Radio age (May 1922-Dec 1923)

18 RADIO AGE— "THE MAGAZINE OF THE HOUR" threadbare method of restricting supply in order to maintain exorbitant prices. But there are too many enthusiastic, wideawake American men and boys watching the situation to make it discreet for even a giant to get in the way of the steam roller. It would be best for radio fans and best for the radio "big four" to insist upon and get an early threshing out of that charge by Representative Brittain of Illinois to the effect that the combine is restricting by some mysterious influence the placing of millions of dollars worth of tubes on the open market. Mr. Brittain insists these supplies should be sold to the public inasmuch as the government holds a sufficient supply to last the army and navy "several hundred years." Whatever are the facts, they will become public in due time. Meanwhile there is no need to leap at conclusions. Another tale that comes into the editorial sanctum relates to a plan by which a large manufacturer will establish broadcasting which shall be so "scrambled" that it will be impossible for any person not owning a receiving set sold by that manufacturer to get the stuff and unscramble it. That is, the receiving apparatus will be so adjusted that it will form a complement to the sending apparatus. The story seems absurd on its face, but intelligent radioites are seriously discussing it. The majority of them seem to believe that any such attempt at monopoly of a public utility would be defeated promptly by an honest government. We also hear of a large concern that is sending out letters to prospective buyers of expensive equipment advising them to hold ofif a few months, as there is something new coming into the market that will make all present receiving equipment out of date and useless. More power to invention ! Let the wave wave on ! And then our friends drop in and tell us with long faces that summer weather is not conducive to good radio transmission. Therefore look out for that slump! Good old slump, the bogey man of the radio trade ! It might be well to stop and consider that hot weather does not, as a matter of simple fact, seriously interfere with reception of radio waves at ordinary distances. The boys who are getting messages and concerts from broadcasting stations in their vicinity today will be getting the same results on August 1. Of course, for those who want to hear messages from Germany or Hawaii, warm weather will cause disappointment, but the mass of radio enthusiasts will scarcely detect any difTerence in their ordinary radio pursuits. Merchants who have been stocking up with large consignments are supposed to be frightened by these hot weather stories, just as are the sea bathers by the annual yarns about sea serpents and sharks. Finally, let us be optimists. Those radio merchants and manufacturers and those radio publications which are trying their best to get solid business on solid business principles are going to achieve their just reward. Anybody who is afraid of shadows has no business in the field. Roosevelt's advice is as good now as it was when he uttered it : "Speak softly and carry a big stick." * * * Since going to press on our previous edition we have been solemnly assured by the newspaper scientists that they have discovered that cockroaches flash radio messages to one another. We also learn that the lightning bug's lightning and the glowworm's glow and the ant's antennae are all a part of the radio game. We should not be surprised if these scientists had proved by the time of our next issue that the mosquito, in thrusting its rapier into our skin is merely looking for a ground. Also that the office boys who whistle into our ears as we pass along the busy streets are involuntary and unconscious broadcasters ; that the porcupine is a perfect detector and the house cat makes a loud speaker when hooked into the receiving system. When the Milwaukee broadcasting stations are particularly active, it is said that near-beer is transformed into the five-per cent stuff, due to the extreme sensitiveness of malt liquor to anything that has waves in it. We agree also that girls who still have hair enough to harbor hairpins may just as well as not use a hairpin for an aerial and false teeth for a receiving Ain't science wonderful? * * * We know a youth who made a receiving set from the directions printed in the May number of Radio Age. He paid $3.85 for materials and dug tip an old telephone head-set and from the first day was able to get the baseball and market reports and the concerts. Within ten days he had expended $105 for additional parts to make his outfit a regular humdinger. That's the way this radio gets 'em. After listening to the home broadcasting station a few days they want to listen to coolie conversations from Wuhu, China. Railroad Radio OFFICIALS of the New York Central Railroad and of the research department of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company are studying conditions with a view to using radio in the handling of trains and of the railroad tugs and other craft that ply about the New York harbor. According to the Central's program the wireless telephone service would be used in train service not only for communication between the head and rear ends of 50 to 100 car freight trains, but also between moving trains and dispatchers' offices or other fixed stations. "Such use would be valuable in the operation of the railroads," says the current issue of the company's magazine in announcing the plan, "especially for communication between the front and rear of freight trains, some of which are now a mile long. In the event of anything getting out of order on such a train while it is running, the ability of the conductor to communicate almost instantly with the engineer would be a most valuable adjunct to the present methods. In handling the New York Central fleet of tugs and other boats — this carrier's fleet numbers 306 units — the use of the radio telephone would be particularly worth while in time of heavy fog or other emergencies." In course of time, officials believe, a passenger will be able to go to the observation or club car oh the Twentieth Century Limited and put in a call, while riding over the lines, for his office at New York to issue orders regarding business transactions ; or for his residence, perhaps, to tell his wife that he forgot some of his wardrobe and have it forwarded on the next train. * * * The Fere Marquette railroad has under consideration the equipment of fifty miles of its road with a new system of wireless train control, which has been invented by a Detroit man. * * * The Lackawanna operated a special train from Ithaca, N. Y., to New York City, on April 5, the train having been equipped with both sending and receiving apparatus. The passengers were Corsell students. During the entire run communication was maintained with several amateur stations and special programs were received from two broadcasting stations. * * * The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul road has installed receiving sets on the Pioneer Limited.