RADIO

Taranaki Daily News, 4 October 1929, Page 4

RADIO

GLEANINGS. FROM THE AIR. LONG DISTANCE SUCCESSES. The new Huddart Parker liner Wcstralia, now on its inadien voyage to Australia, effffected communication with Perth radio when the vessel was 4300 miles from Perth. This is record working for . low power wireless equipment working at tho commercial wave- ' length of 600 metres. The wireless apparatus is of the latest type and -was manufactured in Australia, and installed on the ship in Great Britain. Station 2YB, New Plymouth, with its usual activity in seeking after novelty in its programmes, was heard at good loud-speaker strength broadcasting on relay from Mt. Egmont, states the Christchurch Sun. A small audience was present at the relay station, and showed it.s appreciation of the items by ap plause; a litlo. dog joined in too, its happy barking coming plainly from the loud speaker. The-broadcast was.being relayed from the North Egmont Mountain Hostelry, and everyone who reported reception was promised a reply with a photograph of Mt. Egmont. British. and European listeners who desire to make a collection of radio “still” pictures have the choice of a considerable field from which to fill ' their radio albums. In addition to the pictures sent out every evening by station 2LO, London, there are regular transmissions from Continental stations, including Vienna, Liuz, Copenhagen, Posen, Berlin, Paris, Rome and Silver sum (Holland). Listeners who work these stations regularly each evening are able to secure' wonderful pictures of daily events of importance in Britain and in the leading capital cities of Europe. From Australia it is reported that J.-‘C. Williamsons, Ltd.; has bought an interest in one of Sydney’s B class stations, and is also interested in one of the Melbourne lower-powered broadcasting stations. It is expected that Williamsons will provide the programmes from these two stations and ■ that .more powerful transmitters will be installed at an early date. The items put on the air from Wiese stations should rival the new Australian Broadcasting Company’s programmes in point of quality. On August 20 the new 40. kilowatt short-wave Californian broadcasting station, W-6XN, commenced transmitting. This station operates in conjunction with the well-known station, KGO, Oakland, California, which will supply the programmes for W-GXN. There should be no difficulty for short-wave listeners to pick up this station in Can- . terbury. It closes -down about 8.30 (New Zealand time) each evening. This is equivalent to the Californian time, 1 a.m,, or Californian summer time, 2 a.m. Teacher of algebra (to inattentive student): “Johnny Jones! What is the result if I add minus A to plus A?” ' Johnny (whose dad is a set builder): “I know, Miss Cyphers! A short circuit!” . The butcher: “What can I do,for you this morning, sir?” Elderly customer: “My wife told me to step in and get some meat for dinner; and I thought tor a change we would try a pound of that radio ‘ham’ I have read about so often.” The boy stood on the sinking wreck; He didn’t want to go. He’d caught a new one on his set; a Its letters ho must know. His father called; he would not flee; The reached his earp; And, as he sank, he cried with glee, “By Heck, I had Algiers!” What words do you think, would be the best to test transmission and reception 1 In the Bell Telephone Laboratories, where telephones are tested, two sentences are repeated over and over by phonographs: “Joo took father’s shoe bench out,” and “She was waiting at my lawn.” The radio “ham” who can get these across by phone to his followworkers may know that his modulation is good. BRITAIN AND AUSTRALIA. PROGRAMMES COMPARED. An analyst of the classes of programme put on tho air by the British Broadcasting Corporation .and- the Australian Broadcasting Company since its taking over of the Sydney stations, shows a striking similarity between the Australian and British broadcast programmes. In Britain during July and August tho 8.8. C. devoted 15.45 per cent, of its total programme to talks of an educational character, while the Sydney stations gave 10.97 per cent, of their time to work of the same nature. In New South Wales. there was 10.38 per cent, of time given to “utility” services, such as tho dissemination of news, weather reports, market information, Stock Exchange quotations, and such like; while in London the time was 5.38 per cent. It was generally assumed that the 8.8. C. gave more time to “talks” on different subjects than any other broadcasting organisation; but tho figures show 20.83 per cent, for London, as against 21.8-5 for Sydney. During August the 8.8. C. devoted 62.17 per cent, of its programme time to music, as against 59.90 per cent, from tho Sydney stations. It is evident that in both countries music is regarded as

the most important function of a broad-casting-station. In England only 1.67 per cent, of time was given to the broadcasting of racing and sporting results, and outside gatherings; but in Sydney this was 3.39 per cent. Regarding plays and sketches from the studio, tho times' of the Sydney and London stations were almost similar, the former -being 1.69 and the latter 1.52 per cent. The time given to religious broadcasts in Sydney was actually greater than that given by the 8.8. C., its percentage being 4.18 and that of Sydney 5.32. On the other hand, the 8.8. C. gave 7.40‘ per cent, of its time to children’s sessions, while in Sydney the time was only 5.92 per cent. This was duo to thd- transfer of all the children s sessions from 2.FC to 2BL.There was actually more time devoted to the broadcast of dance music in Britain than there was by 2FC and 2BL combined; but, on the other hand, there was much more so-called “popular” music broadcast in Sydney than there was by the British stations. Apparently the reason for this is that the British taste is better educated in regard to the higher class of music than that of the average Australian audience. ULTRA-MODERN RECEIVER. DUNEDIN-BUILT FOR BYRD. A highly efficient and very unusual receiver, capable of dealing with wavelengths from three metres up to almost anything, has been built in Dunedin for the Byrd expedition, and will be sent down to “Little America”, by one of the supply ships this spring; . The -maker was ; .Mr. W. L. Shiel, of Radio Services, Ltd., who worked in collaboration with Mr. Lloyd V. Berkner, a radio engineer of the United States Bureau of Standards, who is attached to tho expedition. The wireless correspondent of the Wellington Post, who inspected the set, says that some idea of its extraordinary character can be had from the fact that, though it has Two stages of radio-fre-quency amplification, making three tuned stages, it has only single dial control and is perfectly stable and easy to handle on very short waves, and that its sensitivity is such that short-wave telephony from England has been heard using an aerial one foot long. The workmanship, from the thick aluminium case to the wiring details, is admirable. Each stage of radio frequency amplification is provided with two screengrid valves in push-pull, and followed by the detector stage also has two valves in push-pull. Owing to the great amplification of the two first stages “power detectors” are used, these being valves capable of accepting a large signal input, and the set includes oniy one stage of low frequency amplification. 14, 1922,” affirmed petitioner. He added the single output valve looks rather curi-, ous. An important novelty in the detector circuit is a continuously variable bandpass filter, which is said to have an inp portant influence on the stability of the set’s performance. The tuning condensers are kept “in step” without the use of trimming condensers, which introduce undesirable extra capacities. The “stators”, of the condensers are rotatable through a small angle. The most striking feature of »tho set is, of course, the use of push-pull in the radio frequency amplifier. This, it is claimed, greatly increases the over-all efficiency by abolishing the 'generation of harmonics and improving the stability. The receiver lias also a very low “noise level” which makes it all the more satisfactory for reception of weak signals. WIRELESS PROGRAMMES NEW ZEALAND STATIONS. • IYA Auckland.—3 p.m., afternoon session, selected studio items; 4.0, literary selection; 4.8, studio items; 4.25, sports results to hand; 4.30, clo.se down; 5.0, children’s‘session; 6.0, dinner session. “Columbia” hour; 6.15, pianoforte, Percy Grainger; Madrid Symphony Orchestra; violin, Efrem Zimbalist; New Queen’s Hall Orchestra; pianoforte, Myra Hess; 6.45, London Symphony Orchestra; 7.0, news and market reports; 7.40, talk, Mr. W. G. E. Wheeler- 8.0, chimes; relay of concert from Messrs. Lewis Eady’s Hall; 8.30, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra; soprano, Miss Cecelia Duncan; instrumental, Studio Trio; 9.2, weather report'; violin, Miss I. Bosworth; one-act play presented under the direction of Mrs. Zoe Bartley-Baxter; instrumental, Studio Trio; soprano, Miss C. Duncan; instrumental, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra; 10.3, close down. 2YA Wellington.—3.o, chimes; 3.1, selected gramophone items; 4.30 and 4.50, sports results to hand; 5.0, children’s session, “His Master’s Voice” hour; 6.15, Royal Opera Orchestra; 6.45, Marek Weber’s Orchestra; National Symphony Orchestra; 7.0, news session, market reports and sports results; 7.40, lecturette, Mr. A. Varney (honorary secretary Wellington Cricket Association); 8.0, chimes; programme featuring vocal gems from “The Belle of New York” by the Etude Quartet; overture, orchestra; contralto and chorus, Mrs. Ray Kemp and Etude Quartet; vocal duet and chorus, Messrs. Will Hancock and Ray Kemp; selection, Orchestra; enter-

tainers, Mr. and Mrs. Albert Russell; 8.34, contralto and chorus, Mrs. Ray Kemp and Etude Quartet; mandolin band, Circolo Mandolinistico; soprano, Miss Gretta. Stark; selection, orchestra; 9.0, weather report; vocal quartet, Etude Quartet; soprano and chorus, Miss Gretta Stark and Etude Quartet; instrumental, Orchestra; baritone, Mr. Ray Kemp; vocal duet, Mr. Ray Kemp and Mr. Will Hancock; humour, Mr. and Mrs. Albert Russell; 9.34’, selection, Band of H.M. Grenadier Guards; baritone, Mr. Ray Kemp; chorus, Etude Quartet; instrumental, Orchestra; 10.0, dose down. 3YA Christchurch. —3 p.m., afternoon session, selected studio items; 4.25, sports results to hand; 4.30, close down; 5.0, children's session; 6.0, dinner session, “His Master’s Voice” hour; 6.15,. Hilo Hawaiian. Orchestra; medley waltz, The Troubadoiibs; ’cello, Pablo Casals; 6.30, waltzes,’ International Concert Orchestra; violin and guitar, Gnilietta Morino; New Light Symphony Orchestra; Wurlitzer ' organ; Jesse Crawford; Royal Opera Orchestra; 6.5-8, Tacet; 7.0, news session;'7.3o, talk, arranged by 3YA Primary Productions Committee; 8.0, chimes; overture, re-broadcast of 2YA Wellington; baritone, Mr. Robt. Allison; Marimba Orchestra; soprano, Miss Ella Skurr; dance music,. BaileyMarston Dance Orchestra; 8.31, recital, Mrs. Margaret Williams; waltzes, International Concert Orchestra; mezzocontralto, Mrs. E. H. Davies; mouth organ solos, Mr. H. N. Cornish; popular song, Mr. W. J. Richards; 9.0, weather report; dance music, Bailey-Marston Dance Orchestra; soprano, Miss Ella Skurr; violin and Wurlitzer organ, De Groot and Terence Casey; baritone, Mr. Robt. Allison; pipe organ, trombone, piano and harp, Shilkret’s Rhythm Melodists; 9.30, mezzo-contralto, Mrs. E. H. Davies; dance music, Bailey-Marston Dance Orchestra; popular songs, Mr. W. J. Richards; mouth organ solos, Mr. W. M. Cornish; recital, Mrs. Margaret Williams; 10.1, dance music by the BaileyMarston Dance Orchestra; 11.0, close down. 4YA Dunedin. —3.0, chimes; 3.1, selected gramophone items; 4.25, sports results to hand; 6.0, children’s session; 7.0, news session; 8.0, chimes; overture, Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra; presentation of song cycle; instrumental, 4YA Broadcasting Trio; baritone, Mr. F. M. Tuohy;' 8.59, weather report; selection, J. H. Squire Celeste Octet; meezosoprano, Miss Mollie Andrews; tenor, Mr. H. A. Johnston; ’cello, Mr. P. J. Palmer; choir, Don Cossacks; 9.32, instrumental, 4.YA Broadcasting Trio; soprano, Miss Mae Matheson; violin, Mr. Frank Parsons; suite, Plaza Theatre Orchestra; 10.0, close down.