Radio broadcast .. (1922-30)

668 Radio Broadcast DOWN WITH THE ROOF WIRES Regardless of the type of tube set you operate, this indoor aerial will equal, and in many cases exceed, any outdoor aerial you may be using. MORE THAN A SHADOW OF DOUBT Kxtravagant claims, which in many instances, actual trial shows to be unjustified, breed certain dissatisfaction and tend to impair the enthusiasm of radio purchasers. The radio public itself should cooperate to require advertisers to tell the truth about their products : "If the manufacturer maintains a sentimental attitude as to how his goods shall be priced by the retailer," he argues, "let him total his cash book at the end of the year and he will find that the radio chain store quite probably has moved one hundred times as much merchandise as the collection of small jobbers." Careful reading of magazines and newspapers continues to disclose practices which bear out the statement that radio is passing through a period in which the buying public must exercise great caution and discrimination. Take as an illustration a recent advertisement of a well known battery by a retail store. It road We are the only dealer in the city in a position to supply the public with unlimited quantities of this NEW 108 volt B battery The fact was that this battery, instead of being a new model, was being discontinued. The agency handling the advertising copy explained that the word "new" was intended to mean that the batteries were fresh from the factory and that "unlimited" meant that enough were available to supply the store's trade. Certainly the word "new" in the copy was objectionable because the average reader might well take the advertisement to mean that the manufacturer was bringing out a new model. THE OVER-HNTHUSIASTIC ADVERTISER NOW and then advertisers inadvertently get off on the wrong foot. Around the time of the national political conventions, an eastern manufacturer of radio sets advertised in newspapers on the Pacific Coast, urging the public to buy his product in time to listen in. Investigation developed that Kansas City was the nearest point from which the conventions were being broadcast and the feat of reaching that far east from the west coast during the day time, when range of reception is very limited, was anything but a certainty. Again we have the manufacturer of a well known loud speaker, whose advertising in the middle west emphasized the pleasure to be derived from listening in on New York grand opera. It is well known that the Metropolitan company is not heard over the air. Another case in point is the loose statements made about "noisy batteries." One radio expert to whom the writer talked recently stated that such noise practically never occurs in batteries used for filament supply but that it sometimes is found in plate batteries. The cause is either a defective cell in the battery, or a loose connection between the cells. Almost any dry cell, he pointed out, even those of the most reliable makes, may develop noise when they are nearly used up. Other extravagant claims are made concerning the life of batteries. This is a difficult factor to determine, and it is here that batteries of different manufacture may be expected to vary materially if at all. Only usage can determine the real utility and life of any particular battery with consideration, of course, for proper care. This is all the more reason why purchasers of radio equipment should give real consideration to the makes and types of batteries they purchase for their sets in order that they may have the maximum protection on the money expended. Claims for new and startling discoveries in the battery field likewise should be carefully examined. Years of study have brought them to their present point of efficiency and most of the possible improvements could hardly be called revolutionary. Within the last year one concern has advertised that its batteries will enable the operator of a radio set in the middle west to hear England or South America as clearly as Detroit or Chicago. The advertising copy was so worded as to make it appear that whatever troubles are encountered with a set may be removed by substituting the batteries ad