THE EUCHARIST CONGRESS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 75, Issue 178, 30 July 1932, Page 12

THE EUCHARIST CONGRESS

THE BROADCAST SYSTEM. Nothing in any way comparable with the arrangements for the local broadcast throughout Dublin of the Eucharistic Congress has ever before been attempted. In size and complexity the system is the largest that has ever been installed anywhere in the world. It was devised by Air. T. J. Monaghan, engineer-in-chief of the Irish Post Office, in collaboration with Alessrs. Standard Telephones and Cables Ltd., London, who supplied the entire equipment and who are operating it in conjunction with officials of the Irish Post Office. The aim of the system is to enable every member of the vast crowds congregated simultaneously in the 15 acres at Phoenix Park and along the processional route and the adjacent streets to hear every word of the masses and every note of the music by means of loud speakers. Some 500 loud speakers have been used for this purpose, these being placed in front of the Congress Altar in Phoenix Park and along nearly 13 miles of streets.

The heart of the system is in Phoenix Park. Here, to cater for the vast congregations, there is a great row ot 32 powerful loud speakers mounted in pairs on 16 poles that stretch in a line extending for about half a mile from the altar. Each speaker has an audible range of half a mile, and as the pairs point in opposite directions, the proceedings will be audible all over an area one mile wide extending for half a mile from the altar. There is also one special loud speaker mounted close to the altar, which will be used to amplify the music of a harmonium up to the volume of an organ. This will accompany the special congress choir of 600 singers and the children’s choir of 2700 boys and girls. It is interesting to note that only by the use of a loud speaker system can the singing of such a vast congregation be properly synchronised. Without it a pronounced time lag would be inevitable, and those standing at a great distance from the altar would be singing well behind those nearer up. The music from the altar is, however, carried by loud speakers instantaneously to even the most distant speaker unit, and the singing of the whole congregation can therefore be kept in absolute unison. The am pl i fliers for the park system are situated in a room at the extreme loft wing of the colonnade. Some idea of the power of these amplifiers can b* rained from the fact that they employ 33 thermionic valves and that there are 11 stages of amplification, requiring a power of 36 k.w. from the electricity supply mains. Six microphones will ho used, placed in differ ont positions in front of the altar and among the choir.

The system for covering the processional route from Phoenix Park to O’Connell Bridge and the adjacent streets has boon divided into 10 sections, each with its own amplifier station. These stations cover in all 13 miles of streets, along which over 400 loud speakers have been installed, so placed that there are no zones of silence between the speakers, and no 44 blind” spots where nothing can he heard, 'rhe loud speakers in the streets can bo used at will for broadcasting over the city the masses and the singing from the 15 acres or from the pro-cathedral, and the closing ceremony and Benediction from O’Connell Bridge. They can also ho employed for sending out. special instructions and notifying arrangements to the crowds, as was done on Afondav morning before the congress had officially opened. It required some 50 miles of wire to connect up all these loud speakers with the system which, it should bp einpha sised,’ is not a system of wireles'

broadcasting', but one of relaying amplified sound over land lines. A sepnr ate wireless broadcast will be in opera lion from Free State broadcasting sta tions, but the wireless programmes will be distributed from the same net work as the loud speaker system. The pro-cathedral has been linked up to the system, so that services from it, organ music and singing can be pn' out through the loud speakers to the 15 acres or to the streets. A separate system of loud speakers has also been installed in the pro-cathedral itself, to enable the very largo congregations there to follow the services.