmiging another series of charity concert.", featuring overseas artists. The Australian station 2UW is inaugurating an early morning special New Zealand session. Fixing Officer Beau Shiol lias joined the Naff of IZB. Auckland. According to a local journal loti dal Monte is known as the AMnetian Nightingale because she was born in the capital of Austria. NEW DANCE BAND FOR IYA. With the idea of replacing some of the recorded dance sessions, the Nev Zealand Broadcasting Board has arranged for two dance bands to appear this” month at IYA. . The tentative plans are. for the engagement of Laun Faddi’s Dance Band and Norman Arolkner’s Internationals, and although no definite dates have as yet been announced. it, is probable that both bands will bo heard on at least one Tuesday evening. between 9.20 anj H P- 111 -- this month. It is also probable that on certain other programmes one of Hie bands will be heard at each special dance session. Listeners will applaud this action on the part of the board, especially if the arrangement of the whole dance sessions is left in the hands of the band loaders, who are well acquainted with the peculiar likes of dancers. 5 METRE CHALLENGE CUP. The New Zealand Short AVave Radio Club and Radio Station ATK2DL, of Canterbury, Sydney, are presenting a silver cup to the. first listener in New Zealand who secures a verification from any Australian transmission on 5 metres. AMATEUR FEES.

Although the annual license fee for listeners was reduced to 25/-. all amateur transmittevs still have to pay 30/-. For the experimenters, who have to spend all their pocket money on their stations without receiving anything in return for their experiments for the advancement of radio, this is a hardship, and if is hoped that a reduction will be made so as Io encourage these chaps Io further continue their experiments.