Radio daily (Jan-Mar 1938)

6 Friday, March 25, 1938 RADIO DAILY STATION-STUDIO and TRANSMITTER EQUIPMENT NEW DEVICES and IMPROVEMENTS Latest Technical Developments and Activities in Radio and Television Double Features Next (. Special to RADIO DAILY ) London — London has 24 buses equipped with radios "to amuse the passengers." The installation has been made by the London Passenger Transport Board as an experiment with privately chartered coaches, but there have been persistent rumors that sets will be installed on regular routes. Board officials, however, are fearful that despite the fact that radio might "add to the general gaiety of our rather grim streets," arguments might arise over the selection of programs. WBOW Planning Move To New Studios in June Terre Haute — A three story residential building has been purchased by WBOW to house its new studios and offices. The new location will provide room for four studios and office accommodations as well as a recreation room for employees. W. W. Behrman. station director, also plans to carry out the old-fashioned atmosphere of the building, and marble fireplaces, walnut trims and other fixtures will be refinished in keeping with the new location. After the remodeling is done, a smaller building on the property will be altered into a WBOW playhouse. Station expects to move in June 1. New French Coaxial Cable Paris — A coaxial cable for television transmission is being installed between the northern regions of France to Paris. Three transmitters are also to be installed at Bordeaux for communication with Paris, Toulouse and Limoges. Rome — A television transmitter operating on seven meters will be installed at Mount Mario, near here. Italy has been paying close attention to television progress and, despite the death of Guglielmo Marconi, continued research is being made. The new transmitter will swing into action this summer. Belgium Plans Big Studios Brussels — Plans are being made by the Belgium government for the construction of La Maison de Radio et Television. There will be 17 studios and they are expected to be the largest in the world. One of the studios will be 15,000 cubic meters in size. Installation of 300 amplifiers is also being planned now. Mile of Sound Washington Bureau, RADIO DAILY Washington — Loudspeakers that could broadcast messages for a full mile were demonstrated early this week in Union Station. The broadcasts were made from a specially fitted pullman car by RCA engineers. Toby Wing, film actress, was a visitor to the exhibit which was sponsored by Southern Wholesalers, Inc. C II ARLES ROSS, Inc. Formerly Motion Picture Lighting and Equipment Corp. WE FURNISH Electi ical Lighting Equipment of Any Kind FOR RADIO STATIONS 244-250 WEST 49th STREET **►» York City Tel. Circle 6-5470-1 RCA Facsimile Tests Set for April by WOR ( Continued from Page 1) station is testing Finch facsimile and will use both systems concurrently. Despite the fact that there are only five Finch receiving units in use for WOR’s test, approximately 1,000 letters of inquiry have been received during the past month. Station plans to add to the present number of sets until 50 are distributed, as required by FCC regulation but inquiries are being answered with a letter and material explaining the function of facsimile. No sets, however, are being promised to those who inquired. Facsimile set distribution is often held up, because of improvements that necessitate changing devices already distributed. Recept:on of facsimile broadcasts has not been limited to the New York area, though much experimentation is concentrated here. Reception has been reported by WHO, Des Moines and WHO’s facsimile broadcasts have also been received by WOR. WHO is likewise experimenting with Finch apparatus. RCA equipment will differ in some respects from its equipment in use between its New York and Philadelphia offices. Inter-office communication employs a separate channel for synchronization, while a single channel will be used by WOR. J. R. Poppele, WOR’s chief engineer, is conducting the facsimile experiments. Developments on the facsimile device of the late Dr. Fulton are expected to be resumed within the next few weeks. It is necessary for Fultograph to secure a majority approval from stockholders before proceeding further and a longer period of time than had been expected is necessary to receive stockholders’ okehs. Several heirs, whose votes are needed, are abroad and there has been delay in reaching them. WHFC Spending $40,000 Cicero, 111. — More than $40,000 will be spent by WHFC to rebuild its studios this summer. Included in the plans is a studio seating 300 persons. Special Set-Up For NBC's Symphony Shows Musical critics have joined engineers in praising the reception of the NBC symphony orchestra, which is a result of the painstaking study made by chief engineer O. B. Hanson and his staff. Before the symphony series started, the NBC technicians decided that much of the criticism of radio reception was traceable to the fact that conditions under which the music was picked up were not controlled. Obviously, the thing to do was to control such conditions. This was done by conducting experiments in acoustics and mike placement. The studio’s (8-H) absorption and acoustical characteristics were studied and allowances were made for the sound-absorbent “material” furnished by the 1,500 people in the audience. After scientifically treated walls had been selected, the position of the mikes was determined. The velocity microphone was chosen. Recordings were made of rehearsals and tone signals were also broadcast over the network after stations had signed-off. WGN's Building Plans Chicago — WGN will start erecting its new 750 foot Truscon radiator on its transmitter site, which is 24 miles northwest of Chicago, about April. Completion is expected by May 1. Work will also begin in April on the transmitter house which is expected to be ready for operation in the fall. Foundations for the tower have been started. Voltage Regulator Bulletin Waltham, Mass. — A bulletin describing its voltage regulator has been issued by the Raytheon Manufacturing Co. Electrical characteristics, dimensions, stock ratings and prices on voltage regulators are included in the pamphlet. $250,000 for Aust. Tele Sydney — Approximately $250,000 has been earmarked for a television laboratory at Canberra by the Minj istry of Post and Telegraph. KFOX Shortwaves From Train at 80 Miles Per Long Beach, Cal. — An experimental broadcast from a train speeding 80 miles an hour was made last week by KFOX. Lawrence McDowell, Lawrence Weston and Frank Goss installed KFOX’s shortwave equipment, K1FO on a Santa Fe train and put over a series of five broadcasts on the train’s initial run from San Diego to Los Angeles. Transmitter, on 2150 kc., was anchored in the baggage car, immediately behind the engine unit and the antenna was strung on welded frame braces along the top of three cars behind the transmitter. Broadcasts were made from the engineer’s cab, trains and on the observation car. Connected wires allowed for the insertion of amplifying units and microphones to allow broadcasts from any intermediate point in the various cars. Shortwave broadcasts were picked up near San Diego and run by direct wire to KFOX. Pow-wow on Directionals Chicago — A discussion on directional broadcast antennas was held at a recent meeting (March 11) of the Indianapolis section of the Institute of Radio Engineers at the Athletic Club. Dr. Victor J. Andrews spoke on the necessity for directional antennas. He also described the use of arrays of vertical radiators to obtain directional characteristics and examples of the placement of towers were given. Various features of design procedure were also discussed. THE CLIMAX OF A engraving . . . expertly made and promptly delivered.