THE WIRELESS WORLD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22711, 25 October 1935, Page 2

THE WIRELESS WORLD

NEWS AND NOTES By Magna Vox. Items of local interest are invited by “ Magna Vox ” for publication in this column. It is necessary that such matter should reach this office by Tuesday of each week for insertion on the following Friday. 2BU Sydney.—74o K.C., 405 metres. 2FC, Sydney.—6lo K.C., 492 metres. i?AR, Melbourne. —630 K.C., 476 metres. 3LO, Melbourne.—77o K.C., 390 metres. 9CL, Adelaide.—73o K.C., 411 metres. 4QG, Brisbane. —800 K.C., 311 metres. IYA, Auckland.—6so K.C., 461.3 metres. 2YA, Wellington. —570 K.C., 526 metres. 3YA, Christchurch. —720 K.C., 416.4 metres. 4YA. Dunedin,— 79o K.C.. 379.5 metres. 4YO, Dunedin. —1140 K.C., 261 metresANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. J N. D., Dunedin—Yes, the 56 type would be a better valve to use in both sockets, and wquld give you more volume than the 27. I should not advise you to attempt altering the coils yourself, as you are only likely to get them out of alignment. It appears to me that m the first place the coils did not suit the gang condenser. Try lining up the set with the trimmers screwed well down this will probably shift the station further down the dial and give you a better spread. Where such a set of matched coils is concerned, the best thing to do is either to get a set of coils which will cover the band with your condenser, or to change the condenser to suit the coils. “Five-valve,” Roxburgh. — (1) It would seem that the set is an old one, and that nothing much can be done with it. The service man who did the job for you is one of the most competent in the Dominion, and you are in error in imagining that he has " an axe to grind and, ia trying to sell you a set for which he is agent. As a matter of fact he has, ‘as I happen to know, no agency at aH, and confines himself entirely to service work. If he has told you that it is impossible to repair the set, I should imagine that is about all there is to it, for you can be assured that he knows what he is talking about. It would be still more impossible for me flatly to contradict him and begin on suggestions, all of which have, no doubt, occurred to and been tried out by him. (2) No. “Battery,” Heriot.—lt is quite possible that the set is made that way, -and that it will always be a bit heavy on batteries. If so, there is nothing you can do about it. A good plan would be to write to the agents, or even the makers, and inquire whether your battery should last longer than it does. By the way, are you sure the battery is 0.K.? Perhaps it does not hold a charge as it should. It mighty be, of course, that the valves are ageing and are now using more current than formerly, but it should not make as much difference as all that. “ Puzzled,” Mornington.—Your statement, that “you have not written to me before ” does not, I regret to say, carry much weight, despite your use of a nom de plume. Once again, and finally, I refuse to reply to foolish queries which have come from a third party who is obviously having' a joke at your expense. ON THE SHORT WAVES. Reception on short waves has not been at its best during the past few days, there being too much atmospheric disturbance for really enjoyable listening, At the same time, on the 19 metres band, where the noise has not been so prevalent as on the 31 metres channel, several stations have been clearly audible from 10 p.m. onward. Of these, GSF Is the best, but Zeesen and Radio Coloniale have been at fair volume. During the early part of the week PCJ, Eindhoven, Holland, was at good strength at 11 p.m., and at midnight GSG, on 16.88 metres, was heard, but at much lower volume than GSF. The 25 metres band is so good as it has been, but Radio Colonialu, WBXK, Zeeson, and GSD are at fair volume, while RNE, , late on Sunday and Wednesday nights, is excellent. The 31 metres band provides good entertainment each evening, first with Daventry and 3LR, and from 10 p.m. to midnight with 3ME. The American W2XAF is also at good volume each day, being, as a rule, decidedly louder than WIXK. It is unfortunate, however, that morse interference is particularly bad on this band. THE ELECTIONS. The radio authorities have already plans well in hand for election night. Experience gained in previous elections indicates that after about 8.30 p.m. there will be very little normal programme and nearly all election news. Arrangements have been made to receive results as they come to hand. They will be broadcast from all stations as soon as received. In the early stages of the evening the news may be intermittent and interspersed with music. Later in the evening the stations will be handling election news almost entirely. Arrangements have been made to keep the stations on the air until at least midnight. If the situation warrants it, there is little doubt that the stations will close in the small hours of the morning. .SMART WORK. Many listeners who heard a Sydney station giving the result of the recent Le'ague test match’ between Australia and New Zealand, played at Carlaw Park, a minute or so after the big game ended were curious to know how Australia was in possession of the result so quickly. This is easily explained. , It was due to the excellent arrangements made by the technical staff of the Post and Telegraph Department, who for the first time in the Dominion relayed a description of the last twenty minutes of play right from the grandstand at Carlaw Park to the Sydney radio station. The commentator was Mr Harry Sunderland, joint manager of the Australian team, who spoke through an ordinary telephone microphone. The description was relayed by land line to the Wellesley street post office, thence by land line to Hamilton, then by carrier telephone, consisting of a specially wired radio circuit, to the Wellington radio station, which sent it by short wave to the Sydney receiving station. From there the description ’vas transmitted by land line to the broadcasting station. CHECKING WAVELENGTH. The International Broadcasting Union, at a recent meeting in Warsaw, decided upon the extension of its system of checking broadcast frequencies, percentage of modulation, frequency, fluctuation of carrier waves, and fidelity of reproduction with a view to ensuring even greater accuracies than have yet been achieved. It was reported that 10 years ago broadcasting stations were known to fluctuate from 1000 to 3000 cycles from their normal frequencies in the course of a few hours, but since the operation of the union the principal European stations had been more closely controlled, and as a result they did not fluctuate more than one cycle a month from their established frequency. Some impression of the accuracy of the wavelengths maintained may be gathered from the fact that the fluctuation is about one cycle in one million cycles, a far lower variation than is possible with the most accurate chronometer. IN DOUBTFUL TASTE. Inspired no doubt by a desire to go one better than commercial stations — the Yellow Press of radio-—2FC broadcast what it described as a “ dramatised version of the war news.” Synthetic effects were introduced after the fashion of the cricket test “ descriptions.” The reading of cable messages summarising an address by the Abyssinian Emperor was accompanied by a “record” of an applauding crowd. The announcement of the bombardment of Adowa was prefaced by a noise meant to represent the scream of shells, and was followed by the cries and groans of the wounded. The whole affair was in deplorable taste (states an exchange), and Australian papers indicate that it met with a hostile reception from many listeners. It was anything but creditable to the commission, but that body has no permanent head at present, and its staff are alleged to be very divided. RELAY FROM EGYPT. A programme unique in the annals of British broadcasting was relayed by the 8.8. C. from Cairo recently with the co-operation of the Egyptian State Broad-

casting Service. It was broadcast in the Home programme at 6.35 p.m., G.M.T.. and simultaneously radiated from the 8.8. C. Empire station in transmission 4, and transmission 1 for New Zealand. The programme was divided into sections, the first dealing with ancient Oriental music, the second consisting of an actuality broadcast of a street scene in Cairo, while the third dealt with popular modern interpretations of the older music. The broadcast was opened with announcements in Arabic and English, followed by a recital from the Koran by Sheikh Mohammed Rifaat. Mohammed Rifaat, who, incidentally, is blind, is one of the most popular broadcasters in Egypt, and his evening readings, according _to programme officials of the Egyptian State Broadcasting Service, are more eagerly listened to than any other items in the local programmes. The second item of the programme was a performance by Mustafa Rida Bey and his Oriental Takht (Orchestra). Mustafa Rida Bey is president of the Royal Institute of Oriental Music, and is the best known player of the kanoun (a species of dulcimer or harp having 50 to 60 strings). His takht for this performance included the best of the “violin,” “oud,” “nai,” and “rek” players known in Oriental music. Each instrument was announced and described separately. SPONSORED PROGRAMMES. The main argument in favour of radio advertising in New Zealand is based on American experience. In the States listeners pay no fees, and the stations derive their revenue from “sponsored” programmes; in other words, advertisers pay the artists’ fees and running expenses in return for the privilege of bringing their products before the audience. Some of the advertising has been of euch a nature that the Federal Radio Commission has banished several stations from the air, and a further batch is to be dealt with this month. A few of the bigger concerns, such as oil and motor proprietaries, provide wonderfuul halfhours, paying high fees to famous artists and restricting the advertising to a minimum. The fee paid, like those motion picture and vaudeville stars, are grossly exaggerated for publicity purposes, but still are actually very large. It has been suggested that this system could be introduced into New Zealand, but there are neither the artists nor the population to make it practicable. In America two big chains of stations dominate the air, and between them can reach anything up to a million receivers, and an audience of several million potential buyers. A New Zealand B station could not reach more than a few thousands, and even if there were good artists available, n,o advertiser would be prepared to pay high fees for such small coverage. Anybody who is deluded into the belief that advertising is a good thing on the air should spend a week listening to Australian commercial stations, and his cure will be complete. It is often alleged that press commentators who oppose the suggestion that radio advertising should be permitted here are inspired by the fear that the newspapers will lose revenue. That is a mistaken idea (comments a writer in an exchange) . - This has not been the experience in Australia, where the commercial stations have benefited at the expense of other forms of advertising, but have not affected the press. Directly there is any sign of serious competition, the newspaper proprietors are wideawake enough to deal with the situation. As a matter of fact half the commercial stations in Australia already are controlled openly or secretly by newspaper interests, and one New Zealand journal has provided for eventualities. One difference between printed and spoken advertising is that one is optional, while the other is rammed into the ears of unwilling listeners. Another and more important difference is that newspapers advertising, to be effective, must be reasonably readable, while a good deal of the stuff that goes on the air is an insult to the intelligence of the majority of listeners.