Broadcasting (Oct 1931-Dec 1932)

Only Eight Stations on '30 Honor Roll High Power Broadcasters Conform to 50 -Cycle Order Better Than Those of Low Power, Report Shows By L. A. CORRIDON Radio Division, Department of Commerce SINCE March of last year, when the Radio Division of the Department of Commerce promulgated its first monthly list of "honor roll" stat i o n s deviating „ . less than 50 L. A. Corridon CyCles, only eight stations have had the distinction of appearing in each of the 10 similar lists issued from that time up to and including December. As General Order 116, issued by the Radio Commission on June 22, 1931, requiring that after one year from that date all broadcasting stations must not deviate more than 50 cycles above or below their assigned frequency, becomes effective in about four months, many broadcasters certainly will have to show considerable improvement to get under the wire. However, indications are toward gradual improvement if the lists for November and December are a criterion. These months showed 40 per cent and 45 per cent, respectively, of the stations measured to be deviating less than 50 cycles in comparison with only 19.3 per cent in March when the first list was issued and 32 per cent in July, the first month after General Order 116 was issued. While these lists have been given the popular title of "honor lists," a considerable number of those not listed may not be "without honor" for the reason that due to their limited amount of power they are not capable of transmitting far enough to enable the nearest monitoring station to receive and measure them. Nevertheless, stations of low power are measured periodically through special transmissions after midnight when other stations operating simultaneously on the same frequency are off the air. Stations Consistent OF COURSE, there are many other causes, such as heterodyning, crosstalk, and the other old familiar static which prevent measurements being made of stations that otherwise would be measured by a stationary monitoring station. A perusal of the lists issued since last March shows a notable consistency of certain stations to keep under these figures. Nevertheless, it also appears that some stations are, to use sport parlance, "in and outers." During the last few months several stations at no time went beyond 25 cycles and in the case of a few, it was observed that they did not wander as much as 10 cycles, which is very close to perfection. Of peculiar interest, although an isolated case, is that of a certain station which upon being measured one morning at 9:43 o'clock was found to be deviating 150 cycles higher than its authorized frequency, whereas, at 2:30, 2:35 and at 2:40 o'clock in the afternoon of the same day, it was off 24,700 cycles high, each time. But at 3:40, one hour after the last previous measurement, it was 1,000 cycles low and at 5:08 it measured only 89 cycles low. As in all cases of deviations of 500 cycles or more, the station was notified of its variation and, consequently its apparatus, which temporarily went "palsy," was soon adjusted. In contrast are two cases in particular of exceptionally fine constancy. One station measured on 25 days, once each day during a recent month, showed a total deviation of only 27 cycles for the 25 measurements. The other station measured once a day for 24 days during the same month showed only a total deviation of 26 cycles. In each case it will be seen that the average deviation per day was about 1 cycle. High Power Sets Pace IN GENERAL, the majority of high-powered stations and other stations which are classed among those more popular are keeping nearer to their frequencies than those of low power. Occasionally some of the better stations jump out of bounds, but in most cases they are back again within a few minutes. The eight stations which have been in each of the ten lists are as follows : CALL LOCATION FREQUENCY POWER KFDM Beaumont Tex. 560 kc. 500 w. night, 1,000 w. day. KFEQ St. Joseph, Mo. 680 kc. 2,500 w. KHQ Spokane, Wash. 590 kc. 1,000 w. night, 2,000 w. day. KMO Tacoma, Wash. 860 kc. 500 w. WEEI Boston 590 kc. 1,000 w. WHO* Des Moines 1,000 kc. 5,000 w. woe* Davenport, la. 1,000 kc. 5,000 w. WSB Atlanta 740 kc. 5,000 w. ♦Stations WHO and WOC are synchronized on a common frequency. A.T. &T. to Extend INew Cable Circuit THE NEW TYPE of broadcast cable circuit introduced by the A. T. & T. last year gradually will be extended over the entire cable network of that company, according to a report submitted to the Radio Commission detailing 1931 radio operations. The cable has a practically flat frequency characteristic from 50 to 8,000 cycles, which, A. T. & T. declared, permits the transmission of programs with practically no loss in quality in the tonal value of music, speech or sound effect. Program service by means of stormproof cables also gives an added assurance against the possibility of interruptions, it stated, the cable owing its high efficiency to special loading and the use of special amplifiers. Parts of NBC and CBS already have been equipped with the cable. During 1931 A. T. & T. furnished program transmission circuits measuring more than 44,000 miles, actually about 90,000 miles of wire, to 12 networks. Of the total, 32,500 circuit miles were furnished to 7 permanent networks operating 16 consecutive hours daily, 6,500 circuit miles to temporary networks for service on temporary recurring periods, and 5,000 miles to permanent nets for special programs. In addition, 34,000 miles of telegraph and teletypewriter circuit were furnished for use to coordinate program circuits. Concerning synchronization, A. T. & T. said further studies and tests were made in 1931 resulting in the development of a "synchronized crystal system." In this sys tem the stations synchronize operate from separate crystals kept in step by a frequency transmitted over wire lines. This type of system has the advantage of not being susceptible to slight wire line troubles such as instantaneous disturbances due to lightning or other instantaneous power inductions, A. T. & T. held. A new 100-watt transmitter, a. c. operated and so constructed that the power output can be raised to 250, 500 or 1,000 watts by addition of suitable amplifier units, was developed during the year. Also developed was a new half-wave type of mast antenna in which the mast itself acts as the radiating element. WABC, New York, it is pointed out, uses an antenna of this type, with a field strength approximately 40 per cent greater than that radiated by the old type antenna for the same power output. Reporters on WGAL BESIDES chasing fire engines, accompanying police on raids and interviewing persons who figure in the news of the day, reporters on the staff of The Intelligencer Journal, Lancaster, Pa., appear regularly on the air over WGAL, the newspaper's station, and present local and national news dispatches. In many instances the reporters describe events they witnessed. AN EXPERIMENT in civic government broadcasting was inaugurated last January by CKGW, Toronto, with an invitation to the mayor-elect to make a five-minute address twice a month over the station on various phases of municipal affairs. Devices to Check Frequencies Tested Standards Bureau to Report On Industry's Products AT THE REQUEST of the Radio Commission, the Bureau of Standards has begun the testing of several types of special frequencychecking equipment now offered by various manufacturers to broadcast stations. These equipments are intended to fulfill the requirements specified in the Commission's Regulation No. 145. The regulation requires every broadcast station, on and after June 22, this year, to maintain its frequency within plus or minus 50 cycles of the assigned frequency and to have some form of visual indicating instrument, entirely independent of the frequency-control equipment, to indicate the departure of the station frequency from the assigned frequency. From the results of the tests as reported by the bureau to the Commission, approval or disapproval of the frequency checking equipment will be determined by the Commission. The manufacturers of such equipment, after making arrangements for test with the commission, forward the sample equipment, adjusted for use at 1,500 kilocycles, to the Bureau of Standards for test. The approval of a particular type of equipment will be announced to the broadcast stations by the Radio Commission; the individual frequency-checking equipment of that type will not have to be tested by the bureau. The frequency checking equipments thus far offered consist of a temperature-controlled piezo oscillator of great accuracy and stability having either the frequency of the broadcast station or else differing from it by 500 or 1,000 cycles, and suitable systems for bringing the frequency of the transmitter and piezo oscillator together, rectifying and amplifying the frequency difference and impressing it upon a direct-reading frequency meter with a scale reading from 0 up to 50 or 100 cycles in both directions. Some of these equipments are made to operate entirely from alternating current supply, while others use alternating current only for the heating units. The tests, 14 in number, made by the bureau on each equipment, require about five weeks to complete. Some of the 14 tests are made 12 times during the month The tests include such items as accuracy, sensitivity, temperature control stability, and such miscellaneous tests as the effects of changing tubes, varying voltages, etc. Tests at room temperatures of 15°, 25°, and 35° C. are included. The tests are intended to show what performance may be expected from the equipment in actual use in a broadcast station. WEDH Now WERE STATION WERE is the new call for the Erie (Pa.) DispatchHerald broadcasting station, the Radio Commission having authorized the change from WEDH, former call. Page 10 BROADCASTING • March 1, 1932