WIRELESS NOTES

New Zealand Times, Volume LI, Issue 11785, 22 March 1924, Page 9

WIRELESS NOTES

By RADIO.

THE FARMERS’ FRIEND ~ Jo the general impression, the iarmer has not yet become greatly enthusiastic ior radio. The fact that tiie tanner ha 9 been reluctant in taking hold of radio hos puzzled the manufacturei's, for if anyone could make practical use of it, the farmer is the man. it would b© useful and entertaining to him at all times of the year, and his null season, the winter, is the best time ol tho yea~ for the satisfactory reception of broadcast concerts. Radio is always a .source of news. It brings to the farm daily weather forecasts which are invaluatie in handling crops. It furnishes daily stcck, fruit and meat markets, as we L_? s trend) of the securities. Crops reports are sent put at intervals. To ih e farmer and his family living at a distance from the towns the wide range of educational and entertainment programmes is just as available as to, anyone else, and the time is not far of! wren tiho and sermons in the city churches will also reach him through the air. Perhaps one reason why the fanner has baea slow in taking up radio is that he has not known, what to buy. He has been puzzled as to which set to buy because of the conflicting reports, on efficiency of various types of circuits, all of which are more or less Greek to him. Representatives of the various companies are constantly in the country areas, nevertheless, they find the farmer very conservative.in these matters. The far-, jnor’g fear of fire resulting from liglitn- , ’ug striking an aerial has also had some ! effect on his attitude. The fact is if an aerial is properly grounded it is a protection during an electrical storm. However, it is possible to mako a simple set which will operate with an inside antenna consisting of 100 feet of wire put around tho moulding of a room. FOR DISTANCE WORK

With a three or four-tube set using the neutrodyne or reflex principle, it is possible to bear stations within 1000 miles and they can be brought in clear, loud and without distortion on a loud speaker by using an inside antenna or a loop. Radio is sure to make a place for itself on the farm. When once the farmers appreciate the value of this new asset they are sure to become interested.

GET A MOVE ON Market and weather reports are sent out from Wellington constantly, for ' Radio 1 ' has listened) in to them, and surely these should be of value to the man on the land, apart from the entertainment side of tho business. This is a mbject that might well har© been ventilated at the oonferatfee of the Not/Zeal an I Farmers' Union, and would at least have been as productive of good •u? some of the hardy annuals that appear in the remits ana give rise to wornout arguments that fail to achieve anything. EDUCATE THEM Has it not occurred to some of the companies who are broadcasting and dealing with radio to attend some of these farmers' meeting and give then a practical demonstration of what can be achioved. A few weeks ago over 100 farmers from all over New Zealand wore assembled at the I>ominion Farmers' Institute. Had ,n representative been there, say, with a Be Forest reflex cet and loud speaker, he could have arranged for market reports to havo been, broadcasted! at a given time, and every farmer in the room would have heard for himself. And what would the res ilt have been ? He would at least have set them thinking, to say nothing of having sent 100 farmers out into the country a?ain to toll their farmer friends of what they htd seen and heard. It is up to the wireless people in the four centres to nut their thinking caps on and see what they can do in the matter. Isn't the hint worth taking? FUTURE OF WIRELESS OPERATOR The first portion of an interesting articlo in the "Nauiical Magazine," dealing with the opportunities offered in tl e service and the way in which the profession had become overcrowded at Hie present moment, was given, and was read with eonsideiable interest. The concluding portion of the article relates to inspectorships, and it says: "The somewhat coveted position of inspector on tho shore staff of a wireless company is an extremely difficult one to obtain. To any operator who can choose which company to try for, the Marconi Company is undoubtedly the one which offers the greater chances of promotion. Bein~ tho largest wireless company in tho country, and devoting its entire attention to wireless matters, it is able to srouo its departments, and the positions in them in such a. manner as to provide considerable scope to a keen mil. Inspectors in this company can rise from £460 to .£SOO a year, having been assistant inspector© at somewhat lower talar:es. Men showing a particular aptitude for other work, apart from the purely technical, have an opportunity fn f his •ompany to branch out. Tho great Irawbnck apparent, however, in this company, as in any other, is the compara ive

scarcity of shore positions to the vast number of operators afloat." STEADY EMPLOYMENT Tho article concludes: ''The wireless profession provides steady employment to a good conscientious man who has succeeded in obtaining a post in a well established wireless company, and i;nn this aspect may claim some merit. It is. however, a profession which lacks well defined stages or stepping stones to enable the individual to aspire to and reach tho higher positions. It tends to create a large floating population of wireless operators who are, by reason of their isolated position at sea and specialised training, unfitted to branch out into i.ny other profession. To the younger operators this aspect of the situation is not appreciated, but to the many old timers who are waiting for shore posts, and indeed have been doing so for some considerable time, the future presents a picture hopelessly inadequate and uninspiring.”

The value of wireless in cases of emergency was demonstrated at Ashburton on'a recent Sunday (says the "New Zealand Herald”). A patient in the local hospital was dangerously ill, and it was desired to summon his daughter, who was in Auckland. As the telegraph oltee was closed, friends of the sick man resorted to wireless in an endeavour to Ret the message through. A low-powered broadcasting plant was the only one available. and from it the urgent appeal was rent out. Someone, evidently an amateur, in Wellington, picked un the message. From that city a telegram was sent to Auckland. At 6.10 p.m., one hour before the express left for the south, the Auckland telegraph officials succeeded in communicating by telephone with the lady to whom the message was addressed, and she was thus able to catch the train, though, unfortunately, her father died before she reached his bedside. The lady desires tthank the unknown person in Wellington who forwarded the message.

RADIO GROUND FOR DIVORCE Mrs Cora May White, 33 years old, filed a suit in Hennepin County District Court (Minneapolis', asking for a divorce from Gerald White alleging "radio maniac." In her complaint she makes these, accusations against her husband; Paid more attention to his radio apparatus than to her and the home. Stayed np late into the night listening to the loud speaker, and kept her from falling asleep. Compelled her to "listen in" for the voices of artist friends of his singing over the radio from other cities. Used profanity when local stations made it difficult for him to tune in on to other distant ones. RADIO KILLING LIBRARIES This ts the heading to a paragraph in a Canadian paper, which says: "People are 'listening in' on the radio and desert, ing the libraries. Earl W. Browning, librarian, told the members of the library hoard here (Hamilton, Ontario), Thursday. He reported that throughout, the United States and Canada there was a decrease in attendance at the libraries, which he attributed largely to the radio." REALISM IN RADIO PLAYS Broadcast plays of the future will hate real "scenery," babbling brooks, water wheels, railway stations, or anything else demanded by the plots. A recent experiment showed that actors' voices could be super-imposed on background noises with perfectly good results, and a good deal of thought is being devoted to the idea. "I am certain there are tremendous possibilities in this direction,” said Cap. tain C. A. lewis, organiser of the programmes of the 8.8. C. "We have had already a hundred letters expressing ap. preciation of last night's performances, and people evidently liked them. It was the first time, except the occasion on which a sketch was acted at the Covent Garden Hall, that a play had been written specially for broadcasting." ONLY A BEGINNING /"It is only a beginning," he continued. ‘ At the moment our knowledge of securing effects is limited. Recently we tried the valuable advice of Mr Van Dami, who does the noises at the Tivoli. Hfe is very interested in the subject, and we shall develop it. The fact that a hollow, muffled voice was produced by the speaker talking into a bucket, shows that we are only in an experimental stage. Street traffic, crowds, the bustle of the departure platform, can also be got over by the simple process of putting a second microphone at the end of a land line. Where there are no land lines we can put a portable transmitter into a Ford van. WONDERS OF THE .FUTURE "Up till now, if we played a scene which was supposed to take place by a j 1 A trean !’ 'mteners were told about it, and then the voices spoke out of silence. In future it is not too much to say the microphone and also the actors will stand on an actual mill stream bonk." More radio plays are to he given.