RADIO INSPECTORS

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 24 August 1935, Page 15

RADIO INSPECTORS

THEIR WORK DESCRIBED EXPERIENCES IN LOCATING FAULTS INTERFERENCES TO THE RECEPTION. In these days of the all-wave radio, when the listener ranges the world for his entertainment, the question of interference with reception of radio signals is of great interest to a wide circle of readers. They will be renss\ired to know that this problem is being watched constantly by 21 radio inspectors of the post office, and also receives expert attention from the department's engineering staff. In addition, there are at a. number of post offices throughout the Dominion officers of the telegraph branch, etc., who attend to interference complaints as occasion requires. The full-time inspectors are stationed at Auckland, Whangarei, Hamilton East, Hamilton West, Wellington, Masterton, Nelson, Palmerston North, Wanganui, New Plymouth, Napier, Gisborne, Christchurch, Timaru, Dunedin, Invercargill, and there are part-time inspectors at Blenheim and Greymouth. These officers have some extremely interesting experiences as demonstrated from their regular reports to headquarters. What is the most common source of trouble experienced by the radio listeners? Electric power lines, are so prominent a feature of the New Zealand landscape that there is a very natural tendency on the part of listeners to regal’d the reticulation system as the source of most of their troubles . The listener is right occasionally, and if there is a fault of this nature it is quickly remedied, for the electric supply authorities of the Dominion co-operate with the Postal Department in a most prompt and effective way to eliminate this cause of radio interference. However, there are many localities in which it is almost impossible to .secure perfect reception. A house is sometimes found to be electrically shielded, and radio signals, extremely weak at that point, although a few yards further along the same street reception will bo perfect from the nearest broadcasting station.

RIVAL DETECTIVES, Radio inspectors almost- rival criminal detectives in their capacity totrace mysterious troubles. They are equipped with portable receiving sots and are thus independent of the set owned by the complaining listener when the trouble is being demonstrated. This is highly important, because so many cases of complaint are eventually found to be located in the listener’s own set. The inspector then points out the cause, and it is the task of a radio service man to set it right. Faults are sometimes found in house wiring. The defect may not be- dangerous from a fire hazard point of view, but a slightly corroded wire while giving ordinary service will make itself evident in the radio receiving set, especially if the latter is used with a high degree of amplification.

In the eleptvic transmission lines there are fuses as a protective device, and some radio interference complaints of recent mouths have been traced to faulty fuses. They are quite serviceable from the point- of view of ordinary work, but they may be loose, and this possible source of radio reception trouble is traced by the inspector tapping the power polos while listening on a portable receiver. Power lines running along the sea front become encrusted with salt spray, and an electrostatic discharge takes place from the wire of the insulator with consequent annoyance to the radio listener, although a heavy shower of rain, washing off the spray, at once brings relief. Radio inspectors arc also responsible for the examination of operators of ships’ wireless, they inspect the radio apparatus used on ships, and when an amateur wishes to secure a transmitting license lie has to pass through a. critical survey and satisfy them that his - knowledge is sufficient, among other things, to enable him to operate a set without interfering with the entertainment of listeners who use the broadcasting band.