RADIO AND RECEPTION

Waipawa Mail, Volume LXVII, Issue 102, 12 May 1939, Page 1

RADIO AND RECEPTION

“‘Developments in television will no doubt produce striking results in the comparatively near future and may well be comparable with the invention of printing in their influence on mankind,” Mr H. White, chairman of the Marconi Company, declared at the annual meeting. “The sale of receivers has been so striking that manufacturers are already preparing mass production.” The German short-wave station operating from Berlin is making every effort to catch the ears of listeners in foreign countries. One of the series introduced for this purpose is “Music from across the frontier,” in which non-German performers are featured. Recently, for instance, the feature of this session was the Japanese woman singer Tatematsu, and the programmes have provided an hour of Italian popular music, a Turkish singer, Saadet Ikesus, has presented German songs, and Portuguese and Yugoslavian music have also been included. . Lieut.-Commander Thomas B. R. Woodrooffe, whose wife was formerly Miss Ida Helen Duncan, of Wellington, has resigned his post on the outside staff of the British Broadcasting Corporation. He had the reputation of being- one of the most popular 8.8. C. commentators. He is to take up literary work, but his voice will not be entirely lost to listeners. A 8.8. C. official said: “Mr Woodrooffe will broadcast commentaries from time to time at an agreed fee.” His vivid descriptions of sporting and other events soon brought him radio fame.

New Zealanders who inspected the Dominion Monarch were given an idea of the uses to which radio is put on a big modern liner. Fifty-five loud-speakers distributed over the ship enable announcements to be broadcast without blare or annoyance. Music can be played from microphone, radio or gramophone at will. The liner can communicate with shore or other ships by long-wave, mediumwave or short-wave, by telegraph or telephone. The main transmitter is a 2000 watts machine capable of covering the 1875-2400 metre channel. Direction-finders for use during fog are other items of equipment, and two motor lifeboats carry wireless transmitters and receivers. Apart from the wider use of permeability tuning and minor refinements in circuits and apparatus, there have been no startling developments of late in receiver design and construction. The development of new valves has made possible some improvements, but in the main these have been for special types of receivers, such as those where low current drain is desirable. The push button feature is now most common, and it has been improved to a “dialing” method, not greatly dissimilar to that used on the telephone, in a few of the very latest models. There has been developed also a remote “tuner.” This permits of tuning' the receiver both as to station and volume from a remote location by merely plugging in a special apparatus in the room from which the set is to be tuned, but this is expensive, requires specially wired channels and is, therefore, not likely to come into widespread use.

An aerial is simply a collector of energy radiated from a broadcasting station, -which energy is fed down into a receiving set. The better the collector of energy, the better the aerial. Many listeners find it possible to get volume and clarity with a piece of wire strung around a picture moulding, but they will always get greater volume and greater clarity _ with a properly-installed outside aerial. An indoor aerial is certain to pick up interference from internal wiring. In the average house there is a network of wires to various light and power switches, and usually there is an appreciable amount of sizzling and frying radiating from this wiring. The most important consideration in erecting an outdoor antenna is height. A short high aerial is preferable to a long low one. Probably the ideal aerial would be one that is vertical throughout its length, but it is seldom practical to string a wire 60 or 80 feet straight into the air. The

next best thing is to use about 80 feet of wire, including lead-in, and to put the horizontal portion at least 40 feet in the air. When television does come, its programmes will have to be provided mainly on the lines of moving pictures. The standard will have to rival that of the films, and these cost a lot of money. This cost is recouped from theatre audiences all over the world, but there is no way of paying for a television programme except from fees and sponsors. In the present state of the industry so few receivers are in operation that even in London this revenue is not more than £SOOO a year, and even if advertising were permissible no sponsor would pay huge sums for a service with such small coverage. When the art is perfected, there will be no trouble about finance in the United States under the commercial system—if that is still in operation—but there will 1/e very little doing there until the size of the screen is at least quadrupled and the range of the transmitter increased. It seems apparent that it will be years before New Zealand is ready for television, or television is ready for New Zealand. BROADCASTING YEAR. In its latest annual report the 8.8. C. is once again able to draw a substantial expansion both in the number of listeners and in the range of its activities. During 1938 the sale of licenses rose by 420,000, and at the end of the year there were no fewer than 8,908,000 license-holders, which means that about three out of every four families now possess their wireless sets, states the London “Daily Telegraph.” When it is reflected that broadcasting has only been in existence for 15 years this affords remarkable testimony to the development of its popularity and influence. A special feature of the past year was the inauguration of broadcasting in foreign languages. In this matter the 8.8. C. still lags behind some foreign countries, but in conformity with Government policy it has steadfastly refused to follow the evil example set in certain quarters abroad of indulging in subversive propaganda, or indeed in propaganda of any kind. It would make a notable advance in the direction of appeasement if the strict objectivity of the 8.8. C. ’s broadcasts in foreign languages were generally followed. The report also records the vigorous development of the television service which, though still in its infancy, holds great promise for the future. It is unfortunate that the service is hampered by lack of finance, and, indeed, it is evident that the general financial arrangements of the 8.8. C. are in need of overhaul by Parliament.

The 8.8.C.’s income in 1938 was £3,800,051, and of this £1,892,081 was spent on programmes alone. The Corporation’s 25 transmitters broadcast 115,050 hours of programmes, with a breakdown percentage of only .023 per cent.