Radio Broadcast (May-Oct 1922)

Choosing a Radio School 495 the man who wants the shore job. Can he sit down before a tuner and vacuum tube detector with multi-stage amplifier, skillfully eliminate all interference, pick out a particular spark note or style of sending through bad interference, and put the signals down in good readable copy on a typewriter as they come in? I've never yet seen the green man do it! Or, take a high-power circuit ashore; can he sit down to a typewriter, listen to a perfect, clearcut "bug" sending at 30 or 35 words a minute, translate the characters into combinations of the Philips code, further translating them into readable English, and turning out perfect, deliverable copy from his typewriter, without a falter? So much for your shore positions. There is one other phase of the game, other than operating, first class license secure a positon LIFE AT SOME OF THE HIGH-POWER STATIONS TRULY HAS ITS SOCIAL ADVANTAGES And sight of them is never lost by the advertising men of the radio correspondence schools. Mention is not generally made of the fact that a job at such a station means copying trans-ocean signals at high speed on a typewriter eight hours a day, seven days a week A radio school course, and a will probably enable you to as clerk in a radio store, or radio department, or to become associated with a radio manufacturing company in a small position. All of this will give you valuable experience, but a position as manager of a radio store, or radio inspector, specialist or other high sounding title, will distinctly not follow immediately upon the heels of your graduation. There is always a place for you, as is true in any line, after you have proved your worth — but in no line will you be led into a general manager's office and given the chair of authority with no more than a school diploma for experience. You must earn your job. So much for the employment question. Let us suppose you have given the foregoing careful thought, and are still determined to enter the radio field and blaze your own trail. In that case, take a course in a good radio school by all means. It can be either a resident or correspondence school — more on this later — but be sure it is good. And don't stop there; study, study, study, and subscribe to the leading radio periodicals, make apparatus for yourself, put yourself into it heart and soul! YOUR SCHOOL MUST GIVE PRACTICAL TRAINING 1WARN you to pick a good radio school. You say, "how shall I know it is good?' Here's how: no subject can be taught well from books alone. It must be supported and clarified with actual practice. For instance, take languages. . The writer has been in many foreign ports, and has been much amused at the conversational efforts of some of the members of ship's crews. Men who were excellent, A I Spanish students in college had a terrible time in Chile, a Spanish-speaking country! They knew Spanish, pure Spanish, but not the version that the Chileans use. The same applies to radio. You may have a perfect theoretical understanding of the "hows and whys," but would be in an awkward position were you confronted with the necessity of repairing a burned out generator at sea. The value of experience shows itself particularly in cases where the apparatus breaks down in an emergency. The operator who can send out messages in the face of apparently insurmountable difficulties is worth his weight in gold. The following incident is taken from an operator's log: " 1 was sent home cn another vessel, signing on as a wiper. The vessel ran out of fuel. No response being received to our S O S, I was called up from the engine room to see if 1 could assist the operator in establishing communication. Investigation showed that all units of the transmitting condensers were broken down. This was overcome by using in their place the series condensers in the short-wave circuit. An improvised radiation ammeter had to be