Radio Broadcast (May 1928-Apr 1929)

198 RADIO BROADCAST AUGUST, 1928 DX WITH A HOME-MADE LOUD SPEAKER The improvised loud speaker on top of the radio was made from a camp-fire reflector and an old baking powder can. It helped the members of the Harmon-Freeman Expedition in the Canadian Rockies to get the play-by-play account of the World Series in New York these services are all of low power, but few channels will be required. THE Federal Radio Commission was allowed an appropriation of $301,467 by Congress, an amount larger by $149,067 than was allowed by the Budget Bureau. The Chairman of the Commission indicated that it would employ one chief attorney and two assistants, five radio experts and several examiners. Next year, they will ask for an office building, a larger staff and a million dollar appropriation. The Commissioners ought to be hired on a piece-work basis, so much per station eliminated with a bonus for each channel cleared. General Order No. 32 would give it a good start for the year. GERMAN radio exports during 1927 were valued at 33,426,000 marks, of which about one-tenth was shipped to Belgium, France, Italy, Jugoslavia, Roumania, and Japan as war indemnity. Shipments to the United States were valued at 1,066,000 marks. THE British Postmaster General has authorized the erection of a new, high-power, twin wavelength station in London, to be erected for the British Broadcasting Company. It will be in service in twelve to fifteen months. AN ADVISORY Committee to the League of Nations has recommended the construction of a $250,000 wireless telegraph station with an estimated operating cost of $40,000 annually. Its estimated traffic is valued between $20,000 and $30,000. SENATOR DILL now offers a new substitute for his S. 2783, to the effect that it shall be considered complete defense in an infringement suit to prove that the complainant is a party to an agreement, cross license or understanding with any patent holder which tends to lessen competition or create a monopoly. The proposal is of doubtful constitutionality, but it may help the Senator in his forthcoming campaigning back home. As Heflin hates the Pope, Dill hates the R. C. A. Why not propose to repeal the patent law? It is distinctly in restraint of trade and creates legal monopolies. At least such a proposal would be straightforward and could be fairly judged on its merits. THREE radio beacons have recently been placed in operation on Long Island Sound by the Lighthouse Service of the Department of Commerce. They are at Execution Rocks Lighthouse near Hell Gate Bridge, at Stratford Shoals Light, and at Little Gull Island. IN LINE with the policy of conserving fre1 quency space, the number of naval stations has been reduced from 167 in 1921 to 78, and further reductions, to be in effect by June 30, 1929, will bring the number to 72. Traffic continues to grow, the 1927 total being 75,296,500 words, as compared with 55,779,900 in 1927 and 53,102,900 in 1925. During 1927, 40,000,000 words were handled for the Navy, 13,000,000 for other Federal departments and 9,000,000 words of commercial and press traffic. |N SPEAKING of the newly formed American1 Baird Television Corporation, formed by Messrs. Herbert Pokress, Charles Izanstark and Nathan Feldstern, Sir Charles Higham, one of the British stockholders and a well-known advertising man, stated: " In my opinion, television will work a decided advantage in the advertising methods of the new world. The greatest difficulty heretofore encountered by manufacturers has been to give the consumer his first view of the product. People are curious as to the various ways of making things, and rightly so." Mr. Baird's television apparatus is no exception to this rule. 1 ION EL BARRYMOREisquoted,inan interL< view granted in Chicago, as saying that television will scrap the theaters throughout the country. That's what they predicted electricity would do to gas, the telephone to the telegraph, and radio to the movies. Even should television rise to such heights that it has entertainment as well as scientific value, it can never replace mass entertainment presented in person by capable actors. C TAT ION wrny will send television images ^ under the supervision of Theodore Nakken. Transmissions will be at the rate of 10 images per second and consequently are restricted to very slow motion. The inventor claims that the station's 10 kilocycle channel will not be exceeded. Observers of wgy's 380-meter television signals report that they trespass far into neighboring channels, although these consist of only 24 lines. EXPORTS of radio apparatus during March amounted to $858,302, an increase of $199,830 over the same quarter last year Argentina exceeded Canada as our best market for the first time during the month of March. THE Lektophone Corporation has licensed the United Radio Corp. of Rochester, makers of Peerless speakers, under the Hopkins patents. AN APPLICATION for a patent on a variable condenser, so shaped as to give a straight-line frequency effect, was denied as lacking "the dignity of an invention" and the decision of the Commissioner of Patents to that effect was sustained by the Supreme Court. — E. H. F. RADIO ON TRAINS SINCE the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western began experiments with radio communication in 1913, considerable progress has been made in the art. Ford installed radio transmitters along the Detroit, Toledo & I ronton, but three years later abandoned radio in favor of a newly completed telegraph and telephone system. The New York Central began its experiments in cooperation with the General Electric Company in 1924, and highly practical apparatus has been developed for conversation between caboose and engine. On Election night in 1924, three eastbound and three westbound sections of the Twentieth Century Limited were equipped with receivers. The Great Northern began its work in 1925, but concluded that its telephone and telegraph equipment was adequate to meet its dispatching needs. The Canadian National Railways has erected ten broadcasting stations and has equipped a number of its de luxe trains with headphone installations. In Germany, several fast trains are equipped for radio telephonic conversation linked with the land line system. It is successful for trains traveling at speeds up to 45 miles an hour. Several English trains are equipped for broadcast reception for the benefit of passengers. Broadcast reception aboard trains is subject to constant intensity variations and, until we have automatic fading compensators, it is not likely to be generally adopted. STATION wmca and the stations associated in its chain began a regular schedule of Rayfoto broadcasting on May 23. THE A. T. & T. has applied for the necessary channels to inaugurate a short-wave, single side band radio telephone service between New York and Buenos Ayres. — E. H. F.