Radio Broadcast (May-Oct 1922)

Foreign Notes 531 the conductors are made of 80 strands of No. 40 wire, all separately insulated. A modified frame or loop antenna was shown for obtaining bearings by radio. For this purpose a single loop is commonly used; but in this instance a smaller loop has been fixed at right angles to the first and on the same axis with it. The object of this is to avoid complete silence in the direction of the signals, as the bearings are thus more easily obtained. A commutator is also fitted, so that the winding of the main loop can be reversed at any moment; the reversal shows at once whether any local e. m. f. is affecting the signals. It is said that bearings can be taken to an accuracy of one degree or less. COLLECTIVE EUROPEAN WEATHER REPORT FROM THE EIFFEL TOWER AMERICAN data is now added to the collective European radio report which is transmitted daily at 1 1 130 a. m. (Greenwich Mean Time) from the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The observations broadcasted consist of the barometer reading and the direction and force of the wind at i A. M. (G. M. T.) on the day of issue, at about 30 places scattered over the Continent, now including Bermuda, Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, Cape Hatteras, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Washington, and Winnipeg. Approximate positions of the centres of cyclones and anti-cyclones are also indicated. RADIOPHONE RECEPTION AS A SIDE SHOW THE public radio station which has been established at Southport, England, is claimed to be the largest of its kind in the world. It is built like a small entertainment hall. On the "platform" a large receiving set has been installed, from which 60 distributing wires radiate. These are suspended, at well-spaced intervals, from the ceiling, and to the end of each is attached a hand phone, suspended within easy reach of the seated patron. Arrangements are made with certain broadcasting stations to send out music between specified hours. BETTER EQUIPMENT FOR SHIP STATIONS IT IS a well-known fact that aside from the real greyhounds of the ocean, most ships are provided with a rather poor and antiquated lot of radio instruments. In fact, the average radio amateur has a far better receiving set than the average ship station; yet it is surprising what the skilled ship operators accomplish with crystal detectors and old spark transmitters. Nevertheless, F. J. Chambers, writing in a recent issue of The Electrician, of London, points out the necessity of employing better instruments on shipboard. He pleads for the installation of better detectors and for amplifiers, as well as for continuous-wave vacuumtube transmitters, as a relief from confusion and interference in the ether, as well as for greater range. Already we learn that the Marconi Company has installed 3-kilowatt vacuum-tube transmitters on board the principal liners. Heretofore, range has been obtained by the simple but inefficient expedient of piling on power. Now the tide has set in the opposite direction. Simple but inefficient spark transmitters of I5kilowatt rating are being replaced with quenched spark transmitters of ^-kilowatt rating on board small ships. Ultimately, it is safe to presume that' vacuum-tube continuous-wave transmitters will be employed. In the same article the author makes a plea for the ending of the monopoly which has been legitimately built up as the result of radio development and radio patents, and for the introduction of competition so that ship installations may be made up of the best equipment available. RADIO AND AVIATION A RECENT issue of Radioelectricite contains an interesting historic account by P. Brenot, describing the gradual development of radio telegraphy and telephony aboard aircraft from the beginning of this phase of the art, in 1910, to the present day. It seems that the builders of aircraft and the manufacturers of radio equipment have not collaborated any too well. As a result, extensive alterations costing a great deal and resulting in serious time losses have to be made in aircraft in order to accommodate radio installations. The author makes a plea for closer cooperation between aeronautical constructor and radio engineer, with a view to securing the best results with a minimum of alteration.