Radio Digest (July 1924-Apr 1925)

20 RADIO DIGES T— Illustrated February 14, 1925 The Reader's View Simplifying' Station Call letters In a recent issue of your excellent magazine a contributor published an article on the need of simplifying Radiocast station call letters so they could be understood by listeners in, and suggested the substitution of a 'code, which he stated was used with success by the signal corps during the war in the transmission of Radio telegraphic communications. I agree with the writer that there fs a dire need of some arrangement whereby a fan may be able to distinguish between such letters as B, C, D, E, G, P, T, V, Z, when pronounced by the announcer of some small station and even the larger distant stations, but substitution of the code suggested would be impractical as it would simply mean that every purchaser of a set would first of all have to memorize the code. A much simpler arrangement would consist of simply grouping the letters of the alphabet according to their sound, then eliminate all but one letter from each group and use just one letter representing each sound group. A division of the alphabet according to sound, would be as follows: A, H, J, K; B, C, D, E, G, P, T, Z; F, L, S, X; I, T; M, N; O; Q, U; R; W. Selecting the letters from these nine groups which are most distinct and which would probably carry best, we would have A, E, L, I, M, O, U, R, W. Owing to the fact that the international agreement assigns the letters K and "W to the United States and these two are used as the first initial of all broadcasting stations, it would be necessary to use K in this list instead of A, as the first letter of a call, but A could be used to better advantage than K as the second, third or fourth letter. A few minutes with a pencil and a sheet of paper will reveal that the letters I suggest will give perhaps twice as many call letter combinations as there are Radiocast stations in this country, with no two combinations sounding anything alike. In fact, I believe that by using K and W as the first letters of stations, as is now done, and designating one of the others to be used as a second letter in the call to represent the various Radio districts, the fans would be able to tell which district a station was in as soon as the call was heard. London, Madrid Newcastle, Aberdeen— that* s just a few of them AGAIN Elgin Super-Rein-**-artz leads all others! Every trans-Atlantic report investigated was found to be ABSOLUTELY authentic ! Many happy owners of Elgin sets again tuned in the European stations. ELGIN " The Ford of Radio " will give you the selectivity and distance it has given others. And you can save $50.00. Let us tell you how — FREE Mail the coupon TODAY for the complete working drawings of the famous Elgin SuperReinartz, the set that gets the distant stations. They are free — no obligations, just a stamp for postage, please! tear out this coupon — ...———— '•■""""TTallPPUY c0 ELGIN «(jO'iSffl.8t-. Name •••• Adores* I PRINT in pen«D (Please P"1" ----«« I I I ■ I I I ■ I .... , I I I -J For instance: WAAE, WAAL, WAAI, WAAM, WAAO, WAAU, WAAR, WAAW, WAEA, WAEE, WAEI, WAEL, WAEM, WAEO, WAEU, WAER, WAEW, WALA, WALE, WALI, WALM, WALO, WALTJ, WALR, WALW, WAIA, WAIE, WAII, WAIM, WAIO, WAIU, WAIR, WAIW, WAMA, WAME, WAML, WAMI, WAMM, WAMO, WAMU, WAMR, WAMW, WAOA, WAOE, WAOI, WAOL, WAOM, WAOO, WAOTJ, WAOR, WAOW, WAUA, WAUE, WAUI, WAUL, WATJM, WAUO, WAUR, WATJTJ, WAUW, WARA, WARE, WARI, WARM, WARO, WARU, WARR, WARW, WAWA, WAWE, WAWI, WAWL, WAWM, WAWO, WAWU, WAWR, WAWW, are four letter combinations representing Radio district number 1, for instance, and ten three letter combinations starting with WA can be added to this list, also quite a few four letter combinations which I have probably missed in running through the list. Calls starting with WE could represent ROICE *S 4£ Radio Tubes Economical and Powerful CUT your tube expenses In HALF. 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BLUEBIRD $57.50 Easy to tune — long distance — selective. 4-Tube Receiver. WARBLER $90.00 A very high grade receiver — very selective. AMERICAN CREST $150.00 This we believe to be the best 6-Tube loop set on the market. We Announce the 5 TUBE RECEIVER GOLDFINCH ..$75.00 Bronze panel and Gold dials — Beautiful Mahogany Cabinet with space for B Batteries. This set looks and performs like a Million Dollars. We cannot offer anything better. For further descriptions Write for New Catalogue Dealen and Jobbers — Our line is interesting and profitable. miSi THE MILL. ON DOLLAR WAREMOUSC CO." . 120-134 JEFFERSON ST.. MILWAUKEE Radio district number 2, and a similar number of combinations could be worked out for that district, and so on through combinations starting with WF for the third district, etc. Getting into western territory K could be used as the first letter, and another group of several hundred call letter combinations arranged, in fact there would be twice as many groups or combinations possible as there are Radio districts and if there are too many stations in one district for one distinctive letter to suffice, two letters, to be used as the second initial of the calls for that district, could be assigned. This plan would of course necessitate the reassignment of call letters, which could be done very quickly by the depart ment of commerce and which would cause confusion for but a very few days. — M. F Hoyle, Hollister, Calif. Every Question ANSWERED for only $1 l.C.S RADIO HANDBOOK JUST OUT 514 PAGES Compiled by HARRY F. DART, E.E. Formerly with tbs Western Electric Co., and U. S. 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Check here D ond enclose $1.50 it vou wish . I: the de luxe edition, oound in Leatheroid. II of your radio troubles -with Ekko Clamps The experience of set manufacturers and service stations shows that 50% of the trouble with radio sets comes from a faulty ground. It is not enough to wrap a piece of wire around a pipe. The contact must be firm and permanent. The Ekko Clamp insures a good ground. The half -moon shape makes it easy to attach anywhere and a turn of the screw fastens it securely. The hardened point bites through paint or rust. The connection is made tightly so corrosion cannot form and ruin it. Sold by radio dealers everywhere. 'Price each, 25C THE EKKO COMPANY 111 West Monroe Street • Chicago, Illinois Soldered Joints Solder should be flowed on a joint, not brushed on. The equipment for doing a good soldering job is small — an electric or plain heat iron, some strip solder and a small quantity of flux is all that is necessary. But in order to make a perfect joint, there remain several things which are also necessary. First, the iron must be clean. Second, the iron must be hot, not warm; with a semi-warm iron you can hope for nothing more than a brushed-on solder job, which will not hold. One teaspoonful of powdered rosin to ten teaspoons of alcohol makes the ideal soldering flux for Radio work. now for the Ideal Radio Rheostat The old story of big demand and quan» tity production making for price reduo tion has worked out for the Marshall* stat, the ideal radio rheostat. Its new price is $i.£o now. For your money you get the smoothest accurate adjustment rheostat on the mar* / ket. It gives vernier precision throughout its entire range from ioo to o.i ohms* Yet there is only one adjustment to make —only one dial to turn. In addition, it is compact (illustration above full size), requires only one hole in panel, and can be used with any tube or combination of tubes. You can't go wrong with the Marshall'stat. MARSHALL ELECTRIC CO., 3231 Locust Boul. St. Louis, Mo; Get the Marshallstat at radio dealers everywhere. Write us for descriptive literature. Effarsee Better than an Outdoor Aerial Effarsee Portable Antennae — curtain shaped — solves the problem wherever it is difficult or impossible to put up an outdoor aerial. If you have an outside Antennae Effarsee connected in the Antennae circuit will greatly increase your volume. You can hang it anywhere indoors or out and install it in a minute. It is better than an outdoor aerial because it brings in less static and noise and increases selectivity. It gives excellent volume on either local or distance, and can be used on any set — from an eight tube superhetrodyne to a crystal. Dealers find it excellent for demonstrating sets designed to work on outdoor aerials. It is much better than a loop. Three Sizes $1.00, $1.50 and $2.50 If your dealer can't supply you, order direct. Money back if not Satisfied. 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