WIRELESS CHAIN

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16210, 7 December 1926, Page 5

WIRELESS CHAIN

AMBITIOUS SCHEME DOMINIONS * SHAKE i • LONDON, Nor. 20. The Star asserts that Empire broadcasting that enable Britain to hear Dominions' music and vice versa is now something mo're than a vision, as engineers have devised a definite practical scheme concerning which the Dominions Governments have been sounded. The costfis estimated at £500,000, to which it is hoped the Dominions will contribute,"

According to the proposal, nine 50kilowatt stations, with radio links and land line connections, will provide au Empire; girdle that can be tapped throughout its entire route for local reception: Each of the nine stations, namely, Daventry (Northants), Monokton (New Brunswick), Vancouver, Fanning Island, Sydney, Perth, Colombo, Bombay, and Malta will have its own broadcasting I zone. Sydney will transmit to New Zealand, while Perth will feed Capetown. Colombo also will serve South Africa, while Bombay will serve the rest of India. ; Transmission may originate in any part of the Empire, with the whole of the Empire as an audience. A weekly feature from India, Australia, or Canada is suggested with a monthly "Round the Empire" tour, in. which every Dominion will be heard in turn. * ' - The British Broadcasting Co.'s intelligence officer, Major Gladstone Murray', says that the scheme is practical, though there is a fear that the new inventions like the improved beam may hold up its development. So far, the problem of finance has proved insurmountable. ' It would sitate a service round the clock. Owing to discrepancies in time, one-half of the world would be listening in daylight and the other in darkness, but programmes could easily be arranged. The proposal is by far the most ambitious broadcasting scheme that has yet been put forward. It is intended, evidently, to pick up at New by air, a programme from Daventry, relay it by land line to Vancouver, thence transmit it by air to Fanning Island and again to Sydney; to relay it by land line to Perth, by air line to Colombo, by land line to Bombay, and so on. Enormous power will, of course, be required. Judged by present world standards, the maximum power used by Australian A class stations—s kilowatts —is high (although many world stations exceed it), but the proposal provides for power ten times as gfeat. K.D.K.A.'s transmissions have shown that a wave length below 100 metres is necessary if great distances are to be covered, and it is almost certain .tliat this will be followed if the new system is launched.