Radio IN THE HOME

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18629, 26 July 1930, Page 15

Radio IN THE HOME

j THE fading mystery. In an article in the “Wireless World" A. Dinsdale deals with the light j which recent television experiments 1 have thrown on the subject of fading. “Broadcasting authorities are well aware,” says Mr Dinsdale. “that a good and reliable service area for their stations can only be guaranteed within I the limits of the ground wave; beyond ! this distance reception is likely to be j variable either in strength or in qualI' ity, or both. Many powerful European broadcasting stations have proved disappointing to their builders because they will not serve reliably the entire area which they were designed to cover; in some districts, apparently well within their range, they are in- • audible. And yet the writer has frequently heard these stations coming through strongly and undistorted 1000 to 1500 miles out in mid-Atlantic. At places much nearer the stations concerned the ground wave has died out, and the space wave passes overhead, (to come down again in mid-Atlantic. Daventry SGB is one such station. At intermediate distance, at night, it frequently happens that energy is being picked up from both ground and space waves simultaneously. Under such conditions, fading and distortion are I almost certain to occur at more or less frequent intervals, and often at very regular intervals.” Mr Dinsdale’s idea is thr.t the ground wave and the space wave are not always in step when they reach the receiver, and that this causes fading and distortion. A REAL CELEBRITY. The A.B.C. is featuring, through 2FC, a series of “Celebrity Talks.” ; Some of the speakers are flattered by | the title. The talks, of course, are : readings, and some of those who deliver them are poor composers and ' readers. Among the real celebrities is Rear-Admiral Evans, commanding the 1 Australian Squadron. The Admiral 1 has had a very distinguished career both as an explorer and naval commander, and was a member of Scott’s J ! Antarctic Expedition. Hear-Admiral 1 ] Evans’ name is always associated with ; , “The Dover Patrol,” the unit which I worked apart from the Grand Fleet : during the Great War. The experi- - J ences of the Set Patrol in the English 1 | Channel during the war period are as < ! thrilling as the most exciting novel, i i Rear-Admiral Evans, whose name will 1 j live for his participation in the Broke- 1 ! Swift affair which took place on the < ! 500th night at sea, was Commander of 1 ; the “Broke,” and is always referred to I as “Evans of the Broke.” He is a 1 ■ quiet and cultured speaker, and his s talk this week on “Empire, Youth and « j Optimism” was an excellent one.

THE SOVIET STATION. Easily the most consistent shortwave station on the air at the present time is our Soviet friend, RA97 (says the Australian “Wireless Weekly”). For several years the station, once known as RPM, has been on the air nightly on the air nightly on a wavelength of 70 metres, and very seldom during that entire period has it not been possible to tune-in to the medley of entertainment provided from that troubled land. RA97 is situated at Khabarosk, in the Far East United Soviet States of Rusria, between 9000 and 10,000 miles from Sydney. During the summer months Old Man static has a tendency to overpower the signals from the station, but the opposite is now the case. The programmes can be listened to with but an infinitesimal amount of interference, and what is more the veriest amateur can quite easily log the station, which transmits some interesting musical items, varied, certainly, as every listener well knows, by rather a surpeit of Soviet propaganda. Instruments, some weird, usually not heard from English stations, add in- | terest; whilst at times, generally on Saturday 2nd Sunday nights, excellent opera performances may be heard. Some of our correspondents still inquire for the identity of a foreign station on 35 metres.- This is also RA97, broadcasting on a dual wavelength.

The third Rugby test, to be played at Auckland to-day, will be described over the air from IYA, whose broadcast will be relayed by 2YA.

I BROADCASTING THE DERBY. • [ A running commentary on the Derby ; I was broadcast from the course. Epsom. ; I The transmission began at 2.45, when the music of a band, the noise of thousands of people talking and laughing, and the shouts of bookmakers combined to create the necessary atmosphere for what was to follow. Listeners next heard what positions for the start the jockeys had drawn and short comments on the horses as they went past on their way to the startingpoin. The delay at the start, caused chiefly by Silved Flare, was very well described, and the details of the race itself w’ere given with great clearness. Fifty-five miles from Paris, and at an altitude of 3,000 ft., 17 passengers in an Imperial air liner bound for Croydon heard every word of the broadcast through a portable wireless set. Passengers in both the up and down “Flying Scotsman” expresses also heard the result, while travelling at 60 miles an hour. Two portable sets were installed in each train, and the reception was excellent. Many hnudreds of ! thousands of Americans followed the I Derby by means of the description . broadcast from Epsom Downs over the ! system of the British Broadcasting Corporation, and re-broadcast by a chain of American stations over the whole of the United States. Interfer- \ ence often drowned out the voice of ! the anouncer, but it was possible to get I what Americans call the “high spots” of the race, and at the finish there was no doubt which horse had won. WAVELETS. Wairoa, Hawke’s Bay, now has a radio station, which comes in just be- i low 2BL. 2YA lost a lot of punch during the • period in which it was relaying from i the Radio Exhibition at the Towm Hall, and at the final Maori concert on Saturday night it was very in-and-out. j Its mid-day transmissions from the Town Hall were weaker than 3ZC, and at 7.30 one night the little Palmerston station was much superior to the big fellow.

Economy is the watchword of the Australian Broadcasting Company. Relays from inter-state stations are increasing, and Sydney, which has been rebroadcasting Melbourne for a long time, has been linked up with Brisbane also. The gramophone is being operated more often, and it can be definitely asserted that the A.B.C. programmes are inferior to those formerly provided. State control has not been a success so far as listeners are concerned.

Two relay stations are being constructed in Australia which should be available to New Zealand licensees. One is situated at Newcastle, and the other at Rockhampton, and they will be used mostly to relay programmes from the existing A stations in their own States. The call-sign of the station at Beresford, near Newcastle, will be 2NG; it will transmit on a wavelength of 241 metres or 1245 kilocycles. It wil have a power of 2000 watts in the aerial, which will practically place it on the same rating as the present A stations. The situation at Rockhampton will use the call letters 4RK, and will transmit on 322 metres or 760 kilocycles. It also will have a power of 2000 watts in the aerial.

In no previous flight made by the Southern Cross was the value of radio as an aid to aerial navigation better demonstrated than in the last transAtlantic hop. On the Pacific flight the beam between San Francisco and Honolulu was instrumental in maintaining the ’plane on a direct course, but in all other flights radio had been mainly a means of keeping touch with the world, and a safety measure against possible accident. Its value in this respect is immeasurable, but it was not until the Southern Cross was flying blind in the fog over Cape Race that radio was used as the sole means of navigation.

The Australian Broadcasting Company’s stations are handling the fourth cricket test on similar lines to the previous one. Last night J. M. Gregory gave a talk from 2FC on the prospects of the game. Scores were given every half hour commencing from 10.30 from 2FC, and were continued until 1.45, when a complete recume of the day’s plays up to lunch adjournment was given by the sporting editor, and was relayed to 3LO Melbourne, 4QG Brisbane, and SCL Adelaide. Scores were given through 2BL from 10.30 till midnight when that station closed down. This same schedule will hold good for Saturday and Monday nights, and on Tuesday night which is the last day of play, a continued service will be given to stumps drawn at 5 a.m.. Stations 3LO, 4QG and SCL will also remain open until 5 ajn. on the last day. When 2BL ran “all through the night” on the final day of the first cricket test, it filled in the intervals between the half-hourly reports or fall of wickets with a programme of records, which were quite enjoyable. On last nights of the second and third ! tests, however, listeners had to put up ! with alleged music and humour by t the party in the studio. Some of it j

was as crude and unentertaining as an uncle and aunt’s birthday party at 1 2YA. Give us buck the good canned I stuff. 4