Radio today (Sept 1935-Dec 1936)

it to our repair man to be cheeked up." In a few minutes the $8.95 set comes back with a report that it will cost $8 to make the necessary repairs. And obligingly the salesman suggests the alternative set at $15, which he proposed in the first place, with credit for all or part of the amount already paid. Usually at this point the victim is ready to complete the $15 purchase. Fake trade names Names of leading brands are simulated by hyphenating them with qualifying adjectives, to make the purchaser think he is getting a standard set. Standard sets are also obtained from legitimate sources and broken up, and the cabinet, chassis and speaker are then separately combined with "loft-made" parts. In this way the unprincipled seller has three complete sets on each of which he can point out a genuine trade-marked component, intimating that each whole set is a genuine factory-assembled job. Street-hawkers are gypping the public with "static eliminators" and interference removers. Most of these highly-colored containers are filled only with sand, and their attachments are useless. They are demonstrated, however, on curb-side autos with the aid of an ingenious tension switch, which automatically introduces fearful interference when the "eliminator" is out of circuit, but wipes the circuit clear of noise when the eliminator gadget is inserted in the antenna. 'How about 50 and FIVE 10's on tubes?" Advertising trickery Mis-illustration of models in advertising is another trick in use by unprincipled dealers. Ads showing a deluxe console will also carry a featured price which appears to be a sensational value, but hidden away in a corner of the ad will be the small-type statement that "the model illustrated is No. 243." Investigation reveals that Model No. 243 is priced a great deal higher than the figure featured in the ad. Many small sets are being sold as "short-wave" and "all-wave" receivers and casual inspection by non-expert customers would indicate that the sets are actually wired for short-wave reception. But when they are purchased and hooked up, they turn out to be only ordinary broadcast receivers. In such cases a genuine short-wave set is used for demonstration purposes. Cut-throat shops have even gone so far as to obtain metal shields which they buy or can make themselves and which can be fitted around an ordinary glass tube of inferior design, so that the tubes can be represented as metal ones. All manner of wild excuses are used to explain to the customer when the tube is not marked with the name of a manufacturer. Costs radio good-will And so the list of radio rackets might be extended almost indefinitely. This gypping of the public by irresponsible radio men, works a double evil. It is costing the public its hard-earned dollars. And when the victims wake up to the realization that they have been imposed on, it costs the good-will of the public toward the radio industry. All along the line — broadcasters, manufacturers, dealers — everybody suffers. Except the radio racketeer who momentarily benefits from the profits of his swindle. So — every radio man who has the well-being of radio at heart, needs to be on the look-out for such rackets. Only by making their existence and menace generally known to the public — by forewarning prospective radio purchasers — can the evil be stamped out and the racketeers curbed. November, 1935