BROADCASTING PROGRESS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19564, 17 February 1927, Page 14

BROADCASTING PROGRESS.

REVIEW BY THE MINISTER. HOWLING-VALVE NUISANCE. by thermion. In officially opening the Christchurch broadcasting station, 3YA, a review of broadcasting conditions in New Zealand was made by tho Postmaster-General, tho Hon. W. Nosworthy. The statement presents many features of interest to Auckland listeners who should read carefully the extracts that follow. " At Auckland, six months ago," said the Minister, " I had the privilege of declaring officially open the first of the Broadcasting Company's new stations. That occasion marked tho passing of tho first milestone, and the transition fiom makeshift to organised radio service in New Zealand. This evening we pass the second milestone of the Dominion's progress in the broadcasting branch of radio science. I hope that before many months have passed we shall reach tho third stage, with the completion of the larger station proposed for Wellington. After referring briefly to tho Christchurch station, 3YA, the PostmasterGeneral continued: "Since tho Auckland station was opened, radio in this country has made rapid strides, the most striking advance being the increase, during the short time that has elapsed, in tho number of licences. There wore then only 4500. To-day we have 16,000. On a population basis, this represents an approximate increase of from one in 300 to one in 80. Hundreds of applications are still pouring in; and wo are confident of reaching and even passing the mark at which we are aiming. " Unfortunately, the remarkable growth has brought in its train an aggravation of the howling-valve nuisance, the elimination of which constitutes a difficult problem that is engaging the serious attention of the Post and Telegraph Department s experts. Tho evil is a deplorable .one; but it must not be imagined that this hindrance to good reception is peculiar to New Zealand, or that it is worse here than elsewhere. .Listeners themselves can < do much to alleviate it by educating their less-experienced fellows in the proper operation of their sets; and I would strongly urge them, in their own interests, to supplement in that way the efforts of the official inspectors. FUTURE POSSIBILITIES. " I had not intended," continued Mr. Nosworthy, " to touch on other questions of policy; but it may interest you to know that during this year there will be held in Washington an International Radio Telegraph Conference, and one of the subjects which probably will be considered is that of abolishing the 450 and 600-metre wave lengths for iship stations, and allotting ones that will be well beyond the broadcasting band. Interference from ships has been largely prevented in the meantime, by prohibiting their use of the 450-metre wave length within 400 miles of the coast during the evening and within 100 miles during the day. _ " A phase of. broadcasting that will receive a great deal of notice in the near future is the rebroadcastmg of programmes. Experiments are now being made which, if successful, will^ enable programmes broadcast from England to be reeved at large' receiving stations in tho Dominion, and retransmitted for the benefit of Now Zealand listeners. There is at present no station in the Old Country of- sufficient power to carry out this work; but, when one is erected, it will give us our most intimate bond of communication and interest with the Homeland, and prevent broadcasting from becoming a medium of the un-British influence for which the film fortunately, has provided a vehicle. RECENT BROADCAST PROGRAMMES. On Friday evening the ohristchurch station, 3YA, now housed in permanent and well-equipped quarters, was oliicially opened. An'excellent programme of music and speeches was arranged, and the strength of the station, as heard in Auckland,°was greater than previously. Fading was in evidence, and the modulation was good. During the evening Mr. J. M. Prentice made eulogistic referenco to the efficiency of the reorganised 3YA, and stated that no effort was being spared to arrange programmes that would satisfy every taste. Ho also mentioned that Auckland listeners "who have a habit of shrieking for what they want until they get it," were perhaps unfortunate in having the first of the 500-watt stations, as early experience had led to improvements in the Christchurch installation. This could be considered superior to that in Auckland. On Sunday evening spocial speeches of welcome to the Prime Minister, Mr. Coates, were broadcast from 3YA. In a little . over three-quarters of an hour a reply was received from the Makura and broadcast. Mr. Coates stated he and his fellow-passengers had heard every word of the speeches with perfect clarity. The programmes from IYA have also contained some interesting features. A most excellent description by Mr. George Campbell, of the motor-cycle races at Takapuna, was broadcast on Saturday afternoon. The early portion of the musical programme on Saturday evening was beyond reproach, a particularly bright feature being a clever half-hour broadcast by two artists'. A DISTINGUISHED VISITOR. On Saturday evening an interesting talk on British broadcasting was given by Sir William Noble, late engineer-in-chief to tho British Post Ofhce, who is at present touring New Zealand. It was stated that a licence was granted in 1922 to the British Broadcasting Company, and listening became so popular that the licence fee for receiving sets was reduced early from £1 to 10s. .Twenty-one low power and one high-power broadcasting stations were erected in Great Britain, although onlv eight were required under the terms o*f the company s agreement. Simultaneous broadcasting had been studied and developed in Great Britain. Sir William expressed the opinion that broadcasting would become a necessity in referring to its help in establishing ■family life on a firm basis, and to its value in a time of national emergency such as during the recent strike in Emr land. He stated he had been very much struck by. the development of broadcasting in Melbourne. The programmes he had heard in New Zealand were highly satisfactory. Reference was made to the difficulties of. arranging programmes 'in New Zealand, as compared with England where there is a large field of talent suitable for broadcasting. r.SPRODUCED MUSIC. In Radio Topics we dealt recentlv with the difficulties that confront the listener who desires to obtain faithful reproduction and with the limitations of the Joud speaker, itself; let us now see if there are any means at onr disposal of overcoming these difficulties and of mini, mising these limitations. In the first place, we must make sure that the loud speaker is given fair chance by the receiving set doing its best. In order to bring out the ba. c s notes we must see that, if transformers are used at all in the receiving set. they are the best obtainable, for a poor transiormer may fail almost entirely to respond to Dotes below middle C. We must make sure, too, that the valves suit the transformers.

It is not realised enough that if good results are desired the valves .in _ the audio-frequency circuits of the receiving set must be chose) l with discrimination; it is, for example, most important that where a high-ratio transformer is used, its primary should be connected to a valve of low impedance. The last valve must certainly be of the power type if it is to be able to deal properly with the big swings in voltage that will reach its grid. The grids of all valves must be so negatively biassed that no flow of grid current occurs. Rather less signal strength, but a considerable .improvement in quality, may result if transformers are altogether eliminated, their placo being taken by couplings of the resistancecapacity or choke-capacity kind. A listener who is not satisfied with his loud speaker reproduction may easily see whether the receiving set is at fault by connecting a milliammeter temporarily into the plate circuit of the last valve. Should the needle of the instrument not remain perfectly steady when loud signals are coming in, distortion will bo present, either because the grid bias is not properly adjusted, or because the valves in use are being asked to do more than lies within their power. FIRST RADIO TRANSMISSIONS. Possibilities of wireless transmission of power and of television within the next 25 years were forecasted by Senator G. Marconi in a recent interview comparing the state of wireless development to-day with that of 25 years ago, when the first wireless signals were transmitted. across the Atlantic Ocean. This event took place on December 12, 1901, when the letter " S," transmitted from Poldhu, Cornwall, waa recoived by Marconi at St. John, Newfoundland. " Twenty-five years ago the instruments we had at our disposal were very crude as compared with those of to-day," the inventor said "We had no valves, amplifiers, sensitive super-heterodyne sets, directional transmitters and receivers, or means for making continuous waves. All we had for transmitting was a means of making crude damped spark-waves which did not permit the correct tuning we have available to-day. " During the next 25 years there probably will be almost as great a development in the means of obtaining directional wireless transmission and reception as there has been in other directions during the last quarter century. It is a pleasing coincidence that on almost exactly the twenty-fifth anniversary of the first radio message sent across the Atlantic I have been able to bring to fruition another far-reaching development in longdistance radio communication by establishing a short-wave beam station which constitutes practically a revolution in wireless communication. NEWS FROM ALL QUARTERS. Auckland listeners will have noticed that the transmissions from Christchurch are heard with increasing strength as the evening wears on. The same is true of the Australian broadcasts, which can now be heard at remarkable loudness. On Sunday. and Monday nights both the Sydney stations, 2BL and 2FC, were almost at normal winter strength, while 3LO, Melbourne, and 4QG, Brisbane, could be heard clearly. All these stations should now remain at good strength as heard in New Zealand. At 10 p.m. on Monday evening both 2BL and 2FC could be heard more loudly than 3YA, which in turn was at better strength than 3LO and 4QG. The Hobart broadcasting station, 7ZL, is now testing at irregular intervals on high power on a wave-length of 468 metres. Given normal atmospheric conditions during the approaching winter New Zealand listeners with valve receiving sets will be able to choose from many broadcast programmes. There is a surprising tendency among New Zealand announcers to say " This is .station XYZ speaking," a practice that has been roundly condemned in America as the phrase contains four sibilant sounds. The sibilants are the most difficult of all sounds, to reproduce clearly, and it is recognised as good broadcasting technique to avoid them whenever possible. The Australian Royal Commission on Wireless will sit at an early date. The writer trusts the New Zealand authorities will make arrangements to forward a statement to the commission with a view to arranging a more satisfactory allocation of the new wave-lengths of tho major Australian and New Zealand broadcasting stations. The question of wave-lengths is to be considered by the commission, and there is the possibility that an Australian readjustment may leave New Zealand in an awkward position unless there is mutual co-operation. The Melbourne broadcasting station, 3LO, rcently conducted a beautiful girl competition. The winner, Miss Eileen Harper, is at present touring New Zealand at the expense of 3LO, and is due in Auckland on March 3, leaving the following day for Sydney. "To speak into the microphone requires the courage of Nelson, the brains of Napoleon and the honesty of Washington," according to Will " Rogers, the American humorist. To this the cynic would retort that much more is sometimes required of the listener.