NEW RADIO PLANT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21935, 19 October 1934, Page 12

NEW RADIO PLANT

GOOD PROGHESS WITH IYA STRUCTURAL WORK FINISHED OPERATION BY END OF YEAR Structural work on the now IYA studio premises at the top of Shortland Street, and the buildinji to house the new transmitter on a site near Henderson has been completed, and good progress is being made with interior work. It is expected that the installation of the transmitting equipment, some of which has already arrived from Australia, will be commenced in a fortnight. This task will take probably two or three weeks, it is anticipated that the installation of equipment in the Shortland Street building will be commenced in about a month. It is confidently expected that the new station, which will have a power of 10 kilowatts. 20 times that of the present IYA and double that of 2\A. Wellington, 2L''C, Sydney, and 3L0,, Melbourne, will be in commission by the end of the year. The erection of the single 500 ft. mast, for the transmitting aerial near Henderson also is proceeding apace, and it has already reached a heieht of 150 ft. The mast, which is of latticed steel, triangular in nection, with sides about 9ft. wide, is being erected in sections, which diminish in leneth as the height increases. The mast is not pyramidshaped. but has parallel sides with pointed ends, the bottom one of which pivots on a huge insulator. The insulator will bear the weight of the 60-ton mast, which will be securely stayed by four groups of wires. The aerial will consist of three radiating conductors hung at equal distances round the mast. They will be held at the bottom by anchorages some distance from the mast, and will be brought back to an aerial coupling transformer housed at the base. One of th© existing 100 ft. masts at Karangahape lload will be erected on the roof of the new studio premises, but no decision hau yet been announced as to what will become of the other one.