THE WIRELESS WORLD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23341, 5 November 1937, 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 mattet should reach this ollice by Tuesday ol each week for insertion on the following Friday IYA AucKiand.-tiSU K.C., 461.2 metres 2YA, Wellington.- 570 K.C., 526 metres 2BL Sydney.--740 K.C.. 405 metres. 2FC, Sydney.-010 K.C.. 476 metres 3AR. Melbourne.—77o K.C.. 390 metres

SCL, Adelaide.—73o K.C., 411 metres. 4QG. Brisbane.—Boo K.C., 311 metres. 3YA Christch.urch.—72o K.C.. 416.4 metres. 4YA, Dunedin—79o K.C.. 379.5 metres 4YO. Dunedin.—ll4o K.C.. 261 metres

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS N. D. O'G., Dunedin.—(l) You have not indicated whether the squeal changes in pitch as you pass over each station. If it does not, then the trouble lies not with your set, but with the stations on that part of the band causing heterodyne interference. There is nothing you can do to cure this interference, which, anyway, should not be bad enough to cause you to give up listening in. (1) I should say that you are overloading your speaker, thus causing the buzzing of which you complain. If the volume is not greater than the speaker should be capable of handling, however, it may need recentrlng. " Variable-mu," North-East Valley.—lt your set and location have been seen by the inspector and also by the serviceman for the set, I am afraid I cannot make any suggestion which will throw any light on the matter. There are cases where this effect takes place for reasons other than those mentioned, and which, as you have been told, are practically impossible to remove. Since you say that other sets in your area are affected in the same way, it is evidently the locality which is to blame.

"Five-valve," Ravensbourne.—All 1 can say is that the set appears to be quite a good one, and if you keep to the standard type of valves you should have no trouble in obtaining good service from them. The speaker, I understand, is a very good job. A TUNING PROBLEM While the cathode ray tube has proved an invaluable aid to accurate tuning, it has not displaced the logging or vernier type of dial for those users who desire to be able to locate regularly and quickly any special shortwave station. So closely are the shortwave stations grouped on the dial that unless a set is suitably equipped, the user cannot be certain to which of half a dozen or more transmissions he has tuned. No plain dial, no matter of what size, adequately meets such a case. Two major types are regularly fitted. The first of these uses i single scale marked in divisions. Over this scale move two hands, one making very many revolutions for each revolution of the other. The other employs a subsidiary dial as a vernier, both dials being marked closely in divisions. .Either of these types permits the user to record accurately the dial positions at which each station is received, Such dials are of value only on the short waves, 8.8.C.'S COAT OF ARMS The original coat of arms of the British Broadcasting Corporation included the phrase, "Nation shall speak peace unto nation," but no such hopeful sentiment is contained in the latest edition. The British Broadcasting Corporation faces the fact that an intensive -world-wide conflict disturbs the ether, with propaganda and "coloured" news items m a babel of tongues as the "shock" troops, and increasingly powerful short-wave transmitters as the "troops" transports. Of the major services, the British Broadcasting Corporation alone has restricted its short-wave broadcasts to the mother tongue, and has, moreover, so zoned its hroadcasts as not to attempt more than Empire coverage. There is much speculation as to whether this attitude of non-interven-tion will be maintained. Already there have been suggestions that the British Government should either erect a number of ultra-powerful plants for world-wide coverage and disseminate news in many languages, or alternatively subsidise the British Broadcasting Corporation tc the same end. INTERFERENCE PROBLEMS One of the most difficult problems that the radio inspectors have to face when dealing with complaints is to arrange for its suppression. A source of trouble may be traced quite easily, but then comes the point as to whether the owner of the appliance or the affected listeners ought to pay for suppressing devices. No one having authority to insist upon action, the matter generally becomes one of persuasion, unless one side is able to exert pressure on the other. Local jealousies and feuds are often the mam consideration, and aggravate a problem which in many cases is a simple one. A ROYAL RADIOTRICIAN The newest story concerning King George VI is that he is an expert radiotrician. When he was Duke of York he turned a room at his Piccadilly home into a laboratory and constructed a. number of sets to present to friends and hospitals. It is alleged that when a set at Buckingham Palace developed faults, George V sent for his son to act as doctor; and that when the Duke left his Piccadilly house for Buckingham Palace he took with him a dual-waver and a radio-gramo combination of his own assembling. THE CROONER Observing that the word "crooner" has become a stock joke in relation to mournful or unpleasant noises, the Radio Times, journal of the British Broadcasting Corporation, points out that this injection of human interest into dance music is now taken quite seriously by thousands of people. Londoners list Bing Crosby and Rudy Vallee as two of America's outstanding exponents of crooning Confessing that Americans got "very near to the secret of crooning" or "intimate personality singing," as sometimes it is called, the Radio Times has this to say of Mr Crosby: 'He has a voice of remarkable range, is both a tenor and baritone, can both 'sort of shout' a fast swing number and croon a slow sentimental tune, and is capable of an impeccable 'straight' rendering of a Robeson spiritual. In an English survey of crooning Mr Alan Jenkins explains that the personality of a voice is frequently destroyed by vocal training. He contends that the best crooner therefore, is he whose voice is untrained; and the worst, he whose voice is devoid of personality. "There is an undeniable appeal about an untrained voice," observes Mr Jenkins "It has an endearing quality Musically insensitive people are easily moved by a singer who though far from perfect is doing his best. Big simple feelings must be expressed in a big simple way. A crude voice singing a crude lyric has often a surprising effect of sincerity. Crooning is also a histrionic performance —to be watched as well as heard. 'Putting over' a song is nothing new. It is well in the musical hall tradition. It means dramatisation, speaking, and acting the lyric as well as singing. The word 'crooning' itself is inseparable, in meaning, from lullabies and negro mothers. One recalls the sleepy adoration of 'Curly-headed Babby,' which expresses the English idea of negro motherhood. Indeed, this element in crooning seems calculated to lavish maternal instinct upon all who listen. It is not improbable that male listeners find female crooning protective and sedative." Mr Jenkins concludes his discussion of the art with an answer to the question. "Who are the haters of crooning?" He believes they are the scholars and the intellectuals, especially musicians who like their emotion underdone. They are solid, sensible people who are likely to be embarrassed by sentimentality Then, too. then is a vast group who sneer at crooning because it is fashionable to do so.