RADIO NOTES

Southland Times, Issue 22010, 9 May 1933, Page 9

RADIO NOTES

(By “Radio.”) DX Topics. The wintry conditions prevailing at present seem to be against good DX-ing. Among new stations heard last week were some real DX scalps, including: WSMB, WFAA, KQW, WISN, WHBF, WHAS, WREN, KFPY, KPOF, WRVA, KERN, KMAC, KREG, WEAO, WSJS, CBFO, VAS and CKGW. WEAO was heard on a special test recently and was asking for reports. VAS Glace Bay was also heard on his regular programme closing down at 4.30 p.m. KFEL on 920 k.c. give their DX schedule as follows: Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, 9 to 1 a.m.; Saturday, midnight to 3 a.m.; Sunday, M.S.T. Their power is 500 watts. The studios are at the Albany Hotel, Denver, Colorado. KID Idaho on 1320 k.c. broadcast daily from sunrise to sunset, and from 8 p.m. until midnight M.S.T. European reception is still poor. Only the high powered stations are coming through at decent volume. VK’s are also a bit light, probably due to the bad conditions prevailing. Several DX programmes are being arranged for club members from some of the lesser heard VK’s shortly. Particulars will be published as soon as they are available. Listeners can hear some of the Eastern American stations now at 4.30 p.m. Among the best are WOAI on 1190 k.c.; WSM on 650 k.c. when 4YA is off the air for any length of time; and WCAU on 1170 k.c. All the Australian stations can be heard during the early evening and the Japanese from 9 p.m. at present. The Japanese stations invariably call at the close of their transmissions, about 12.25 a.m. New Zealand time. Queries. Q.R.N. (Invercargill) asks: Would you please answer the following queries: (1) VK on 1350 k.c. heard 12.50 a.m. on April 3; closed down 1.30 a.m., not VK3FY. (2) American on 3YA frequency, heard at 5.15 on May 5. (3) American on 590 k.c. heard on May 2 at 6.'5 p.m. Answers —(1) Probably SPY Warnackabeal; (2) KDKA; (3) KHQ. "Sparks” (Invercargill) asks the following queries:—(1) American heard on 930 k.c. at 8.10 p.m. May 1. (2) American on 710 k.c. heard at 8.45 p.m. on May 4 playing classical music. (3) American heard at 8 p.m. on 810 k.c. on May 4 playing “Song of the Island.” (4) Station on 1170 k.c. heard at 6.15 a.m. on May 4. Every few minutes the announcer called “Hullo, hullo,” but no other call sign was given. He went off the air at 7.45 a.m. calling "Hullo, Mount Misery.” Answers—(l) KFWI; (2) WOR on a special test; (3) WCCO; (4) This must be a New Zealand or Australian amateur having a joke. “Scribbler” (Invercargill) asks: (1) American on 1410 k.c. heard at 5.30 p.m. on April 27. (2) American on 630 k.c. heard on April 27 at 5.16 p.m.. (3) American on 1400 k.c. heard on May 1 at 5.21 p.m. (4) American on 1440 heard on May 1 at 5 p.m.. (5) Eastern station on 750 k.c. heard on May 2 at 4.39 a.m.. Answers —(1) WDAG; (2) KFRU; (3) KLO; (4) WMBD; (5) Do not know any Eastern stations on that length unless it was a Japanese testing. DX-ing as a Hobby. Identification' of Stations. —When we tune in before daybreak to the Europeans we find, on a good morning, that stations come in all round the dial, but that very few, if any, of those we hear are using English. At first it seems as if no two stations are using the same language, and although this is not actually so there are at least a dozen languages represented. How then can we identify them? Many European stations have some characteristic signal which is given at irregular- intervals and announcements are made in several languages from some stations. Very few Europeans use call letters such as we are accustomed to from our own stations. Amongst the easiest Europeans to hear are the Italians some of which come in really well. The native names of foreign cities are not usually those used by the English and the phonetic spelling of the Italian names are given below together with the frequencies used by these stations: Roam-ah <Rome) 680 k.c.; Nap-oli (Naples) 941 k.c.; Mee-lar-no (Milan) 905 k.c.;. Tor-ee-no (Turin) 1096 k.c.; Tree-ess-tay (Trieste) 1211 k.c.; Djenn-owe-va (Genoa) 959 k.c.; Fear-en-zay (Florence) 599 k.c.; Pal-air-mo (Palermo) 554 k.c.; 801-zah-no (Bolzano) 815 k.c.. Familiar phrases from these stations may be useful and are given, but one should remember that in Italian practically every vowel has its full value and that the whole language follows very closely the original Latin which many of you ■still remember slightly. Announcements that may come to you are: Abbiamo trasmissio (we have transmitted) used after a long item such as an act of an opera. The intervals between items may be filled up by news items and we hear “Giomale radio” which is literally a spoken newspaper. In the official news bulletins we find “Notizie dal interno” (home news), “dal estro (from foreign sources), “Notizie sportive” (sports news), Conversazione (a talk), libri nuovi (new books) or “da vicino e da lontano” (general topics from far and near). Recitals of recorded music figure largely in the programmes from certain stations and are announced as "Trasmissione dischi grammophonici” or possibly “Musica varia.” If after what has obviously been a recording you hear “La voce del padrone” you will know that it has been an “His Master’s Voice” record. From Italian stations you frequently hear the word “Pronto ’ meaning “ready,” “stand by,” and this often precedes special announcements and their calls. Italian stations indulge in considerable relaying activities and it is usual to hear parts of the same programme from several stations, but a careful check of the frequency and patient waiting for the identifying call will clear up any doubts. At our distance from Europe there is generally little difficulty in separating stations, but remember that there is only 9 k.c. separation between stations and this means accurate work in tuning and a thorough knowledge of the dial errors of your machine. On some frequencies there are more than one station for example. 707 k.c. with Moscow and Madrid, so it is necessary to definitely identify your station. Some stations frequently wander off their wave length and so trespass on the channel of another station, leading to confusion at the receiving end. At the present time there is a race for superpower stations in Europe and almost every month sees the opening of stations of 60 k.w. up to 120 k.w. and these are easily heard here. The present power limit in Europe is 200 k.w., but so far only one station of this power has been built, this being in Luxemburg, but as it operates on long wave it does not concern normal dx-ing here. A knowledge of several European languages would be a god-send to the average DX-er, say a half dozen, with a prominence given to eastern Europeans, but for the usual listeners without this knowledge a close watch on the spoken parts of the programme will often supply the key to the station. Patience is the controlling factor in logging Europeans.