ON THE AIR

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 10 March 1928, Page 7

ON THE AIR

(By "Wave" Length.")

"Wavelength’* Invites readers to forward short accounts- of their experiences In reception, and Items of Interest on any subject likely to Interest their fellow radio enthusiasts. NEWS AND NOTES. All radio listeners in Australia (says the Sydney ‘ ‘ Wireless Weekly ’ ’), *use the broadcasting stations for the purpose of setting their clocks and watches; most jewellers and watchmakers rely on the broadcast time signals to give them the exact time. The practice of broadcasting the British time signals, however, seems to be upsetting calculations, because a few wights ago the striking of Big Ben, Londin, was heard over the air, and at the same time our own Sydney G.P.O. was heard to strike. The curious thing wa s that there was a difference of 13 seconds between the two clocks, and as the Svdney clock is always correct to within 5 seconds, Big Ben is 10 hours behind us in any case —a fact which was a surprise to many listeners in Australia when they first heard him over the radio.

Mr Clement Hosking, musical director of 2<GB, the Theosophical Society’s Sydney station, states: “We are constantly being asked to perform jazz, but we do not feel that jazz is particularly- inspiring, and simply refuse to comply with these requests. Before long we hope'to have plenty of good, clean humour.”

An American authority states that wireless receiving equipment for aeroplanes must be light in weight and very compact, yet be accessible in flight for simple adjustments and occasional replacements of valves. Reception is rendered difficult, not only by the motor and propellor noises, but also is often considerably interfered with bv the engine ignition system which itself acts like a broadly tuned spark transmitter. Interference can be entirely eliminated only by surrounding all ports of the wiring of the ignition svsfom with metallic “shielding,”

grounded at frequent intervale to the engine structure.

Engineers of WCY, Schenectady, are hopeful that the management of 2EC, Sydney, mav be interested in transmitting a. special short-wave programme for the United States at an hour when more listeners will find it convenient to be at their radio sets. This Would mean that Australia must start its programme about fi a.m.

We in New Zealand are not alone in finding 4-QG, Brisbane, badly blurred. An Australian listener writes to the Sydney “Wireless Weekly” as follows: “Say. what’s wrong with 4QG modulation? The anouncer gets te:rible horse after 8 p.ni. (any kind of set). We poured a bottle of beer down Me loud speaker to give him, but they all seeui to suffer the same at 4QG, even' the ladies.” When is friend Robinson, director of 4QG, going to do something about it?

The Swiss Mure on i Com puuv uro building a high-powered station (.50,000 watts power) for the League of Nations which will be-capable of reaching all places in Europe, North Africa and the East.

The Westralian station, 6WF, Perth, may be heard in New Zealand without the bother of installing a set which will tune to 1250 metres. Dual transmissions are being carried out on the usual wavelength and on 104.5 metres. On the low wave Now Zealand listeners should have no difficulty in logging ()\V.F on a three-valve receiver. The transmissions are excellent, modulation being very nearly perfect. The oulv trouble is that the static which is prevalent on these wavelengths at this time of the year interferes occasionally. The station is usually passed over as a harmonic of one of the broadcasters, and this is probably the irason why the transformers are received here bv so few short wave list oners.

A New York radio authority says: — ‘‘An error in popular discussion of recent super-power developments, 'particularly with respect to WGY 's (iScheneclady) 100-kilowatt set is the assumption that doubling the power doubles the effective range. At the time W.lZ’s present equipment was installed engineers explained that, because of the ‘square-root rule,’ which applies in such a case, it is necessary to increase tlie power four times in order ,-o double the signal strength, which means 200, and not 10(1 kilowatts, is the next step in power increases, but oin> not expected in the near future.”

The constables of the Police Department in Passiac, New York, U.S.A., have each been supplied with a pocket receiving set, with which they are able to receive messages from headquarters whilst, on their beat. Tlie inventor of the svs tern is Michael Kush. The gem of Mr Young's collection railv "'must go on record. “Jacob Eikenstein had tried for twenty years to secure election to a certain golf club. At last the committee relented. It was pointed out by a member that Jacob, although an undertaker, was a Jewish gentleman and a good citizen, and that carried tlie day. In due course Mr Eikenstein attended his first , ink dinner, when, as is usual, he was duly toasted. In his reply said: “Well, gentlemen, it is true that for ? went v vears I have tried to become a member of your golf club, but now that you have elected me, I will let bygones be bygones. To show my sineeritv and gratitude it is my pleasure — vou all know I am an undertaker —'to offer a free coffin and funeral to the first member of this club who departs this life.” The only Scottish’member of the club immediately rose from his seat, went into the next room, and si.ot himself!”—-From “over the air.

The waves which are transmitted upwards into the atmosphere pass through favors of ionised air, and this iouis at ion varies gradually, according to tuc height. - .... c The effect of varying ionisation ot the air on the path of electric waves «an be compared with tihe effect on the path of light rays when they pass through layers of glass of" d i ,ic re it . refractive power. The rays are bent, and the bending is more for tiie shorter (violet) ravs than for the longim (red) ft,vs. Similarly, the effect of varying ionisation in the atmosphere bends the

electric waves and they eventually return to earth with different results for differ cut wavelengths. The amount of bending of the waves for any given wavelength, and consequently the distances away from the transmitting point at which they, return to earth and the strength at which they can be heard, depend on the condition of ionisation of the atmosphere. And as the ionisation of the atmosphere is the result of action by the sun's rays, so do the distances and strength for the various -wavelengths depend on! the time of the day.