WIRELESS WHILE TOURING.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16975, 5 March 1926, Page 4

WIRELESS WHILE TOURING.

EXPERIMENT SUCCEEDS.

EQUIPMENT ON MOTOR-CAR.

The average r-adio set, with its lofty aerial, fragile valves, weighty batteries, wires and other appurtenances, is generally regarded as being more or less a fixture. However, a wellknown Ashburton enthusiast decided that this need not be so, and when he recently set out on a motoring tour through Otagb and Southland a compact radio receiver formed part of the baggage. Tho objects of taking the set were twofold: —One the collecting data upon reception conditions in different localities, and the other the garnering in of broadcast programmes as a source of entertainment for the party and others. Tho set decided upon was a threevalve reflex type, and fittings -were made enabling the car battery to be used for lighting the filaments of the valves. A loud speaker was included, and it was found practicable to use it in all cases, even with hastily erected and makeshift aerials.

To guard against the possibility of striking a location having no convenient trees or overgrown clothes props, a collapsible steel mast was built and carried in the back of the car. The car was piled high with camping equipment. , CONCERT PROGRAMMES. Practically everywhere the car stopped for tho night the aerial,was rigged up,' and concert programmes from various New Zealand and Australian stations tuned in. Tests proved decisively that reception in localities away from towns was markedly better than that obtained in Ashburton. Tho spots of best reception experienced were • situated in Southern Otago and Southland. At Lake To Anau (en route to MiHord Sound), conditions were found to be very favourable, even though the aerial and earth were of a makeshift nature, the aerial being tied to a windmill tower and the earth being a concrete mixer, connect ion being obtained by means of a battery clip snapped on one of the wheels. The inclusion of the set in the holiday baggage was considered very much worth while, apart from the very interesting data gathered on the trip. When ' tho same car makes its next pilgrimage south (or north), a radio, set will undoubtedly be carried.