Broadcasting (Oct 1931-Dec 1932)

Why Madrid Should Widen Broadcast Band By LOUIS G. CALDWELL Extension Below 550 kc. Rather Than Above 1500 kc. Urged; United States Faces Mexican and Cuban Demands Mr. Caldwell THE INTERNATIONAL Radio Conference will open at Madrid, Spain, on September 3, next. It is the fourth great radio conference, having been preceded by those held at Berin in 1906, at London in 1912, and it Washington in 1927. Each of he preceding conferences has resulted in a convention signed by nost of the important countries in ;he world. The last conference leld at Washington is said to have been the largest international reaty-making conclave ever held, ome 78 nations and political entires having signed the resulting onvention. The issue of paramount importmce to be debated and decided at Vladrid will have to do with allo:ation of the frequency spectrum o services. More particularly it vill resolve itself into the question vhether additional bands of freluencies should be allocated to )roadcasting. Under the Washngton Convention (Article 5 of he General Regulations) the band S50-1500 kc. is allocated to broadcasting throughout the world, vhile the band 160-224 kc. is also ivailable for broadcasting in Euope. Europe's Proposal DUE LARGELY to the initiative )f the International Broadcasting Jnion (composed mainly of Euro)ean broadcasting organizations) t will be earnestly urged at Madrid that the band 550-1500 kc. ,hould be extended so as to include >40 kc, and that the bands 150-285 :c. and 370-460 kc. should be allocated to broadcasting — at least in Europe and regions in the same inerference areas, such as North Africa and Asia Minor. It will dso be urged that, on condition hat no interference be caused to naritime mobile services, broadcasting should have a prior claim m the band 460-540 kc; in other vords, that this band may be used n interior regions away from the eacoast. j A number of European countries, lamely, Czechoslovakia, Denmark including Iceland), Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Roumania and Switzerland support these pro>osals in whole or in part. Other •European countries are known to >y sympathetic to them because >f their demands for frequencies or proposed broadcasting stations. The larger countries, such as ?rance, Germany, Great Britain, ind Italy, have not officially comnitted themselves for or against he proposals and are probably aced with the same differences of ipinion among the radio interests n each country as have recently leveloped in the United States. CERTAIN European countries will make a fight for a wider broadcast band at the approaching International Radio Conference in Madrid. Europe's International Broadcasting Union proposes that this extension shall be into the lower frequencies. Until recently the United States has opposed any inclusion of waves below 550 kc, but largely through the efforts of the NAB this position has been modified. Mr. Caldwell in this article points out why this country should favor a wider broadcast band and why the lower frequencies are preferable to the higher bands for such an extension. At Washington in 1927 the United States was the chief opponent to any extension of the broadcast band beyond 550-1500 kc. It adhered to this position in proposals which it submitted for consideration at Madrid about April 1, 1931, except that the wording of the proposals seemed to leave the door open to an extension to include the band 1500-1715 kc It was only through the activities of, and representations made in be half of, the National Association of Broadcasters during the last few months that there has been any modification in the probable position that will be taken by the United States delegation at Madrid. At a meeting held under the auspices of the Federal Radio Commission May 11, 1932, the broadcasters prevented any commitment by the United States delegation against the allocation of frequency bands below 550 kc. to broadcast MADRID DELEGATES UNINSTRUCTED Opponents of Proposal to Widen Broadcast Band Fail To Tie-up Delegation at Subcommittee Parley THE AMERICAN delegation will go to the International Radio Conference at Madrid with a free hand on the question of enlargement of the broadcast band to embrace certain of the long waves as the result of a meeting July 22 in Washington of the subcommittee of the Preparatory Committee for the conference. Efforts of certain non-broadcasting groups to have the American delegation instructed against enlargement of the band failed. The subcommittee had been authorized to make an investigation of the transmission characteristics of the frequencies between 150 and 550 kc, as compared with other bands, and to determine the minimum requirements of mobile and aviation services in that band so as to ascertain how much space, if any, would be available for enlargement of the broadcast band. This move was forced at the full committee meeting May 11 by Louis G. Caldwell, chairman of the NAB International Broadcasting Committee. Technical data submitted showed that the long waves generally are well adapted for use in broadcasting. It was gathered largely by Dr. J. H. Dellinger, chief of the Radio Section, Bureau of Standards, from all known sources of information. That phase of the report dealing with the uses being made of the long waves by services now on those bands was innocuous and held to be of little practical benefit. It stated that representatives of each of the commercial and government operating agencies assigned to the long waves claimed that "effective use" now is being made of these waves. It said also that these services claimed that it would be extremely difficult to find suitable frequencies to replace those now being used if existing allocations in the band were changed. Several of the agencies also held that should a new allocation become necessary in the 150-550 kc band and should channels be allocated in other bands to replace those now being used, no funds would be available for the necessary remodeling of existing equipment or the purchase of new equipment under present business conditions. This form of report was agreed upon after a proposal made by Capt. S. C. Hooper, director of (Continued on page 30) 1 kugust 1, 1932 • BROADCASTING ers. At a meeting held last May 23 in Chicago, the board of directors of the NAB unanimously adopted a resolution calling on the United States delegation to consider favorably the allocation of such additional bands to broadcasting and to oppose the allocation of frequencies above 1500 kc. to broadcasting. A committee is now at work, under the chairmanship of Dr. C. B. Jolliffe, chief engineer of the Commission, to investigate and report on the technical and practical factors which should be taken into consideration in deciding the issue. Advantages to U. S. WHAT ADVANTAGES will accrue to American broadcasters if effect is given to the proposals which will be urged at Madrid? In the opinion of the writer, there are several such advantages, of considerable importance. In the first place, sooner or later, additional broadcast facilities must be provided for Mexico and perhaps also for Cuba and other parts of the West Indies. These facilities can be provided only by allocating additional frequencies to broadcasting or by a surrender of facilities now used in the United States. The situation has not been improved by the agreement recently entered into between the United States and Canada. Opinions differ as to the merits of this agreement, but in the opinion of the writer it was untimely and unfortunate in its consequences. By recognizing Canada's claim to the use of nine "clear channels" for immediate or eventual assignment of 50 kw. stations, the United States has greatly weakened its position with respect to Mexico, which has a larger settled area than Canada and almost twice the population. Even if Mexico is more modest in its claims, where can any position be found for a 50 kw. station in Mexico in the present broadcast band? Opposes Short Waves THERE is, unfortunately, a school of thought in the United States which believes that the solution for the problem may be found in the extension of the band to include frequencies above 1500 kc. Let us not harbor any delusions on this score. These higher frequencies are absolutely unsuited to broadcasting, because of the high absorption, the limited service area, the closeness of the fading wall, the rapidity of fading, and the freak interference over great distances. In Europe any frequencies above 1200 kc. (or even 1000 kc) are regarded as virtually unsuited for broadcasting. Canada has never been willing to use any frequencies above 1210 kc, and under the new agreement its highest frequency will be 1120 kc. (except, possibly, for 100 watt stations). More than optimism is necessary to support a belief that either Canada or Mexico can be (Continued on page 26) Page 11