RADIO NOTES

Southland Times, Issue 22130, 26 September 1933, Page 5

RADIO NOTES

(By “Night Owl.”) At the present time European stations are to be heard at good volume and for the benefit of listeners who have had ho experience listening to these stations, I propose during the next few weeks giving particulars concerning them. When one listens to most overseas stations to log them by their call, in the case of European stations one logs them in most instances by their interval signal, the majority of which range from the song of the nightingale to a beating of a metronome. The interval signal which will be heard the most is the song of the nightingale, which is used by most of the Italian stations. The following are the Italian stations which are likely to be heard:— Rome, 680K.C., 50 Kw. Naples, 941K.C., 1.5 Kw. Palermo, 558K.C., 3 Kw. Milan, 905K.C., 50 Kw. Turin, 1094K.C., 7 Kw. Trieste, 1211K.C., 10 Kw. Genoa, 959K.C., 10 Kw. Florence, 599K.C., 20 Kw.

Bari, 1112K.C., 20 Kw. Of these stations the song of the nightingale is used as an interval signal by the last six, who usually are to be heard on the one programme although at times, all the Italian stations are on the same relay. The call RomaNapoli is frequently heard from the first two neither of them using an interval signal. At the present time Milan and Rome are coming through at excellent strength and are the best Europeans. Of the above stations verifications are held by New Zealand fixers from Rome, Milan, Bari, Florence, Turin and Trieste. Lady announcers are very popular in Italy and from nearly all of the above stations they will be heard.

American reception has been fair, for while the more powerful ones are very good the smaller ones are not at good strength and to my knowledge no 100watters have been logged during the past week. A very troublesome power leak has caused interference with many listeners who try to pick up the signals of distant stations. Beginners’ Section. Since my notes last week conditions have been rather noisy, but the stations listed under this heading have been in the main good and I think that most beginners will have logged those given last week. Practically all the powerful American stations belong to one of the two main chain systems. Stations that are broadcasting a chain programme call either every 15 of 30 minutes and beginners who want to know what station they are hearing should wait till the announcer says either every 15 or 30 minutes, “The programme you have been listening to comes to you through the facilities of the National (or Columbia) Broadcasting Company.” Directly after this announcement every station on the chain gives its call from its own studio. A number of Americans will not verify reports if the programme reported was on a chain. To ensure that your report will be answered, it is desirable that dx-ers when reporting give the station’s closing announcement whenever possible. Following is a further list of Americans to tty for: KTAB, 560K.C., KHQ, 590K.C., KFSD, 600K.C., KGB, 1330K.C., KJR, 970K.C., KFVD, 1000K.C., XER, 735K.C., KGU, 750K.C., and KGMB 1320K.C., the last two stations being situated in Honolulu.

D.X. Topics. The new 100 Kw. station at Bisamberg, Austria, is now on the air and has been heard at good volume by several dx-ers. The frequency of this station is 581K.C.

The secretary of the Southland branch of the New Zealand D.X. Club informed me that station VK.3BZ Victoria broadcasted a special programme for the members of the club on Friday morning last. Although static was troublesome 3BZ came through well till 2 a.m. when the electric light power was shut off and those members who use electric sets had to close down. During the previous week a number of VK2’s came on for special programmes. A number of interesting verifications have been reported and they include: VK’s 7WR, 7CW, 7CS, 7DR, 2LZ, 2DX, 3AM, 3CY, 3LH, WEAN, KGB, KWCR, XEW, XEAW, XEB, WGAR, WSAI, KDYL, WABC, Milan, and Paris (Poste Parisien). A number of listeners report hearing ZTJ, Johannesburg, South Africa, on 666 kilocycles. The new Cape Town station which was to be on the air by now has not been logged to my knowledge. Milan’s old transmitter is on the broadcasting band once again.

To those dx-ers who listen for VK experimental stations the following list may be of use: 3BY, 1130K.C., 3RG, 1140K.C., 3CY, 1175K.C., SWH, 1200K.C., SIV, 1250K.C., SDR, 1298K.C., SLR, 1330 K.C., and 7CW, 1370K.C. The following Indian stations are to be heard from 2 a.m.: VUB, Bombay 840K.C., VUC, Calcutta, 810K.C., and VPB, Colombo, Ceylon 700K.C.

Answers to Correspandents. Interested Listener (Pukemaori): The address of XER is Del Rio, Texas, U.S.A, postage is one penny. The best time to hear KZRM, Manila, Philippine Islands 618K.C., is between midnight and 2 a.m. The postage in this case is 2|d. Southlander, (Winton): Inform your dx-er friend that his station is KGFJ, Los Angeles, power 100 watts. The one you heard is KFBK, also 100 watts. The VK on 1320K.C. will be 4PW.