WIRELESS NOTES

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXI, 24 April 1937, Page 3

WIRELESS NOTES

THE HUMOROUS SIDE

HAPPENINGS IN THE STUDIO “The funniest side of broadcasting is one you don’t hear much about,” says Ron Smith, who is responsible for all the “effects” during the 2SM shows, in “Wireless Weekly.” “It’s when the unexpected happens, and if you’re in the studio you’d give a whole heap to be somewhere else, so you could have a hearty laugh. But poker face it is, and a bit of quick thinking to patch things up. When possible. “Once we had in the studio some sponsors we were anxious to impress. It was during a play, ‘Destruction,’ in which the players set sail for the moon in a rocket. The rocket effect consisted of my kicking the vacuum cleaner on, banging the drum, and letting out a ‘whoop’ on a siren. Simultaneously. The wife of one of the sponsors was sitting a bit too close. She yelled, ‘Stop that!’ There was only one thing to do—bang harder to drown her. I did. “Then John Dunne. He was very sunburnt and at the ‘peeling’ stage. The setting of the show was an art gallery. Etchings. With one hand holding the script and the other busy rubbing, ‘What a beautiful itching,’ said Mr Dunne into the mike. “One show, with John Tuttell doubling up as an Indian servant and a choleric army major. In the first role Tutt had to shuffle about, and in the second stamp heavily. Then the script required the lines of the one to follow the other. It looked as though Tutt was in for a spot of bother. But he got over things all right. Shoeless, he shuffled off as the servant, plunged his hands into his shoes, and on v all fours ‘stamped’ back to the mike to take up the major’s part!”

COMPLETE APPARATUS

TELEVISION RECEIVER A television receiver is a, complex piece of apparatus compared wiih the most elaborate of all-wave sets. Although as far as possible it uses fixed tuning, ganging, and single dial control, yet for the number of adjustments, dials, and knobs, it resembles the broadcasting receivers of 10 or more years ago. A television receiver now on the market in England, selling ‘at 95 guineas (sterling), has nine more or less essential controls and four that are classed as subsidiary. The instrument is actually two sets in one—one for sound and one for vision. The sound part . two controls, tuning and volume. The vision signal circuits are of the fixed tune type, and cannot be changed by the user. The seven controls in this section are’ for sensitivity and contrast, the equivalents respectively of pre-detector and post-detector volume controls in a broadcasting receiver; brilliance, which govern the general illumination of the picture; “line-hold” and “frame-hold” controls, for steadying down and holding the picture stationary upon the screen; a change-over control, for going from one system to another (now that only one system is in use that is superfluous); and an or>-and-off switch for the whole vision circuits. The subsidiary controls are for correcting cramping of one side of the picture; for focussing the cathode ray tube beam; for altering the width of the picture; and for altering the height of the picture. These four adjustments, after coi 1 ect initial setting, are only required to compensate for changes due to ageing of certain of the valves, of which there are 22 in all. This receiver is one of a number now available, all ol which differ from one another in nearly all details. There is as yet, no attempt at standardisation.

NEWS AND NOTES

Budapest String- Quartet The Budapest String Quartet, now under engagement to the Australian Broadcasting Commission and at present at Melbourne, has been engaged by the New Zealand Broadcasting Service to tour the main stations later in the year. The exact date has yet to be fixed, but the authorities have already arranged with Miss Mary Pratt, of Dunedin, to make the tour with the visitors. Possessor of a remarkably fine contralto voice, Miss Pratt has earned unstinted praise as a vocalist, and is well-fitted for the task of supporting vocalist. It is understood that the quartet has been engaged for quite a lengthy tour. Distinctive Signals Instead of “call signs” as we know them in New Zealand. European stations have their own distinctive signals by which they may be identified by listeners. Most of these signals are

operated by electrical devices. Posen has four flute notes of different tone, produced by a small motor driving a drum with cams which brings a bellows into action to blow the flutes. Copenhagen and Geneva have bellringing hammer operated by a motor; and Germany employs a melody produced by steel tongues. Wilno has a cuckoo call, produced from small organ pipes by a bellows apparatus. Crakow uses a guitar whose strings are automatically pinched when a small motor is switched on. In the same manner as Wilno produces its cuckoo call, Lyons has its canaries, and Turin its nightingales; and Brussels employs bells. Germany plays its national anthems, Russia, Communist hymns, and Rome, popular melodies on a shepherd’s flute. Listeners soon learn to distinguish stations by these signals, which obviates the necessity for too-frequent announcements. Largest Television Station Messrs Standard Telephones and Cables (Australasia), Ltd., announce that the French Ministry of Posts, Telegraphs, and Telephones has ordered from their associates, Le Materiel Telephonique, of Paris, the largest commercial television transmitter yet contemplated. The transmitter will be installed at the base of the Eiffel Tower, and will be in operation for the forthcoming Paris Exposition. It will have a peak carrier output of 30 kilowatts. The transmitter will be connected to an antenna located on the top of the Eiffel Tower flag pole by 400 metres of coaxial conductor, weighing 12 tons. The equipment will be broadcast at 405 lines. The Eiffel Tower, which was the wonder of the 1889 Paris Exposition, and was first used to receive radio telephone messages from America in 1916, will again play a leading part in the 1937 exposition, with television. New Australian Another new Australian National station has reached the testing stage. This is 3WV, Western Victoria, which fills in the gap on 580 kilocycles. It’s rating is 10,000 watts, the highest in the Commonwealth. Mobile Recording Unit

The British Broadcasting Corporation has developed a mobile recording unit built on a 2J ton truck chassis. Inside the van are arranged two benches, one on either side of a central gangway, each bench carrying a microphone switching and cue unit, a microphone amplifier, control circuits, and recording power amplifier. Four moving-coil microphones are employed, and by means of a “mixer” it is possible to use any or all of the microphones simultaneously. Special cables enable the microphones to be located at long distances from the recording van. The apparatus is employed quite often to secure special “street" and other effects for incorporation in ordinary programmes, and for the recording of special talks for broadcasting at later times.