Radio Broadcast (May 1928-Apr 1929)

RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISER 117 B1ACH RELAY Used Exclusively in the COOLEY Rayfoto Receiver Approved by A.G.CO OLEY For Further Information Address L.S.BRACH MFG. CORF? ENGINEERS AND MANUFACTURERS NEWARK N J U.S.A. TORONTO. CAN. Don't Gamble on RESISTANCE! [ Poor radio results are generally due to incorrect resistance values or defective resistances. If you would avoid gambling, just remember — ] Read Radio Broadcast ever} month. You can't afford to miss an issue. Order your copy from your Newsdealer or Radio Store. If you wirh to subscribe direct send £4.00 for one year or S6.00 for two years. DOUBLEDAY, DORAN & COMPANY, Inc. Garden City, N. Y. Big, New Summer Radio Catalog Dealers — Set Builders — Agents Write for this Catalog. New Summer and Fall Book. Save money on newest hookups, sets. kits, parts, accessories at lowest prices. The "Big. Friendly Radio House" WESTERN RADIO MFG. COMPANY 126 W. Lake St. Defit. 46 Chicago, 111. THE HAVEN OF A SEA-GOING AUDION {continued from page 116) something to do with the fact that in May, 1917, I left San Francisco with two 3 kw. wireless sets for the islands. A naval operator came from Sydney Navy Yard to take over Fanning and I proceeded to Washington. The grief and struggle of construction is another tale. A manager, bookkeeper, doctor, surveyor, two half-caste overseers, myself, and about twohundred natives set about building a settlement and at the same time gathering copra. The replacing of thatched huts by modern cottages occupied many months of labor. Every Sunday morning at about eleven o'clock, the Staff assembled and in a very dignified manner made an inspection of all work and of the native quarters. To the manager this was a serious affair executed with military severity, but to the others it was a joke, and much playing took place behind his back. A match on the floor or under a native's house was sufficient to have the offender arrested and brought before "Court" Sunday evening. Many amusing situations developed in "Court" and often the stern manager-judge "lost face". There was the case of Kabuta who refused to clean his house unless he was paid overtime for so doing. He contended that, as the house belonged to "The Company" he should be paid for keeping it clean. This brought about an impasse, and he was arbitrarily ordered to polish it up if he expected to live in it. The following morning native police reported Kabuta had not slept in his house and was absent from camp. This violated two more rules. Kabuta stated he had spent the night sleeping on boxes of dynamite in a lean-to, about a mile up the beach, where cleaning wasn't necessary. DISCOVERING THE AUDION f^N THE morning of September 16, 1 9 1 7, 1 experienced the same sensation as the man who saw the giraffe for the first time and exclaimed, "There isn't any such animal!" The usual inspection was in progress, and the average number of arrests being made, when my attention was attracted to a little glass ball suspended from the rafters in a native's room. Wrinkling my nose in native fashion point, I asked of the fellow squatting on the floor, "Terrah-" He shrugged his shoulders up around his ears and with a puzzled expression on his chocolate features replied, "Ungcome!" I extended my hand for the thing and he passed it to me. Imagine my astonishment to find that it was a DeForest Audion. the first 1 had ever seen, but recognized from pictures. 1 wanted to know where the native had found it and he said, "Ay naka may en tardy," (" It came here from the sea,") He had picked it up while walking along the beach and thought it a pretty bauble. There is a native custom which forces one to give up an object if the other party desiring it merely begs for it saying, "Now! Ye pacheco." In this manner I became the owner of the tube, one of the strangest and most fragile bits ever cast ashore by the pounding seas. Remember that this was in 1917 and I doubt if there was a handful of these tubes in the entire territory contiguous to the Pacific Ocean. Some tubular shaped Audiotrons, made in Berkeley, California, were being used. I had a dozen myself. The question as to where this Audion could have come from was a difficult one to answer. Teraina was 900 miles from the Australian sealanes and 1800 miles from the courses to Tahiti. Honolulu was the nearest port and that was a (continued cm page 118) RADIO DEALERS Send for our catalog illustrating the products of over 100 radio manufacturers. WHOLESALE ONLY! F. D. PITTS COMPANY 219-223 Columbus Ave. BOSTON, MASS., U. S. A. 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