Radio mirror (Jan-Oct 1923)

May /-', iq-'s RADIO DIGEST RADIO LINKS U. S. AIR SERVICE i The photograph below shows the crossed loop antenna system of the transmitting station for direction finding: at McCook field. This station is making rapid strides in Airplane-Radio and valuable experiments are being conducted by the officers in charge. At the right is shown the interior of the Radio hut. Note the neatness and convenience of arrangement of the switchboard and instruments. J.\ (Continued from page 6) It Is obvious that Radio furnishes the only successful means of communication between the ground and airplanes in flight and by the same token, as aviation develops, both as a military arm and as a commercial agency for transportation, intercommunication between airplanes and ground will become one of the most important functions of Radio. The value of Radio communication has been to aircraft in the past and its potential value in the future is realized but by few people. In all aviation activities in war and most of the flying in peace, aircraft have some definite mission to perform with reference to certain individuals or organizations on the ground. In war, all airplanes are equipped with Radio ap communication between planes In the air and ground and planes, but utilizing Radio frequency impulses It Is being made use of in problems of aerial navigation, and already direction finding apparatus for aircraft has passed its first stages of development. Pilots to Got Direction The directional properties for both transmission and reception of coils and loops is well known and it is apparent that any direction finding system will be based on a proper utilization of these properties. In their application, two possible systems can be used. One is directional transmission on the ground and nondirectional reception by means of a trailing wire antena in the air, and the second is by means of non-directional transmis ETHER STATIONS TO USE NO PAY SONGS BROADCASTERS UNITE IN NATIONAL ASSOCIATION Hold Meeting at Chicago— Composer's Society Gets Little Satisfaction — May 14 Next Meeting CHICAGO.— At the recent meeting held at the Drake Hotel, in which twenty of the larger broadcasting stations were represented, a national organization was formulated to be known as the National Association of Broadcasters. The aims and purposes of this organization are: To encourage and aid the development of musical and literary genius, to support every movement to advance the art of Radio broadcasting and to encourage the enactment of laws and legislation designed to meet this purpose, and to protect its members from unjust and unfair demands by anyone. In order to put the newly formed organization on a firm footing a subscription of over ten thousand dollars was raised at one meeting. This amount is a nest egg toward a fund that is expected to reach the efifty thousand mark. All members have been called on to underwrite their stations with the amount considered to be the just share of preliminary expenses of organizing the Association and starting the service of issuing music and song compositions to the members free of charge. It is also proposed by the broadcasters to establish dues on a sliding scale. To Have Censorship Board It is the plan of this association to establish a board of censorship in New York to which all musical compositions to be broadcast will be submitted. If the compositions pass this board, they will in turn be given to the individual stations to be put on the programs for the benefit of their listeners. In this manner it is anticipated to keep the standard of such numbers high and offer each member the service of unrestricted numbers free from an excessive tax or license. Another development that is looked to by the association is the question of paid talent. At the present it has been a rarity to have paid performers on any broadcast program, but if any time in the future the tables should turn the members intend to be organized so as to meet reasonable claims. Publishers So Not Fare Well Representatives of the American Society of Authors, Composers and Music Publishers met with small success when they appeared before the meeting to re-state their demands of royalties on copyrighted compositions. These men were allowed to present their case and then were dismissed with the statement they "were not needed further." At this time the meeting went into closed session at which only direct representatives from broadcasting stations were admitted. At this session resolutions were passed as follows: "The members of the association are determined to arrange the operation of their broadcasting so that the officers of a corporation, perhaps located many miles distant from their station, may rest easily in the knowledge that no music will or may be broadcast from their station which could involve them in any legal controversy. Problem of Self Support "The members believe that the one unsolvable problem confronting broadcasters has been the question of making broadcasting financially self-supporting. No plan has heretofore been developed which seemed feasible. The committee having charge of this phase of the Association's activities, believes and hereby goes on record as believing that this Association possesses within itself the power to collect very substantial sums of money, which sums should ultimately equal or at least nearly equal the cost of major broadcasting. Make no mistake about what here is being said. Put in other Words, the committee believes that a membership in this Association will eventually be a great financial asset." It was also developed that the American Society of Authors, Composers and Music Publishers controlled a comparatively small amount of the music published in America. The Producing Managers Association has already taken the stand that the society cannot control the songs of their productions and any license they would issue could not carry with it the right to broadcast the songs incorporated in their shows. This serves to cut down the entire list of compositions controlled by the society to about thirty per cent of -the total. Of this balance, it was stated, the ones sung in the Broadway productions would be considered far superior, so the remaining few more popular songs are very small in number. Does Broadcast Popularize Song's? The question of popularizing the song was raised and met with the statement concerning a certain song that has been discarded from public sales for the past six months. This song was recently used by two powerful stations on several nights and the following week the investigated sales reached forty-five hundred copies. This was after the song had been long considered dead. In an interview concerning the recent meeting one prominent broadcaster said: "We have been told by the representatives of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers that if we wish to test the legality of their claims they will be pleased to accommodate us." Rather than wage an expensive court battle our station has decided to refrain from broadcasting any of the selections the copyright of which is controlled by the society. Through the newly formed association we will be able to obtain selections that are the equal of any the society may control and will broadcast them instead." To Tote on Officers The Association of Broadcasters has called their next meeting for May 14, 1923 to be held at the Drake Hotel, Chicago. At this meeting the officers who were placed in nomination will be acted upon. The officers appointed at the recent meeting, whose names will be placed before the assembly for vote, are: paratus, either telegraph or telephone, for intercommunication with the ground and other planes in the air. In peace time military and in commercial flying, Radio performs two functions: one, in intercommunication between plane and ground, and the other in intercommunication between ground stations and control points. Organized schedules for flying cross-country are still in the first phases of their infancy, yet in the short length of time that has elapsed since the signing of the armistice, much progress has been made. The establishment and operation of an aerial mail route by the Post Office Department from New York to San Francisco, and the success that has been attained in its operation, is well known. In this operation, Radio stations have been established at all landing fields and control stops and are used in the despatch of planes flying along the route, and in the dissemination of meteorological data on conditions along the route. Army Has "Model Airway" In addition to this route the Army now has in operation and has had for several months a so-called "Model Airway" along which planes fly on definite schedules. This airway extends north from Washington to Mitchel Field, Long Island; south to Langley Field, Virginia, and west through Cumberland, Maryland; Moundsville, West Virginia; Dayton, Ohio, to Detroit and Chanute Field at Rantoul, Illinois. Airplanes are sent out from all of these stations at regular intervals, and one or more planes are flying along each leg of the airway each day. The intercommunication between ground and planes at this time is limited, but intercommunication between landing fields and control stations along the route is completely established and planes are despatched and meteorological data sent out from these stations by means of Radio with a promptness and regularity such as is found in a well organized railroad system. Certain of the planes are now equipped with Radio apparatus for intercommunication with ground stations and it is planned in the near future to so equip all planes. The ultimate value that Radio can render aviation is tremendously great. Not only will it serve its purpose in inter President, J. E. Jenkins, Station WDAP, Drake Hotel, Chicago. Vice Pres., Powell Crosley, Crosley Mfg. Co., Cincinnati, O. Vice Pres., Bodin Washington, Cutting Washington, New York. Vice Pres., R. N. Johnston, Station WSY, Birmingham, Ala. Secretary, E. F. MacDonald, Chicago Radio Laboratory. Treasurer, Frank Elliott, Station WOC, Davenport, la. sion from an antena on the ground and directional reception by means of coils on the planes. Both of these systems are based on the same principle, wherein pilots will receive the impulses in the air and determine their location or their direction of flight therefrom. For example, in nondirectional transmission, a system of beacons at principal cities throughout the country can be established which will send out signals with their own peculiar tone qualities and wave lengths. These signals are received by either stationary or movable loops on the airplanes and, by means of maximum and minimum, points, the direction from which they are transmitted can be established. Having received signals from two or more stations, the airplane then determines its own location by plotting their directions. This system can be made general and can be utilized by a number of airplanes in flight. It requires the presence of personnel in the plane other than the pilot however, and for military purposes is limited in its application. In the system of directional transmission two loops are erected at an angle to each other varying from 90 to 180 degrees and are used as the transmitting antenna for the ground station. Throw Over Switches Used Mechanical throw-over switches are provided at the station which permit the transmission from first one loop and then the other. Loop antennae transmit most effectively in the direction of their own plane and least efficiently in a direction perpendicular to their plane. Consequently, in a system of alternate transmission from two loops the line which bisects the angle between them is the line upon which the intensity of signal sent from both planes is equal. In the employment of this system the bisecting line is pointed in the direction of the proposed flight and the plane flies along this line, endeavoring always to keep itself in such a position that this equal signal intensity is maintained. With the knowledge that this condition will obtain if he flies accurately, when one or the other of the signals becomes appreciably stronger than the other, the pilot knows that he has deviated from his line of flight and makes such corrections as will bring him back thereon. This system works equally well in flying either away from or toward the transmitter and furnishes a desirable means of direction finding for planes flying along a definite route. Another system, and one which is used by commercial planes flying across the English channel between England and France, is one in wtiich by means of directional reception on the ground at a number of stations, of signals sent from a plane in flight, the position of the plane is determined and its location furnished it by Radio telegraph.