NEW YEAR'S SETS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19748, 22 September 1927, Page 17

NEW YEAR'S SETS.

WHAT AMERICA IS DOING. If there is one thing on which practically every designing engineer has agreed while building his 1928 radio model it is shielding, states the New York Herald Tribune in reviewing a radio exhibition held recently in Chicago. Copper and aluminium boxes are used in some shape or mpnner in almost every set. .Likewise the dial has disappeared. In its place is the attractive illuminated window across which the scale division flash with wave-length or kilocycle marking are everywhere in evidence. This simplifies the tuning of the sets. T'be cabinet work has never been more artistic and there are more console models than table types of sets. Solving the current supply has led to some unexpected developments. There was one set exhibited which derived all its A, B, and C current battery current from a small motor generator run off the house current. Another set uses unfiltered current directly on its valve filaments, and thus needs no battery. Still another uses the heater type of valve for all its work except the detector and power valves. , Battery and battery-operated sets have not gone out of the picture, and for these battery manufacturers have built more efficient products, equipped with manv conveniences. Automatically-controlled A batteries, compactly and efficiently built. B batteries, will be a necessity with hundreds of thousands of set-owners and operators. Loud-speaker improvement has been going on for several years. This year sees a comeback of the old horn speaker, but under a much different shape ancr greatly developed as to acoustic properties. Speaker designers have paid special attention to the appearance of the instruments. Technically the reproduction is more real than ever attained. The mechanism has been simplified and built so that it will handle with ease the output from the largest sets, SHpRT-WAVE BROADCASTS. BRITISH OFFICIAL NEWS. Empire broadcast recently conducted by the short-wave station of 2FC, Sydney, has been already commented upon by the writer. Australian newspapers to hand state that a group of 55 brilliant Australian and English artists worked to make successful this first Empire broadcast. It is estimated the talent which ..was broadcast was worth £3OOO. The tests being carried .out by Mr. G. Marcuse, London, are being varied, both as regards wave-length and power, in accordance with information, being supplied to him by the engineers of 2FC, as well as Marconi engineers in London. He is using Marconi's latest apparatus in his Australian and New Zealand tests. The British Post Office is officially testing the advantages of short-wave transmission for the publication of the official British news from Rugby. This has resulted from the failure of the Rugby 18,000-metre transmissions to be heard perfectly in all parts of the British Empire. British official news is for a short time being transmitted simultaneously from Bugby on the ordinary long wavelength, and also on 22' metres at 11.30 p.m., and 37 metres at 11.30 a.m., New Zealand time. The British authorities ask for reports from wireless stations on the manner in which these dual transmissions are received. An opportunity is provided here for the New Zealand Association of Radio Transmitters to cooperate with the British Post Office by taking signal-strength observations on these short-wave transmissions from GBR, England. , THE BAIRD TELEVISOR. EXPERIMENTS! IN ENGLAND. Reports from Britain show that Mr. Baird, the Scottish inventor of television, has succeeded in transmitting small, but distinct, lectures between f/ondon and Glasgow, a distance of 433 miles. In the vicinity of London and in the counties radio, experimenters ■are co-operating and receiving television pictures on a televisor connected with ordinary radio receivers. iNlr. Baird hopes, at an early date, to carry out experiments in transmitting radio pictures across the Atlantic. These are to be continuous moving pictures, showing the actions of the person at. the transmitting end, and are not to be confused 'with the radio transmission of still-life pictures. The transmission .of photographs between London and NewYork and Chvcago by the Ranger system is being accomplished daily as portion of the ordinary commercial routine between the cities mentioned. Thus does radio advance and serve commerce and industry. KDKA TRANSMISSIONS. NEW MODULATION SYSTEM. The "engineers of the Westinghouse Electrical Company, in an endeavour to reduce as far as possible the interference and improve the efficiency of their wellknown American broadcasting station, i KDKA, have developed a system of "frequency modulation" which, it is claimed, gives "much sharper tuning and employs | considerably less power than "power modulation." Briefly, the new system of transmission, instead' ot varying" the amplitude or strength of the signal, maintains an even, constant strength of signal and varies the frequency by a very small amount. It is stated that during the few weeks of I its use at KDKA the station tuned very sharply at nearby points, although radiating as much as 50.000 watts energy. The signal strength, moreover, is said to be greater than when the ordinary transmitting system was used. There has, at the same time, been a great saving in transmitting valves. All modulator valves are eliminated, and this, ;n the case of KDKA. means twelve 10-kilo-watt water-cooled valves. NEWS FROM ALL TARTS. FERRY STEAMER EQUIPMENT. Reception of 2YA, Wellington, on a simple crystal set is reported by Master K. Mclnnes, Fapakura. The input power of the short-wave station of 3LO, Melbourne, and 2FC. Sydney, are announced to be 15.000 watts. The Municipal Band Concert in the Town Hall was broadcast by 1Y A on Saturday evening, giving one of the most .pleasing entertainments yet broadcast by the local station. The ferry steamers Wahine and Maori j ar® to be equipped with valve trans- j mitters in place of the spark apparatus j which has caused considerable interference j with the broadcast reception of Wellington and Canterbury listeners. Static was particularly unpleasant on j Monday evening, and was also trouble- j some on Tuesday. During the winter j severe static has been comparatively in- j frequent and the result has beer the best i season for distant reception for some j considerable time.