RADIO OLYMPIA

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXII, Issue 256, 12 October 1932, Page 4

RADIO OLYMPIA

THRIVING INDUSTRY. GREAT INCREASE IN ORDERS. London, Sept. 2. Alt business records for any wireless show were beaten when the Radio Exhibition at Olympia closed on Saturday. Biringing the exhibition date forward a month into the summer holiday, the organisers estimated that 150,000 people would visit it. Despite the fact that the exhibition opened in a heat wave without parallel for twenty years, more than 170,000 people attended during its eight days. As a result of the exhibition no fewer than 50,000 radio •instruments and components will pass into the possession of the public, states the manufacturers’ report-.

Hitherto, it seems, listeners in New Zealand who wished to tune in to distant stations often purchased American instruments because of their high power. At least four of the well-known British firms expressed their intention of catering especially for the Dominions market. They are now producing sets of sufficient power to satisfy the demands of the most ambitious listen-ers-in in New Zealand, and no doubt they will take steps to let the public know what they have to offer. An endeavour will bo made to market the sets in New Zealand at competitive prices.

£30,000,000 TURNOVER.

Sales of sets this year will be approximately 1,200,000 battery type and 800,000 electric sets, and the turnover on sets is estimated at £30,000,000. The turnover on valve sales will be £5,000,000; on batteries, £10,000,000; and on other components £5,000,000. Last year’s exhibition provided £29,000,000 worth of business. A full report has been seem, i from each of the 212 exhibitors at “Radiolympia,” and each has declared an increase in business as compared with last year. This increase ranges from 25 to 300 per cent, and the over-all average increase for the whole industry is 72 per cent. The official report states that the new business secured will necessitate the laying down of a total of 250,000 sq. ft. of new factory floor space. The last exhibition resulted in the sale of 1,250,000 sets, 6,000,000 valves, and 16,000,000 batteries. Orders have been placed this year for 2,000,000 sets, 10,000,000 valves, and 20,000,000 batteries. Much export business has been done. Six times as many foreign buyers have visited Olympia this year as in any other. Last year’s exports totalled £60,000, but this year orders have already been placed for £200,000, while others have yet to come in. Britain’s position in world radio marketing has now improved so much that she ds in the third position.

SOME INNOVATIONS.

Perhaps the most striking change in set design revealed by the recent show is the development of superheterodyne receivers. An excellent example of this is a seven-valve superhet., made in three models. The 25-guinea receiver incorporates an electric clock as the centre piece of the loud-speaker opening, and the station dial is illuminated and marked in the names of the stations instead of wave-lengths. A five-valve all-electrie receiver has a truly remarkable power and selectivity. The special feature of this set is the new visual station indicator. This consists of two illuminated stars, carrying white illuminating sight lines that can traverse the whole of the scale. When the star is red it means that you are tuned in to a short-wave station; when it is green, a long-wave station is indicated. In addition to this the station indicating dial is calibrated in stations as well as in wave-lengths. The cabinet is oi modernistic design in walnut, with figured walnut panels as a contrast, 1 and is particularly pleasing in appearance. The least expensive set in the show was priced at 75/-. This three-valve set is housed in an extremely attractive cabinet. TEN VALVE AUTORADIOGRAM. A well-known gramophone company showed a new de luxe radiogram which is not only an improvement in every way over last year’s model, but includes several innovations which have never been featured before. This is the superhet, ten-valve autoradiogram, which consists of a perfect gramophone with an automatic record changer which will handle up to eight records at one loading and a ten-valve superheterodyne radio receiver. A novel radio set is fitted with two compensated moving coil speakers, which means, in untechnical language, that there are twin loud speakers. This makes it possible for this radiogram de luxe to reproduce both .the high and low frequencies with equal clarity of tone and purity. It employs two variable valves and pentode. At 28 guineas this is made in a handsome satinwalnut cabinet. It is not in sets alone that the exhibition showed such a vast improvement over last year. Components of every variety were better and were made for longer service than ever before. One firm of battery and accumulator manufacturers showed a coll which has an indicator which when it floats horizontally at the top of the compartment shows that the cell is fully charged. When it floats vertically at the top of the compartment anything up to one-quarter of the full charge of the battery has been used. When the indicator lies horizontally at the bottom the battery is completely discharged and needs immediate attention.