WIRELESS IN THE WILDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19177, 17 November 1925, Page 12

WIRELESS IN THE WILDS.

EXPLORING AUSTRALIA. THE TERRY EXPEDITION. 1 ! j With a view to establishing definitely i and scientifically the nature and value jof the great so-called desert in Central | Australia, an expedition headed kv Mr. | Michael Terry, F.8.G.5., and " Lord | Apsley, the British MP. who went to | Australia incognito as an immigrant, | recently left Broome. Western Australia. 1 The party was equipped with special f tractor cars. { In an article which Mr. Terry has | written after his expedition had set oat, | he says:— Unfortunately the needful slowness of travelling and the many delays that have held up our setting out, brought about jan unfortunate circumstance. Owing to 1 the importance of attending the Press Conference down south Lord Apsley was I unable to accompany the party for long. He had to join' some travellers hurrying to Wave Hill to collect cattle, who kindly agreed to supply him with a mount. And so, to everyone's regret, he had to leave us. At our camp or> July 31, approximately latitude 15 south. Prescott, using our three-valve wireless receiving set, was able to pick up the first good reception. Ifo got the time signal from Perth at 12 Greenwich mean time, as we!! as the broadcasting from an Australian station, which was apparent! v Melbourne. It was rather weird to hear voices, in such different surroundings and so far away, talking to one. Thoughts spanned the two thonsapd miles of bush over which the aerial waves were vibrating. Conversation turned to the probable doings of friends at their night-time occupations. Some might be dancing; others might be at theatres; while some, let us hope, felt | these thoughts of ours and wondered | how matters fared. From this time onward the Adelaide tsmc signal was picked up pretty regularly, while broadcasting from Melbourne has seldom been silent. We have frequently listened to a voice talking in some foreign langauge which cannot be recognised. It has been most interesting to conjecture from which station it may come, as the wave length in use cannot prove the identity of its source. The general intonation seems to resemble .Japanese, but as none of us are conversant with Oriental languages, this problem must remain unsolved for the time being. Some stations are using wave lengths so nearly the same that one evening three broadcastings were received at the same time, and once it seemed that a French voice was coming through. Can it be that it came all the way from France? I Apart from the excellence of the set ; the balance of our wireless equipment is j by no means .exceptional. The aerial is j simply a length *of flexible wire, at- j taehed to the nearest pair of high trees with ropes slung up to lite branches with a hammer or spanner tied ori as i slinging weight. j

The earth connection fs a roll of ordinary wire netting spread 4 on the ground, with any convenient article laid on to keep it, from curling tip. Sometimes water is thrnyn on the netting, but this does not always improve the reception, which appears to vary solely according to the country we may camp on. In one locality it may come .booming in; in another, for no obvious reason, it is hard to even get the time signal—the strongest of tha lot.