THE PRACTICAL RADIO JOURNAL 26 th Year of Publication Proprietors ILIFFE & SONS LTD. Editor GH S. Pocock. Editors, Advertsing and Publishing Offices: DORSET HOUSE, STAMFORD STREET, LONDON, S. (Coven: Hetfrd Stiet. imc Guhl Buildings, Navin Stet, 2, Marcin: 260, Deane, 3. Gussom: 26, Rebel Stet, C2 Subseipion Rates: Home, fx 12 84; Canada, r= 68; other Golinres fi 920d. pee ana CONTENTS Page Editorial Comment 15 The AULWave Super Seven 16 Loud Speakers at the Games The Home Laboratery.—IV Listeners’ Guide for the Week ‘The Challenger 24-valve Receiver Broadcast Brevities The Dynatron Simply Explained Principal Broadcasting Stations. Random Radiations, =. ws Olympic FRIDAY, AUGUST 77, EDITORIAL All-wave Wireless The Feature of this Season EVELOPMENT. in wireless is continuods process which has been carried on without inter ruption since the earliest days Yet, of necessity, a time lag has always occurred between the laboratory develop. ‘ment of a new idea and jts appearance as commercial product The time elapsing between these two states is a very variable quantity, so that it often appears as if. witeless development is by’ leaps and bounds rather’ than a progressive flow. We have thus become fccustomed to expect something new alte any apparent interval in pro ‘gress and the matural time to look for its appearance is at the annual Radio Show. Past years have seen such developments as the supetheterodyne, AVC, and visual tuning indicators, to mention ‘only a few, and the question as to what to expect this year naturally arises at this time ‘All the indications point to the fact that the feature of many of the new receivers will be an allwave foning range using the term in its usual limited sense, | From fone point of view, this is hardly an innova tion, since for many years it has been possible to obtain receivers. covering ery wide tuning range, It isa develop Tent, however, in that the feature. will he included in many receivers of the less expensive class.” Tt is at the same time fan achievement from the technical point ‘of view and one which has probably faiised more headaches among designers than any other within recent years. The difficalties of all-wave receiver "design cannot be really appreciated except. By those who have met with and overcome ‘hem, The reasons why a demand has been created for this development are not fat to seek, Listeners now find less interest than formerly” in long-distance reception fn the ordinary broadeast bands, for the reason that the high power of be casting stations has made it’ an easy Vou. XXXIX. COMMENT ‘matter to obtain almost any. European Station. The difficulty which persists is that of interference from adjacent stations and, as this is at present incapable fof solution’ without serious effects on quality, many people are coming to rely solely om the local and a few of the stronger Continental stations for theit entertain ment, Short-wave reception gives back the lost interest in distance” listening, whilst the range of reception is not merely Continental but world-wide. An element of skill, too, enters into the handling fof the receiver and the range of waver Tengths covered isso great and the diversity of stations receivable so large, that itis, possible once more to enjoy a return to the much-maligned occupation of " knob twiddling. Opportunities for Experimenters In the field of all-wave and short- wave sets, more than in any other, pethaps, those who experiment and build their own sets are at an advantage, be- cause the “technique is by no means Stabilised and improvements ‘are being made so rapidly that commercial practice cannot at present keep pace with, them. ‘The first AC operated all-wave receiver to be designed by THE WIRELESS WORLD for description as a construc- tional ‘set is announced “in this. issue. ‘This receiver is lly representative of modern technique. It is highly sensitive fon all waveléngths, it is selective with the selectivity variable at will from a panel control. High-quality reproduc tion has been a principal aiin, whilst the signal/noise ratio is good. A signal: frequency amplifier and. two signal-fre- quency tuned circuits are in use on all wavelengths ; this feature alone is one Which would have been almost impossible a very few years ago. The IF amplifier js also of a new and unusual design, and greatly facilitates the attainment of food variable-selectivity characteristics, The AVC system is one which does not introduce distortion but is yet effective Jn its chief purpose—that of reduction of fading6 The Wireless World A SENSITIVE THREE- BAND SET WITH VARIABLE SELECTIVITY \HE_ increasing interest which is being taken in short-wave recep- tion makes it desirable to include these wavelengths within the tuning range of sensitive receivers. That portion of the total range of wavelengths tsed for wireless communication which is usually termed short-wave extends from About 10 metres to x00 metres, Dut itis by no means essential to cover the whole of this band, The wast majority of short- wave broadcasting stations and amateur transmitters work between 16and sometres, and it is this portion of the DDand which is essential "Any increase in the’ tuning range is naturally reflected by 2 tendency towards an increase in cost, for more bands have to bbe included. It is. therefore ‘economical fo make the tuning Tange no wider than is essen tial, Now itis just possible to cover some 16 metres to. 50 ‘metres in one band, and it bas accordingly been decided to include only this short-wave range in the receiver in addi- tion to the usual medium and Tong wavebands. The set con- sequently has three tuning ranges of approximately 16-50, mettes, 180-550 metres, and Fig, 1—The complete circuit Singram ofthe ceiver shows thet foro sgnalequency tuned cle Soke teal id, 4 epade peste Fr the i ge Thre Ere two. IP tages specially ar- Fanged with a eae create {eve ood varable-slecity ve Soracterietcn 'HE superheterodyne is the only type of receiver with which it i possible to obtain high selectivity on short tcavelengths and it ‘consequently lends itself well to the production of an all-swave recefver. The principle is one ehich has carried all before it in the field of Broadcast reception and it % one which is equally suitable for short The receiver described in this article covers three band: and a signal frequency HF stage is aleays operative, thus keeping the signal- ‘noise ratio at. a maximum. All-Wave _ The complete circuit diagram appears in Fig. 1, and it will be seen that a signal frequency ampliier employing “an HF pentode type valve is employed and is, operative on all wavelengths. The use of Wirdess World, August 7, x930 such a stage is advantageous in that it keeps the signal-noise ratio at a maximum, and the two tuned circuits very greatly reduce the possibility of second-channel interference even on short wavelengths. ‘The frequency-changer is of the heptode type, having a tuned grid oscillator citcuit Correct ganging is secured by means of the padding condenser system, and use is made of the padding condenser also to assist in the reaction circuit. Tt ean be seen that the coupling between the oscil Jato tuned circuit and the oscillator anode cicuit is partially by means of the mutual inductance between the reaction and tuned coils, and partly by means ofthe reactanceWives Wort, August 7h, 1936. er Seven’: of the padting condenser which is common to both circuits. This parcula arrange: nent of the circuit connectons enables & mich mote constentontput toe obtained from the osellatr, and so enables mote even sensitivity to be secured ‘The incision” of short waves ina receives brings two big. problems in its {rain one of construction and the other sf adjustment. On short wavelengths 3 i: vitally imporiant not only thatthe con struction be Sound but also that all connec: tions are made correctly, and this does not Iean merely joining together the correct points "Temeans that all connecting leads fre important in thet Teogth and relative T. COCKING positions, Ifthe apparatus is to be reason- ably compact, this throws a big burden on constructor, for itis all too easy un= wittingly to make important exrors, The second difficulty, that of adjustment, lies in the ganging, for itis not always easy to cerry this out properly on. short wave- Tengths, since comparatively few test oscil- lators cover the requisite range ‘These difficulties have been’ completely overcome in this receiver by the use of a ‘manufactured toner. This tuner inchides the whole of thai portion of the eizeuit in the dotted box in Fig. 1—gang condenser, ‘coils, switches, trimmers and valve: holders all wired up and ready for use ny Moreover. i the specified valves are wsed the gang has ateady been performed in the factory, and no gunging adstments ae_necessary., The only” adjstments ‘which the constructor has to make ate to the TF amplier, which mast be lined up to the correct frequency of 430 ke) for which the tuner is designed he TF amplifier includes two valves and is of rather special design in order to secure good variable selectivity charac. {cries Two varablesclectety IE tramsfocmars ure used ‘between the fre. dqueney-changer and the fis IP valve, ane they ate coupled together bythe condenser Cr “This condenser is Of very sal Capacity and is constructed when wiring the et by the correct placing of two wites. ‘The IF Circuits ‘The Grequency-changer anode is de- coupled by the 5oo-obm resistance Raand ‘the 0.1 méd. condenser C3, the further 0. ‘id, condenser Ca being provided to give low-impedance path t0 HIF across the HT supply. The coupling between the two IF valves is by a tuned anode circuit of high dynamic resistance but very low Q.. This is done in order that the first valve may give good amplification but yet have a high input impedance~an impor- tant point if good variable. selectivity characteristics are to be realised, The ‘tuned circuit T3, therefore, is of high in- dductance and moderate efficiency. Even £0, the Q is too high for correct results in this receiver, and it is accordingly ad- justed to the right figure by the use of a fow vallie—25,000 ohins—for the grid Teak Ro. This is advantageous in that it per mils considerable latitude in the choicens ‘Tho AU-Wave Super Seven— ‘of operating conditions: itis, for instance, possible to use a higher value for Ro and So obtain greater gain in cases where this jis more important than a flat resonance curve at low selectivity. Owing to the use of a low value of grid leak the coupling condenser C8 is given the fairly large value of 0.00% tid, The second IF valve is coupled to the diode detector by. the transformer T4 having fixed coupling between its coils. ‘This transformer has characteristics suited to the variable types and serves the pur- pose of filling up the trough in the reson~ fice curve which would be obtained ifthe fother two were used! alone oF if all three Were variable. “The detector is a diode and also pro- vides AVC. The by-pass condenser C12 has a capacity of 0.0001 mfd., and the output is taken through a two-stage filter comprising Ria and 13 of 10,000 ohms teach and the two 0.0001 mfd. condensers Cig and Crg. The diode load resistance Ryo has a value of 0.25 megohm and acts also as the volume control, The output of the detector developed across Certain components of Fig. 2—The power unit contains the maine ‘AUGUST 7th, 1936 ‘uipmeat in addition to 8 triode output ‘valve fed through a high quality LF transformer. R16 is fed off through the filter Rx and Cig of £ megohm and 0.05 mid. respec- tively to the AVC line. The first IF valve T OF PARTS other makes but of similar characteristics may be used as ‘alternatives f0 those given tn the following list. RECEIVER, tubule, C4, C15 T.C.c. 250 tubular, €2; €3, ¢5. 06, 67, Tee: 395 Mica, C1, 4 0.008 mld, mica, 68 2 3s°tulde, g"valis, electrolyte, C17 Tee er Resstancr Too chums J watt, RU Erie 2250 ohms j watt, RA, RIO Ene 5 soo atime f watt, RE, RS, RO, RT. RS ‘ene 2,008 ohms} watt, RIS Ere Hovouo ohms | wat) RI, RIS Erle 4 igloo ohms f wate, Re 3 Toso time wae Rs 1 toegonn yma 1 iepotetyeut, 7 4 10,000 ohne 2 waits, RIS Zoo ah 4 wate, RIM vote contre, fpr 3 meson, 1 ¥ re 7-pin (thot terminals) ‘Cis Chess Mounting Standard Type V2 1 Valee holder spin. (without terminaley (lit Chassis Mounting Standard Type V1 1 valve balder &pte" (Seti with 7p ‘xing holes) ‘cls Type CEG? switch, our”, DDT, $2 Switch, gouty, SPST, St Sera eble with oi 70[36 eas a pin pee eel ere oat eg rr BEF B Bice atete hin that to unre ne "i as 1 Length screened seeving Gettone Chassis ‘Slentine Supply Stores rcellneous niet cot hal ating, im, ge drilled for-g BA screws 8 lengths Jyatotct 2 “aos Xo. a8. Untied copper Winer bracket” for” volume contra, ee Screws: 6. qHA\ tia t/ha $a GBA Un, ifiao"8 nA. ite tsb 'S"(Ri4G metalioed, x Dyx metalized, HixXqo tetaleed | Onram'er Mare 2 DY metallica 3 VE4t metalied POWER UNIT. 4 Maing transformer with serened primary primacy, soo to 350" volts, so c/s.) seconde Steet 3rs.o-473 volts 120 BAS 4 volts 2.5 Smaps. cutre-tapped; ' volts 7 amp. cente- tapped; 4 volts 6 amp centre-tapped Heayberd WS7 to hearys 330 shims 100 mA Rien bn LP translormer 3.534 780 Condensers: 1 Smoothing cho cat ri 4 8 mils, 460 vols, electrolytic, Clty C18, me cio, cal ‘803 Resiatances: roo ohms § watt, RED Erie 1 toon ois at RU Ene 1 jgo hme" wate, RE Ene ‘brs so'watts, RAL Balgin PRE Senate stonex F/B. 8 OBA jin. t/ha. 9 4BA fin. #/Bd, dvi Sos fad Washoe 8 Osram of Marcont Pera fs controlled and has ite bias applied through the filter R3 C4, which is also effective in feeding the HF valve, although this has a further filter incorporated in the tuner. The second IF valve is not controlled this is partly because AVC control would. adversely affect the variable-selectivity characteristics by altering the valve damp- jing on the primary of 14, but moce be- cause it would be likely to cause serious distortion on strong signals through over- Toading inthis valve, The ffequency- changer is also uncontrolled, in spite of the fact that the valve has’ variable-mu characteristies. The reason for this is that it is dificult to prevent the AVC voltage from affecting the oscillator frequeney on short waves, and this would, of course, seriously interfere with the receptioa of 2 fading signal. Much more reliable results are secured, therefore, by omitting AVC ‘control on this valve. ‘The AVC System Some may be surprised at the use of non-delayed AVC, but recent articles in The Wireless World have shown it to be the only simple AVC system which is free from distortion. From the point of view of quality it has important advantages lover the customary delayed diode system, and although it is inferior from the theo- zelical viewpoint in regard to its action in maintaining constant detector inpat, in Practice itis very good. The only other lrrangement which is salsfactory from the point of view of quality is an amplified method which involves an extra valve and many. more components, Experience showed that the results with the simple Giode circuit were so good that it was felt tunnecessary to increase the complication and cost of the set by including amplified AVC. If fall output is to be secured on weak signals, a somewhat greater degree of LF ‘amplification is needed with non-delayed, AVC than with any delayed system. The ‘detector output is consequently fee fromAUGUST 7th, 1936 ‘Tho AU-Wave Super Soven the volume control Rx6 to the grid of a ttiode LF amplifier through the o.or mia. coupling condenser C16.” The grid Teak R17 has a value of 2 megohis, and the triode derives its bias by means of R18, which is shunted by a 25 mfds. condenser cay. This triode is coupled to the output valve by means of a high quality trans former. This transformer, together with the output valve, are included on the same chassis as the mains equipment, and the circuit appears in Fig. 2. A triode deliv ing about 2.5 watts output is employed, and biased by the voltage drop along the 1750 ohms resistance Raa, An anode stop- ping resistance R20 of 100 ohims is used. Turning now to the mains equipment, the mains transformer has secondaries rated at 4 volts 1 ampere for the output valve filament, 4 volts 6 amperes for the heaters of the early valves, 4 volts 2.5, amperes for the rectifier heater, and 375-0" 375 volts at 120 mA. for the HT supply. A tullwave indivectly-heated rectiher is used, and delivers an output of about 300 volts unsmoothed, with a4 mfds. cleciro- Iytic reservoir condenser C22. Preliminary smoothing is effected by the choke Chz in conjunction with an 8mfds, condenser Car ‘The supply for the output valve is then tapped off, but as the voltage is rather high the feed is taken through the 1,500 ohms resistance Rar, and another 8 mifds, con- denser (20 is employed as a by-pass to ‘earth. The supply for the early valves is further smoothed by being passed through the field winding of the loud speaker. This ‘must have & resistance of 2,500 ohms and requires a current of some 50-60 mA. for adequate energisation. ‘The Valves The construction of the receiver and its ‘operation will be dealt with in next week's issue, but in the meantime some notes regarding the valves employed may be of interest, As long asthe usual heater supply ‘of 4 volts i employed no change can be ecommended in the to. valves used in the tuner. The HF valve is a Mullard ‘VP4B, and differs from ordinary HF pen: todes in having an unusually low input ‘capacity, and also in having a top grid- ‘connection the grid is brought out to the top-cap and the anode to the base instead of the reverse. This leads to somewhat ‘shorter leads, and a consequent reduction in stray capacities. The frequency changer is a Marconi or Osram MX4o, Tn the TF amplifier, Marconi or Osram YMPjG valves are used, and again no cehange can be recommended since they’ Ive been carefully selected to. give the required performance. While other valves of similar characteristics will un- doubiedly “work and give quite good results, the same combination of high amplification, stability, and good variable selectivity characteristics may not be secured. The detector is not quite so i portant, and although the Marconi or Osram D4r has been used in developing Wireless ‘World the receiver, any duo-diode of similar characteristics can be employed For the LF valve and the output stage Ferranti Dg and LP types are used, but exact equivalents exist in nearly all 19 makes, so that quite a wide choice is per- missile, The Tectifier is a Marcont or Osram MUrg, “All valves, except, of course, the EPq and MUxy, should be retallised (To be concluded.) On the Short Waves NOTES FROM A LISTENER’S LOG HE U.S. Federal Communication ‘Commission's ‘new rules relating 10 the operation of international bread cast stations such as WaXAP and W8XK hhave recently. sppeared and ‘came. int ‘operation on Avgtst tit, Some extracts from these rulings ate given below, a9. it tele that they may be of considerable interest to British listers. Firstly, these stations will no longer be called "Experimental Relay Broadcasting Stations’ but "International Short Wave Stations’” as indicated in the fist paragraph, and ip addition, to quote fom FCC. Rule rosaa, "but may transmit the programs of regular broadcast stations fncluding commercial stations, af the call Iettes when identifying both stations fare. given on their” respective assigned frequencies ‘only and "the. statement Is fade. over “the international broadcast Station that the regular program of broad ast station (idemtaly by call letters) s being broadcast, TF.C.C. Rule rorad states: “Station identi fication and program announcements. shall bev made with “interational significance suited for the foreign nation or nations for which the tervice intended or in which the reception is believed to be best on ac count of the frequency, season and hour of operation Finally, Rule rorsb says: “1A separate bi ceence sind. call’ Totters will) De ssued for each frequency except where frequencies in two or more groups are required to maintain a psrticalar international Troadeast service 40 certain foreign “coun: ty or countries, one frequency from each of the groups required will be aathorised by fone cence and cal letters, In such cases these frequencies shall be used consecutively during a day as required find they shall ot be used simultaneously ther on the same’ or different trane ‘The minimum power rating is Sxed at 5 KW except i special cases, From these rues it would appear that the U.S isbeginaing to take international short. wave broadcasting very seriously, and Coupled with this move on the part of the FCC, one hears rumours of impending changes In the equipment and aerials used by the N.B.C. transmitter W3XAL and the CBS. tansmitter W2XE When one tunes into the various Ameri can commercial telephone and telegraph fransmitters such ae WKE, WLA, WME, WDU, WCA, ete, itis obvious that recep tion of similarly equipped short-wave broat! Casting stations ‘would be wellngh perfect ver 4 lange percentage ef the time Tn fact, WIXAD, when using his European beatn, 8 too rare occurence unfortunately, already. gives us some idea of what may be Achieved with 20 EW and a Tairly simple horizontal aay. T have now some the "solar eclipse” formation regarding ‘tation URAD (or UIBWE) sehich was operated by the men: bers of the Harvard clipee Expedition to the USSR. i Jone. RAD, a. somate transmitter, was situated n'a Rossian ba inge car of pre-War vintage, and functioned fencrally on 14.04" M/s fand on two othr Special frequencies) under the able guidance oh W2BWE, 7 Most of the trafic seas cleared with SM3SX and SUCH, ut one. ‘phone QSO ‘ras made with the U.S. and this, ofcourse, ‘ight over the North magnetic. pole! "A.number of CW contacts was made with the States, however. ‘Finally, to close ‘our American chapter, since July 13th WaXAD hae been running TE hours ier than usual, hey wat 943 pm. BST Short-wave Broadcasting Conditions seemed to have been fusly ood during the week which ended on Sun. ay, July toth, and W=XE on 15.27 Mc/s in particular was an improved signal inthe evenings ‘This station closes down on 15.27 Mc/s at 11 pm. BST and starts up afew minutes Inter On 11483 Me/s, where be fs generally 2 noteeably poorer igual ‘On Monday. VO7LO was quite a fair sig- nal on 6.08 Mes a 8.10 p.m with "Sea Shanties” programme ® of gramophone records, and Bucharest was also'a goo! sig hal on 6. Me/s, but accompanied by "a slight heterodyne, “At 10,30 pam. this station brrmdcast a news bullet ia English, Erratic conditions were experienced on W3KAL 02 17-78 Me son Tacaday evening, July 2st, this station at times being quits ‘ood, but normally only poor o fair and St ‘ras inaudible on the Wednestay, “fuarsday, July a9rd, wr the appearance of Pelebrady” OLR in the short wate firma. ment, and this new 34kW. transmitter tested on three frequents 6.115. 11:70, and ‘15.23 Mes, between 8 an, and 8 pin” changing fequency every 30 minutes. All the frequencies were well received, but there was considerable interference between DJD nd OLR on 11 Me/s owing to Podébrady being about'7 of 8 Kya tea high in te quency in this ease Further tests were made between & p.m, fon Friday, July" 24th, and 8 a.m. Sature Gay, July. 25th, and in general the 15.35 M/s frequencies were" the mont satay “Fhe best results on 15: Me/s for sou time were obtained from: WaXAD, Wa ‘and WSXK at to pam, Friday, Joly 24th, when all these transmfivers had fit goed Programme value W3XAL was sso better than usual when signing off at this ime Th closing, fe has been noted that sun- spot aetivity during the last few days has ben small, and, probably in consequence of this, WIXK has again Begun to put in at Appearance duting the mornings on 9.57 Mes ETHACOMBER.120 Windeee World, August 7th, 1936 Loud Speakers at the NEW TYPES TO MEET THE SPECIAL REQUIRE various hockey, football, and indoor sports Unidirectional, omni-directional, and rounds is an essential requirement, as is" dipole” loud speakers an entirely new the sound amplification for the Dietrich type—are used at the various. mecting Fekart Open Air Theatre places of the Olympic Sports, Fight com “The mass meetings organised by the plete systems, comprising microphones, Nazi Party during the last three years have amplifiers, control desks and loud speakers madeitpossible have been installed in the Reichs Sports for those con Field, which includes the. Olympic cerned in the Stadium, the Swimming Stadium, the evelopment of Hockey Ground, the Parade Ground, the public. address Riding Field, the Dietrich Eckart Open Air {o produce in- Theatre, the Sports University, the struments and Terrace Restaurant, and the crowd control to make expeti- installation for the Reichssportfeld electric ments which, railway station, they claim, These eight sytems, employing over 100 {Abore) The late Tale spencer assembly, which phased to cancel radation T'S" Nonaontal plane Hono ‘ects inthe Stadium ae = whole sre Feduced: without acting he “rests vse “lar at fered. (git) Interior ‘Lone af fhe waits UDIENCES of today must indeed the technique be very diferent ftom those who of public ad- scombled in the sports arenas of drew in Ger Ancient Greece io applaud. the many beyond champions efforts and to witness the the preset san- Gramatic action onthe openvair stages, In dard in other iden tines nether microphones nor loud countries. How kets provided the onlookers with the ever this may’be, Iest rete, nor could they amplify the thre’ Germans Notes of the masked actors have certainly "At the Olympic Games at present taking made valuable place in Brin. uniform dammbution of contri bit Pound in the grat Olympic Stadium, on tions, ‘and. ther the"Parade, Ground, inthe Swimming Tatest_apparatos Stadio, on the Marathon course, atthe is. highly inte eqatan it Grin and Ric and'on the esting have advanced microphones and about a0 loud speakers, have a power output of 30,000. watts, Which f sufficient for 00,000, "distributed 330.000" square Pablic address ap paratus has also been Installed ‘at the Re gatta Course at Grinau, the’ Mara- thon ‘Course onthe ‘Avus, the Cycle Rac- jing Course, the Rid ing Ground at Dobe- Hitz, the Golf Links at” Wanncee, four ther sports” fis, the. Olympic Villag in five Youth Camps, and in the halls of the |" Pergamon"™ dnd the Old Sfuseurn The task of providing these sites with pubs Iicaddess equipment was so. gieat that Telefunken had. to callin other firms to Cope with the order The existing types (het General view of loud speakers were Someone! found inadeyuate in Stadium erin. a number of tases, s0 {ato turtles that entirely new in igeguppiring music struments. had to be opestore "head acoustical. properties Shows ‘atom: of some of the buld- eit fags and ground, cat's: ‘The loud speakers fy gen somect, in the main stadium proved to be the most dificult problem: The omni-directional mushroom type of Jou speaker could not be used owing t0 the lack of sound absorption essed byWireless Worl, August 7h, 1935 rr Olympic Games From Our Berlin Correspondent ing suitable foud speakers was the fact that arlistic. considerations came first and purely technical requirements second. In many cases a large ballle speaker would have been ideal, but would have spoilt the view for the onlookers as well as the {general effect, Tt scems unfortunate that, in spite of all the work and the excellent results which MENTS OF SOUND REINFORCEMENT his type stage under the ea centre box and next to the lighting Expert fellows. the sexpt and suritces microphones and Jond speakers 30 that the: amplified the arrangement of the seats. ‘of loud speaker is excellent on level ground but gives ise to natural echo in the stadium, Telefunken met the demand by creating the dipole’ loud speaker. Here fone system of loud speakers is placed above the other and the diaphragms are onnected to operate in opposite phase By this means the medium and low notes. cancel them- Selves inthe hot zontal plane be + these loud speakers Green the two loud achieve when trans speaker systems, mitting” speech, ‘whilst persons either below of above the loud speakers can hear perfectly well As this. system of Sound suppression by interference does they’ should. have such a pronounced “tinny sound for m Speech being the more im portant inthis ease music seems {0 not operate satis: hhave been sact factorily with the ficed except in high notes, it was the case of the necessary to use new “high-note their directional mushroom properties and to speakers ‘rect them sharply SE as spe downwards. The c is concerned, Tele- funken have cer tainly made great strides “towards a ‘The Dietrich Eckart Open Air Theatre secon: tating ay ance of ofr wc g ‘Special sound amplifying system hat been devin {hbove) One of the concealed ivctonal fond Speakers and (Le), the ‘control oom, which ‘Commande a lew ofthe entire tase voice of the actor always emanates from the Toud speaker pro- _itgenal mushroom jecting im the sume they wer’ eating Gizection as the person Sropped"tor_inpese ee jot the Tae. ‘rections mestveom Spang te opens Sel ps Roy Ne bal a Se ees quency unit teoing the respons to 16.000 cycle, cunningly hidden so that they are not ob- loud speakers themselves consist each of — vious to the audience five units, grouped around the centre post A number of speakers with comparatively small diaphragms were found to be pre ferable for the rendering of intelligible speech to one single and larger unit ‘At the Dietrich Eckart Open-Air Theatre the producer categorically declared against the letection of loud speakers among the ‘onlookers, a5 this would entirely spoil the natic ellect of the human voice pro- ceeding from the stage. Directional loud speakers have therefore been used. and the control engineer who sits opposite the “The third special problem was presented by tho various ceremonies 10 be held it tals with indifferent acousies. One, for stance, s t0 be staged inthe main hall fa museum, which has a very Tong Te Cetheration period, -Hete a large number of loud speakers. wil be hug round the walls and operated ith low power. Tele Tunken had to produce what they term pocket book” Tod speaker for this pu pores Tes quite Mat and. entirely “un Shirase (ne ofthe greatest dificlties in prov complete solution of the problem, espe allyin view of the dificult architectural and artiste requitements as for mise the bhg oud spears hidden away in the fees tchind the stage in the Dictich Eckert Open Ait Theatre seem, for my tasty to Ie the only relly satstactory ones itis tword of ecm wil ste 1 Ropey detract From the apprecatio of the really ine tsting improvements which have emerged under the simclus of the Olympic Games"Lome Laboratory § “ IV.—A DYNATRON OSCILLATOR AND OTHER THINGS By MG NOR versatility a dynatron' test oscillator is hard to equal in the radio laboratory. Examples of its uses are: matching coils and con- ‘densers to high accuracy for ganged cit- cuits; measuring or comparing the dynamic resistances of tuned circuits: testing HF chokes for mistuning and absorption over the band of working fre- quencies; testing samples of insulat materials for HF loss; generating oscil tions of any frequency, radio or audio; SCROGGIE, B.Se., and measuring the characteristics of aerials. For inany of these purposes an ordinary valve ouciltor could be nacd, but the Synaton has the advantages (2) that Feaction cil or tapping is unnecessary and therefore oslation can be set going in ny coll even though it may be totally screened and inaeorsible except for is fio end connections; (2) that the ress nee against which onlation ‘canbe traintalned is under esey and precise con. tral by varying the gad bia; tnd) that the frequency of osllation is romaskably independent of operating voltages, ete Disadvantages ae not serous and com St chiefly of the fact that less ‘one Happens fo acquire an exceptionally good wah fond "ey yay rather ‘pret ably) #tmay not be posable to_get very aif” creite (ch. a6 lla short wave) 10 ctellate. “I have not come eros any" valve to. compare. withthe Mada “AC/S2 for dynatvon properties tmoat samples of tht type. are amply esive. Resistance : Positive and Negative To understand how the dynatron can bev msed for the ‘various purposes st ffsted it necesary fo vstalce tn th mount af whic ean be conveniently co trolled by ‘varying the id bis.” Toc dentally, an almost nigh feature of the dynateon Ws that the contol ged not subjected to any osiltory of signal” waltge, but is Kept at steady bias vot- ge that acts asa thotte, When coils td condensers are pat together to form atu cic hey" are equivalent 0 ‘ery high postive resistance. at the ‘te tucney tol which they_are toned. The Tower the restance doe to losses in the components, the higher i ths socalled “dynamic” resistanee.”” Using very For_worklag principles soo The Dynatron ‘Simpy Expinine, on page 132—Eo. Al EE. efficient compon ents it is possible to make it several hur: dred thousand ohms, while with poor com- ponents it may be only tens of thousands. Hf there were no losses at all the dynamic resistance would be infinity, but this can bbe achieved only by neutealising them by ‘means of negative resistance, of which valve reaction is the most familiar ample. The dynatron is actually a rather simpler form of negative resistance, as the amount depends on the valve itselt and rot on external coil couplings of adjust- ments, Now, this is where itis easy to get con- fused. ' When asked whether a resistance ‘of ~ 100,000 ohms or ~ 10,000 would be the more effective for neutralising losses, itis natural to say ‘* — 100,000," and pe haps to add "of course!"’ But bearing jn mind that a resistance of 10,000 ohms represents much heavier losses than 300,000, one ean see that — 10,000 must be a correspondingly more effective nega~ "HIS instalment deals with the ‘construction and use of the | dynatron oscillator, a simple and inexpensive but extremely useful piece of apparatus for the experimenter. tive resistance to neutralise it, When falealating one must use the rule for add- ing resistances in parallel? by" which a Combination of 10,000 and” ~ 100,000 ives 32,231 ohme—only a slight ime provement on the eiginal 10,000... The hgativeresatance of dynatron sehen i inigiven such a large. negative bias as ean to et off ie cacrent i nearly 5 fnity; 0 itis capable of neutralising only those cients which are already extremely Joweloss AS the bias ie reduced, the negativeresatance fale giving comespon- ingly greater neatraliing ability but fone has tobe careful not toaliw thescreen current to tbe excesively, of the valve say loge some of its valuable dynatron propertic,. "When “neuttalising "bad Eres, then, do 20 for as bret a time as bles preferably just a" spot read Ing.” The AC)S2 will go to —10,000 oF even — 5,000 ohms, bul be careful about Jetting the screen current’ exceed about 7ma ‘When the positive resistance ofa tuned When the pote restance oft RGR Wireess Word, Augut 7h, circuit is fully neutralised, oscillations set ‘up int continue indefinitely. If tie prid bias of the dyaatron is further reduced, so that the resistance is more than neutralized the amplitude of oscillation increases until it sweeps round ‘the bends of the valve characteristic “curves, "$0 bringing the negative resistance to a balanee one more This has at least three bad results: (1) it causes the valve to take an wnnecessaily high current, (2) it, produces "strong harmonics in’ the oscillation, and (3) ‘t causes the frequency of stillation to de- part from that which is determined by the capacity and inductance of the compon cents. Operating Rule No. 1, then, i 10 ‘work with the grid bias jus! on the right Side of the oscillation point. Estimating Circuit Losses ‘Any inerease in the losses of the circuit necessitates reduced negative grid bias to Dring the valve to the oscillation point The bias voltage (taking care to keep all other Working voltages constant) is there- fore. a measire of the circuit losses or ‘The frequeney at which the circuit oscillates depends, of course, on the eapacity and inductance. These two facts the basis of all dynatron test "The method in all cases is to compare ‘one circuit or component with others. If the actual values of some are known, therefore, they can be used as standards to measure the unknown, As an example of how the dynatron is used in practice, Suppose it is required to find the proper- fies of an HE choke ata certain frequency’ ‘The dynatron is used to seta tuned cirevit in oscillation at the appropriate frequency, ‘and this oscillation is picked up on a nea by secciver which ean be ~sed to detect the exact oscillation point adjustment. Then the choke is connected in parallel with the tuned circuit, Two effects will be noted. Osaillation will probably be Stopped, which necessitates a certain amount of bias reduction, When it is re- Started, the frequency will be found to have shifted, which in turn necessitates tuning condenser adjustment to restore it. ‘The first of these effects is due to loss introduced by the choke, and the second ig due to reactance, Both of these effects should be very sma in a good choke, but met samples exhibit considerably in- creased effects at particular frequencies,AUGUST 7th, 1936 ‘The Home Laboratory One megohia and 1 m-mfd. are satisae- tory but by io. means. record figures rests as bad 30,000 ohms and 15 ml ate not unknown, Its easy t0 Compares one choke’ with another” by noting the respective readjuntments re {ited tb restore oscillation an frequency {0 the original condition, The actual Values. of equivalent resistance “canbe Ineasived. by substituting small compe. sition resistors ofthe usual type (which can be relied upon to sick to their DC ales ‘up to high frequencies—zo Mc/s or there- shouts) and the bias adjust iment,” Simianly the equivalent ‘capacity fan be measured if the tuning condenser falibrated. Whatever capacity his t0 be'taken out on the tuning condenser is, ct-course, equal to that pat in by the choke. A reduction in tuning capseity’ to restore the original frequeney- afer" the choke is connected shows the reactance of the choke to be capacitive: the reverse shows it to be inductive, Te ought to be fairly obvious how similar methods can be adopted for other measure- ments, The matching of coils and con- densers is done by changing over from ea fone to the other and adjusting them until, the frequency is the same for all. As a difference in frequency of a few cycles per second can easily be detected by” the change in the beat note between dynatron. and receiver, it is clear that more than ample accuracy of comparison is provided. ‘The important practical point to observe is that in changing over from one to. an- other there must be no. appreciable Slifference in the lengths and dispositions fof the connecting leads. With this object in view they should be kept short and straight. Crocodile clips are useful for easy change-over, ‘Companson of the dynamic of tuned cireuits is quite simple, but it may be worth noting that the circuits. being ‘compared may’ each be connected in parallel with a permanent standard circuit ‘justed to the same frequency—in which resistances fase numerical comparison can be estab- ‘THE DYNATRON AND Its. USES Serres se SPS sos is"“oquivalent 0 (). fee ala at fe ir reduced, neces: Stating reduced grid bias to maint oa Ition, “it a capacity joined in, parallel, (ay, he standard cap. sly haste be reduced fo Setar te orga Silden ‘a cam fected othe sane ot a component such ‘ealance, "For cot paring the sections of Sal (ie uaed ? the Standard” “condenser ‘eed nat be. tncaged Alessi ie eetred to ‘eaaice the eapacty ot the gang sections. Sac eaoped ‘nad drone Com- {End with the eandard Egat i shown the "dees nate ‘hat iti the best way doing iin practce lips are better. lished by substituting known resistors—or they may themselves form the sole osc Tating circuit. The ability to measure iron: cored and screened coils, to which it is Uifficult or impossible to couple test coils, puts the dynatron method ahead of others. Tt need hardly be mentioned that when the ny coils are not completely screened it. is ‘essential to- put them well apart, or at right angles, s0 that they do not couple. “The losses introduced into tuned circuits by such things as valve holders, screens, asulation, or even ‘working valves, can be estimated ina similar manner. To test insulating materials, they may be clamped between flat metal plates to form a condenser. The loss due to such a condenser is, ‘compared with that ‘due tothe same ‘area and. thiekness fof another material Having gained some idea of how the dynatton is Fig. a shows the im- aPPlied, we may Pe aynaten stem, Consider the ‘best ae Tee Fees)! form. of ‘unit for laboratory pur poses. In essence the dynatron circuit is as simple as is shown by Fig. 2; in pract fice it is desirable to elaborate slightly. For one thing, by-pass condensers ought to be included So that HIF currents are pro- vided with divect paths instead of having, to wander through batteries, et. Practical Dynatron Unit rds power supply, the heater of tales the usual j volts xan. $0. is menteconomically fed from. AC Bht where there fs none st may not be un reasonable. to devote a. lstgiah 4-v0t ceumalator to the Job, “Two-vol batery tes cone ie, thet dation Dropertes ace generally not very good. Where AC ‘is available there i. & choice between running the Bete from a small 4-vole transformer and the other supplies ffom battence or an airac diver I he AC is Tesiied. and smoothed i makes father a big affair oft. Sem-battery operation ‘is cheap, because of the. low ftrrent comsamption; and the sippy is Steady. ‘Bur if the apparatus is used ne irequcaty tis key that wen tis needed thebatery wil berun downeand decdedly sot steady. A spel and sdaptable com Dromise wil now be dese in deta, {ith switch for changing between battery doar AC The ter testo rect er or smoothing criss alway read for use, enables lower negative resistances to be obtained without sik tothe valve, fnd-can be heard ‘with «-non-oscilating receiver. But it gives a rough note which not so ephanios, and comparison of bias isnot so aecurate or convenient. Reade, ‘who swish AC only or battery” only can bmi the parts that do nat interest them. "The fll crit is given in Fig. 97 the construction leaves considerable spe for individual taste or facies, but a mere "preadboatd layout is quite permisibe “The transformer is a special one sup plied by Sound Sales, giving vols 1 amp. find 100 volts 40 mA “The by-pass Condensers should bé non:os Ie Howe Laboratory — Inductive and mounted lose up to the Yalve with short lads Tn series withthe gid i a 5.0000hm resnor to prevent eatesive qin crtent Sn the positive swings. The gid potentio- mer should be wite-wouid sind give can Stent wiper contact so that close adjust ent may be made, It the contol is 8 nd one, polntetknob settings may” be ed for comparative tests, but voltmeter readings are ore rltble” and tenale fre indicated for the purpose. But member that when the volimeer is wil Ais the bas sea Tis ie 1 With draw a DC volimeter when AC Is beng ‘seed; as, apart ffom no. proper reading bing obtainable, the ** movement Table tobe damaged by the vibration. AD anode voltage cote shown on the AC Side, but is (and. ale’ the tappings on the battery sie) must be eegardd as semi- fed adjasiments to obtain the bes con- ine inthe hist pace, of coe, rbias comparisons ae upact it the Since vetage are shied. "The anode Soltage contol isnot absolutely easel, nd an optional potential divider network for fixed anode voltage is stated. ‘By the, way, itis a Tulle to attempt (0 derive the anode ‘voltage about 20 's Wireless World to be any very noticeable jump in the food current atthe point when oscillation stars, so'it iz necessary to listen for it on a Fe: eviver. The raw AC notes audible in a Siperhet. oF non-oscillating receiver, but for accurately judging. the exact tuning point it is better for the receiver to be oscillating. If there is no receiver that ‘an be made to oscillate, the same effect fan be gained by tuning it to-a not-oo- Strong station carvier wave. It is stally Dest fo disconnect the actal for this pur. pose and rely on stray pick-up. To check ‘whether the dynatron signal's the funda- mental ora harmonie, move the grid con- trol some distance round and note whether the strength alters greatly. tit dacs not, ‘except pethaps a jump very close to the tecaton peat, isthe feodamental ‘An Audible Note is easy to modulate the battery oseil- Tation by @ clear high note for superbet. ‘wimming, ete., by connecting in series with the tuned’ cireuit, on the side away from the anode, a 3-henry choke shunted by o.0r mid. (Fig: 5). "As accessories to the dynatron, you want a set of coils and a variable conden- ser to cover the whole gamut of frequen ‘des. in which you are interested. Ttis, a good plan to make. these the laboratory stand: ards of inductance and capacity. As such they should be as well con structed "as pos ‘ble; particularly the condenser. A real laboratory Includes a number of refinements, soa tal usually suitable—from a high-resistance network. Itis useful to have a milliammeter jn the sereen circuit to indicate when the tunit is working and to give Warning when the grid bias is reduced too far. For a preliminary test connect a coil and condenser to the tuned circuit ter tinals, switch to either AC or batteries, fand when the valve has warmed up check that the sereen current varies as the grid bias control is rotated, As regards anode ceurrent, there is no need to be dismayed if it is 2er0 or even a milliamp or so in the reverse direction, There is not likely saying “om about £4 up to few hundred tne is very Keen cn this branch of the Mork even the mini num igure fianed maybe too high that case {he best posable re dna should bes Teeted, particular attention being paid tno of with mechanical rigidity. See that vanes Ste" wel centred” and wlikly to warp; ahd that spindle pay, either sideways OF ail, is aent ako that there fs no ko Tihood of sackness developing. T Cyidon ‘em specialises in. the’ beter tiases of ‘variable and. their eatloguc Should be consulted. The Bag. a 380- inf. SLE type, was used inthe origi Of the oellatr. described." The seale Should be fully visible and have space for Inarking additonal calibrations a well se the nau 100 equal divisions. The Busn- Apt" Ethowertee "ie best for this pur AUGUST 7th, 1936 pose, but unfortunately is dificult to Sbiain now. A sel subsites the BITS. drive. As need may arke for snore than one vale conden Ht 00d idea 10 mount then on plugs, er on inal panels ‘fted. with sletec” metal Strips for screwing down to. the base board Tie coils are, ofcourse, of the plug c Kaldystone makes complete set Fig 4 Connections ofthe switch used inthe ‘Sreut of Fig "3 covering all the wsual frequencies, with plogs (0 ft info a low-loss pin valve™ Folder. Even the lowest wave eo (down to 7 metres) can be used in the dyaton ‘nclitor. Two of the connections, lal= ing tothe reaction winding, are super flyous (excep that the extra wind ng tay be connected in series, one way of. the axher, to give different inductances); an aiterative isto buy nomber of cept éeil formers and wind them as required. The table ives winding data or 9 st of cis covering "93,000, metres “with plenty of overlap between ranges. Ose Tation was obtained. over the’ whole. of every ange when toned by. Cyn B35 condenser, and. the figures in the Table weer to this ombipaion The difculty with cols isto calibrate then ‘If one had accese to an aecurate inductometer or bridge it would Solve the problem: Tn the absence of this.” improbable fhuiity the table of inductances given here will serve the except perhaps the slotwound coils The condenser is not quite so simple 11s impossible t borrow of otherwise obiain any accur- ately measiired con- ddensers by which to compare it, the only, thing to be done to assume the coll induetanees to be cor reel, and to derive the capacities from the frequencies to which they tune. The frequency { is equal to a. where Modulation at Big, 5. Mod eG cbtenabie by famed iret te eerie ‘wi the radioAUGUST 71h, 1936 The Home Laborstory— 7 isin ke/s, in microhentys, and C in Im-mfds. The comesponding wavelength formula is 2.8840 EC. Measuring Capacity Differences ‘The capacity calculated in this way in cludes that of the valve, the Wiking, and the coi, Tn measuring unknown capac tis by the substitution method described fine doesnot other abont the total Capacity inthe ceca, Bat works on the ditference between ‘two readings. on the Sandard_ variable condenser—before and after connecting the unknown in parallel They way to calibrate the variable i to tune i various stations on a receiver, a just the dynatron osellator to give" 2er0 treat note," 80. that its frequency exactly the same as that of the station, fd then to- calculate the corresponding Capacities. Try to get points fairy well Scattered over the range of adjsiment of the condenser." Plot these’ capacities fgainst divisions on the condenser scale bt ae the actual Values depend to some extent on the rest of the creul and are sot due exclasively to the variable con- dlenser itself, the bet thing sto make the Known point nearest the misimam of the Condenser a. zero point, and to subtract the total capacity at this point fom all theathers. The fe- sulting. calibrations will “indicate the capacity above that Seo setting othe condenser Suppose, for ex ample. that you wih to measure rome small caps citys such a8. that ftom “grid “to all other electrodes of Salve.” Connect the rid of the valve to {he anode side” of ihe standard vat able condenser, and the other electrodes to the = HT side, by the shortest pos sibe leads. Set the Yatiable at “"2er0," nd tune in a te ceiver to the ‘dynatron oscillation. Re- Inove the valve being tested, bring back the dynatron into tune withthe receiver {readjusting the grd-bias of necessary) tnd the condensed reading then ives the Tequired capacity Having had a little practice wth a few examples of dyoatron tests, the experi ‘mentor should Rave no dificult tn getting the hang of the thing and in waking very accurate comparisons. Although radio irequency tests have been described, the dynatron is equally applicable to audio frequencies, A useful source: of signals for testing the low-frequency’ end of & te- ceiver canbe made. by connecting. the primary of a stepedown transformer —say Fig, 6.—A quickly tranged audio Source, imaking use of step: en outpat “wean Iormer. Forth higher sedible, frequencies it would be ntcstary to Conaect an airscteed ‘choke in pari Wireless World INDUCTANCES OF COILS WOUMD ON EDDYSTONE FORMERS. Stott "2.1 | GY 10:1 or 20:1 ratio—in place of the usual Coll. Various notes can be played by sing different condensers. in parallel. When just at the oscillation. point this signal iS very free from harmonics, The ‘uttput can be taken from the seondary nd applied to the gramophone terminals of the receiver the signal voltage depends fon the anode voltage, and reaches a maxi- ‘mum at half the sereen voltage. Reverting to laboratory accessories although standards of resistance might appear a simpler matter than capacity and inductance, they are actually more diff- cult for the amateur to make, A most valuable piece of equipment is a decade box giving any resistance in single ohms up 0 10,000, but if the accuracy. and freedom fom inductance and capacity is to be at all good itis a difficult and pains taking task. Readers sufficiently inter- ested. should consult books dealing fully With the subject. Buta number of rough Step-by-step boxes of resistors and con- ‘densets, and pethaps evils, are too useful to leave out of the smallest lab. One is always wanting to find the best capacity to use in a certain position in a etreuit, and connecting separate condensers one by one is an unsatisfactory way of doing it, "A small box with a rotary switch bringing into cireuit in turn 2, 1, 0.5, 0-1, 0.05, 0.01, 0.005, 0.002, 0.00%, 6.0005, 0.0002, 0.600% mid,, oF some sich see tion of condensers, is the thing to use. Similarly for resistors. Of course, they need not be highly” accurate, but the makers sometimes supply such compon- cents to closer Tanits than usual if they fare specially ordered. A NEW SEASON'S IDEA ORE frm ts adopted, a very sound idea for its new season's sets. Tn each of them the radio frequency, intermediate frequency, and atidio frequency sections te built as Separate self-contained units. The advantages of this system arc abvions. Fac ory testing ts very much simpli, since the wnits can be put Uhrough their paces in | cose wound Eadpsose-Type BI main wind i Cyn 5 condone, 0.008 rs Aten | one : o10.3}000 | “W835 | dividual before the finished sct is given its final test a8 a whole. ‘Should trouble occu After the set has been in use for some time the service man should be able to loeste it rpidly, and if the customer wants the set back in ‘the shortest possible time he cant remove the defective unit in ts entirety snd replace it seth another. The aulty’ unit ‘Can then be attended to at leisure If this system were elaborated and brought into general use it might go a long way to Wards ending the complaints fist one hears bout the delays and the expense that occa nowadays When some major repair is noce=- Sry, As matters ae, the set is sent bacle by the dealer to the manufacturers, the os tomer having as a rule to pay catriage bot ways. A week or two may clapse before its Owner gots it back agains But if the set Were constructed of units of tbe kind de ‘Seribed and the dealer kept a Moating stoce Of these, he would be able to put any set into working order ayain ina. very. short ‘ime, and the cost to the customer would be Timited to the caeriage to and fro ofthe defective unit and of the labour needed for pitting it to rights ST CO (German Broadcasting ine, wth ‘elephote lene, at the Ofpmpic Games” The ime were for sibweguenttrensonssion in the ‘Belin high-definition service:126 Listeners’ Guide Outstanding Broadcasts at Home and Abroad TTHE Promenade Concerts ih ener po th and season on Saturday, are indoubtedly the outst feature of the week “Thronghost the season which runs until October jd Marie. Wilson wil lead the BARC. Symphony. Orchestra of rinety players sich wil be eonducted by Sir Henry. Wood, who has ‘wielded fis baton on each successive "Prom" since 1895. On the ‘opening night it is an inspira tion to hear the welcome given {o this eminent conductor who has done so much to bring classical music within the reach of all ‘There will be broadcasts on no fewer than five days this week, On Saturday, the open- ing “night, Liza Pesli and ‘Arthur Fear are the soloists, and this concert will be relayed at 7.55 and 9.55 (Nat.). On Monday, Wagner night, there will be a fity-minute! relay from 8 (Nat.) with Eva Tumer and Arthur Carron as soloists Part of the concert of Williams Walton's ‘works on Tuesday will be broadcast from 8 10 9.40 (Nat). The first part of the Brahms concert on. Wed: nesday willbe given Regionally from 8 to 9 and a further session from 20 {0 10.53 will be broadcast Nationally.” On this occasion Pouishnoft will bbe solo pianist. From 8.50 to 9.40 on Thurs: day’ the Tehaikovsky concert will be. broadcast, the soloists being Roy Henderson and Eda Kersey (violin). The fist conceit performance of John Greenwood's “Salute to Gustav Holst" will be con: ducted by the composer during this concert YODELLERS Ix the Regional programme ‘on Sunday from 5.30 (0 6 will be included a relay’ of a Swiss concert from Bale by Emmy Braun and choit of yodelers, Guertin Termignosie, who will be playing the accordeon, and the’ Drei Tannen " Rural ‘Orchestra from Olten, JAMBOREE ‘From the grounds of Raby Castle, County Durham, to night (Friday) ato (Reg) will be broadeast the Scouts Camp Fire Sing-Song at a jamboree which is to be attended by some 15,000 Rovers, Boy Scouts, Girl Guides ‘and Wolf Cabs from all parts of the British Isles, Sean j dinavia and Holland, Included in this pro- gramme will also be a recording of the mes sage given by the ceorce scott. ‘WOOD, here seen be the HSV. mere hone, why” with ie Ere"Swingers, "wt ‘bs heard on Saturday at “a5 (at) Chief Scout during his vist the previous day (August 6th. ‘When asked where he found the word." jamboree," Lord Baden-Powell said that he got the idea from the word “cor roboree,"" an Australian native Word for a large gathering. ‘TWO ISLANDS FEATURED From the island of Ailsa Craig off the West Coast of Scotland, at the mouth of the Firth of Clyde, comes. a. pro- gramme at 8 (Reg.) on Satu Say which will give listeners an idea of the life on this litle land with its lighthouse and ssoall: community Rathlin, the lonely island off the coast of County Antrim, js featured on Monday at 9 (Reg). Tis 250. inhabitants live'a very primitive life, there being ‘no proper roads, 00 Tighting and no. pipe water supply. The programmes will consist of interviews with the islanders Both of these broadcasts will be carried out by wireless lin COLOGNE TO AUSTRALIA ‘Tue story. of the epic Ail from Cologne to Avstralia of {wo young German airmen in May, 1932, has. been “drama. tised’ by Gordon Ireland, an Wirdess World, August 7h. 1936 or the Avstralian, and entitled ‘Wings Over Westralia."” The aviators were lost over the 2 (-- > SiR HENRY J. WOOD conduct. ng ase of Ins year's Prome: ade’ Concerts gain be ia om Marie Wilson, leader of the Bae. sy hos Orchestra ‘Timor Sea and land. about 300 miles from Darv'n, their objective. They were stranded in the Bush and dying of star- vation when found, I> is the search for them which provides the action for this play Lance Sieveking has cast the play with authentic Australians to provide the correc: accents This will be broadcast on Tues. day at 8 (Reg) and Wedni day at 8.40 (Nat). BRANSBY WILLIAMS AVONE-MAN scents, entitled Liverpool Landing Stage will be: broadeast for the fist time in the solo programme of this great character study art on Monday. at 9.15. (Nat). With “the assistance of ths Eficets Department fer "noises off” Bransby Williams should produce a vivid sound picture “BREACH OF PROMISE” ‘A DISCUSSION between to members of the Baron this somewhat delicate subject vill provide a thirty-minute broad: ast from 8.15 on Thursday (Nat.). It il be interesting to hear the views of those whose calling brings them -requently into contact with sue eases,Wireless World, August 31, 1936 Week BLACKPOOL Toro” rw’ Tower” is the title given to the ambitious programme which emanates from this popular resort, Tt will include visits to such well Known places of amusement as the Tower, Palace of Varieties, Opera House, “Empress Balt. rom, Tower Ballroom and Pleasure Beach from which ex cerpts from shows in progress twill be taken. This hour-and- a-quarter's programme is being presented at 8.45 on Thursday (Reg.) by. Vietor Smythe, and will include many well-known broadcasters, WEST COUNTRY A avsicat show for broad casting with a strong note of burlesque is “The Bunch of Roses” by Diana Morgan and Michael Sayer, which comes into the National and Regional programmes at 6.30 on Wed: nesday. The ttle is derived from the name of the west country inn in which a mixed collection of people gather, in- ‘cluding’ commercial travellers, highway robbers, surrealists, a detective, a waitress and the innkeeper, Lotte Lehmann, Kerstin Thor borg, and. Friedrich Schorr. ven those who say they can tot bea the "heavy gos” of ‘Wagner as a whol, love this delightful opera. with its rich ahd sunny mele From the Sal borg. Festival on Tuesday the French Regional stations are taking Hugo BLACKPOOL _ and ‘The Tower” which rl be vised Guriog The programme'"Top ot Tower” or “rnursay Wolt’s one and only opera, Der Corregidor ” (The Three comered Hat). The perform- ance lasts from 7 unt 10, PICCADILLY CIRCUS Eros the Swedish stations ‘on Saturday, from 8.15 t0 9.25, ‘comes an interesting talk under the heading, "A" June Night fon Piccadily Circus," which Will be illustrated by records fof musie and. sound impres- sions of this hub of the British CONTINENTAL CONCERTS "Tue Grand Casino, Vichy, comes into the programmes ‘THE CASINO, KNOCKE, from whence @ Johann Sttuss concert, can- dicted by his erandvon, Johann Straus, wi be broadcast sty tought ‘oy Brees No OPERA FROM ABROAD -_ Rotini mest The Barer of Selle comes fn Bachan tom 799 t tgs |. than ohn pes event Geos tom ie Saag Fecal ands the pcormanct OF Te tere hh pcm ikon "by Viena a. Sec ant Sr vats. conductor wil be. Toei Std among ie sit ll be tice this week. On both occa- sions the conductor willbe Karl Elmendorff, of the Bay- reath Opera, On Monday at 8.45 he will be conducting a symphony concert, while on Thursday at 6 Wagner's Par- sifal ” will be given, both being radiated by Radio-Paris. Tn memory of the opening of the Bayreuth Festival Theatre sixty” years ago a Richard Wagner concert will be given, with Helge Ros waenge a5 Soloist, from the Berlin. station, at 8.20 on Thursday’ The third Cathedral Concert from the Salzburg Festival is, being relayed by Vienna, Eiffel Tower, and Lyons PIT, when» Pergolesi’s "'Stabat Mater” will be conducted by Joset Messner. DOWN’ SOMERSET Way " For those who are able to listen during the afternoon, an interesting item comes. from Denmark at 3.45, when Inge Michelsen,” a” young Danish singer, will give a selection of Somerset folk-songs. It was FRIDAY, AUGUST 7, ‘Nay, 525, Olympic Games Relay. © Le Parsee 8 Al Wald Cone tro Fen "imate Recal? Feds Kind Reg Debrey Somers is Band. Fst Camp Fire Son {0°38 Hoey de od Abia Bala No 1 9 Jhon Sere ‘Cant onthe Cann, Knack SATURDAY, AUGUST 8, Na, 335, Oleic Game Rely tea Ree. 930, Syeubeay Concert ‘nthe Baten Maso SUNDAY. AUGUST ih 1Na5.20, Chaber Mai, Taine Nik fee fm St Martins Fie "SRenmad Kine and is Gece Ler Covi Rags. Sin Cone fo Bl “Fine London Palla Orch aon Te Res ab Cove (Garon) and Antoni Sac). Abad ‘leone 8 20,Clasical Concert: “onducor.fanen MONDAY, AUGUST 10 [Nat Pater Yoke nd his Orcs 'R Wanner Promenade Concert ‘SPeivd Gara teloter bE ee en sorte, Beam Wika HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK ‘whilst on holiday in Enghand that Miss Michelsen was at tracted by these quaint old songs. . SERIOUS Jazz. ‘Ow Saturday, at 6, from the Danish stations, Vilfred Kiar will give his latest pianoforte uz sites "Black “and White,"” in which he his en- deavoured to give jazz a deeper ‘meaning, Tae Avorro’, Monday, Aas 10 (oid) Rog.” Royal Hotel” masa ety ict 5, Rain Aira, Sracours and Boren, 84 “ane Fotral Cnc Tem he Coins Vi TUESDAY, AUGUST 1h, Nat, The Kad Cyl Pye, BW Wats mre i, 3 Wines Over Westin, "FEB. Dane Orcbate 90, Phraorte Rec Arie Bo Relie Pari, 845, Montmaree ‘Chae. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12, —— ih teeta & Sroainwe, 845. Let Semphany “Cree the Sowa tom the Gree THURSDAY, AUGUST. 5a, Na 8 Ligh Concert am Views, ‘Sin. Telonly Promenade Concgn. TBE: Orchetes O Sood Renoth Ells nah Rage 815," Bred of Proie Bicuntin. 3." Top ot Tomet i030, Joe Low ao hie Band Abra ia Pri 8, Moen Frenches 10 thote who like to feel an ample reserve of power under their control the handling of this re- ceciver should prove a never-end- ing source of satisfaction. Generally speaking, a, recciver can be described as “'powerfal”” either on account. of its station-getting qualities or its acoustic output... The Challenger $24. merits this ‘estription on both counts, for after de- Gucting valves of purely auxiliary” fune tion it wil be found that those remaining have been divided fairly equally between the rival claims of signal amplification and power output. In the output stage alone there are no fewer than eight valves, ‘arranged in parallel push-pull, and. the radiofrequency stages include such features as vailable selectivity, a separate Wireless World, August 7, 1936 Chal A 24.VALVE SUPERH AND F amplified AVC system, and an automatic tone-control valve giving bass compensa tion at low volume levels and cleaner re- ception of weak signals ‘As might be expected in a set of this calibre, the first stage of the circuit: is —— COMPLETE CIRCUIT DIA- GRAM. Including the ree- ‘hers andthe cathode ray the strength ofthe Incoming SenaWirdese World, August 70h, 1936 en g Cr MODEL 524 ‘TERODYNE OF WIDE RANGE GH ACOUSTIC OUTPUT devoted to HF amplification, | There are five ranges covering wavelengths from 8 to auogo metres, and i hes been strange that the maxcown ampifcation of the HP stage as determined by the cathode Vis reatiance, shal be higher ‘on the tee shortwave ranges tha ot the tedium and Jong ‘waves. Traisformer Coupling i employed between the HE am- plier sd the fequency-changer, which Et heptode, This valve is followed by {wo TFvampifiere operating ot 405 ke (Of the three treosormm. associated with the IF stages the lint two. are ranged ive viable Dan vy by means of a three postion selectivity. con trol switch ‘The variation of bandwith SS achieved by: slightly mistoning the primary and secortdary windings by small fixed capacities. The third. IF trans: former, which couples the second IF stage to the diode signal fecifer, has a single tuned cirenit to correct the dip. in the middle of the response cirve of the pro ceding stage and $0 to give the required overall response, ‘A separate amplifier and diode rectifier cre, (2) 10575 mare, contol ant grame, ith ‘eller swlch, Price.—t09. Distr FEATURES.—Type.—Suprhdeodyne receiver for AC maine (57-97 mates (Circult.—HF amplirfrequency changer— no IF empliferr—AVC amplifee—AVC refer hea eller cabhderay tunint indetor—eignal recifr—find LE amplifer—antomalis | uns control vaie—two parallel driver valves —oight opal vas tn paralld past pall, Fullwave | ‘relies in parale—grid Was reife. Controte.—(1) Tuning (4) Tone contol ant mains onoff ew tors,—Degalere Lid, 20, Polygon Mews South, Landon, W-2 are used to supply the AVC bins, the con trol EMF beng taken from the anode of the fist IF valve Except onthe ultra- Ser ave on hh the HE am ef al feequency-shanger stages are Sot contaied, fll AVC. applied to the first thre stages. The second TF ampli fer is fed with teded ine from 9 tap- Ping The diode toed resstnce "fae cathlery tuning indicator, which incorporates ts own tnede ampiier, is Sill fttnthe tend IF valve "Three LF sages fallow be signal rcti- fer.” With esis of thee is susciated the auxiliary automatic tuning control valve This is a pentode with its grid Waveranges.—(1) $16, (1) 1975 matron (5) 850-2050 mare. (2) Werwange (3) Seetty. (3) Volume (6) Beat | filament circuit paralleled with that of the first LF amplifier. ‘The resistance load in the anode circuit of the control valve ‘causes the input capacity due to the s0- called Miller” effect to” vary with the mutual conductance of the valve, which is in torn controlled by bias from’the AVC Tine. Contacts associated with the wave- range and selectivity control switches are arranged to put the ATC valve out of ction for high-fidelity reception on the ‘medium- and long-wave ranges ‘The second LF stage consists of two paralleled driver valves. These are neces Sury as under certain conditions power is taken by the inpot circuit of the output stage, which is designed to function under Class B conditions at high voleme levels. Power Supply The power supply equipment is lavish and a total capacity of no less than 64 mid. is distributed throughout the stages ‘of smoothing. There are two separate ‘mains transformers and a separate recti- fr for soplyng the bias tthe output “The controls are grouped round a clock face” tuning dial, which is fitted with an impressive array of coloured pilot lamps to illuminate the five waveranges. The two-speed drive provides just the right atios for normal broadcast and short-wave receiving conditions, and the mechanism is enlirely free from backlash, Unex- ‘pectedly the mains on-off switch is incor- porated in the manual tone control, and the switch at the minimum end of the volume control is used to mute the radio stages and to bring into circuit the pick- up sockets at the back of the chassis. The waverange switch i to the left and the selectivity control to the right of the1530 Challenger Model 24-— tuning dial, while the sixth and final con- trol immediately below is-the beat oscil lator switch. In general this feature will ‘only be required when trying to locate a ‘weak carrier on one or other of the three short-wave bands. ‘The cathode-ray tuning indicator im. mediately above the tuning scale is sensi tive and indicates the position of exact tune with: precision Wireless . World veaveband, In the vicinity of the local ation‘on' the mediom wavebad, how: ve, the slectvty was not quite so good Thee was ear execs of oeadig which “resulted not only” in" apparent “"Joublefhamp” timing, But also i some form of instability over a few degters hear the Postion of exact tine. “A re. Aietion inthe length ofthe aerial cleared Up this trouble, and the difleaity ould billy be overcome by the addition of AUGUST 7th, 1936 the trimmers on the UF transformers re Aired resetting. On ‘the shortwave anges best rests were obtained with the etivity control in. the. high-fidelity Position.” On the selective set Uiieulty was experienced in pla pointer onthe poston of tract tone wing to the nartowing of the response tinder the combined influence “of the shaxply taned circuits and the acypifid AVE contrat The set is provided with e ale 9 loca Rae SIF AMPLE WAIVE 67 | S| 2Ave BODE VANE 6He he 29] SAVE Int VALVE SI VowUNE CONTROL unanc cOnTROL WAVERANGE SwitcH BEAT OSCLLATOR SWITCH SLIP ANUFI_ VALVE. 6X7. S'ARCLTONE CONTRSL VALVE 647. ECREQUENCY CHANGER VALVE 6A 3-HF-ANPIR VALVE 6K? ‘ded DetecroR VALVEENS i ary |) Daven vaives 63's ono Sats SEUCTTATY CONTROL two loud speakers, one a Uwelveinch auditorium ” type built into the chassis and the other a ten-inch sub. Sidiary unit for reinfore the high-note response. ‘The reproduction is of the elear- cut quality which character ises a low harmonie content, and even at power outputs approaching the maximum available from the set the lower notes of the organ te- tain their’ smooth, - round quality.The really excel: Tent reproduetion 6: piano- forte playing indicates good transient response, and the fact that the volume can be turned well up withant pro- ducing a hard and edgy tone shows that the uppe- middle register is free from any “The central ning unit i protected by a heavy-gauge chromium-pated shicid. The arrangement of the Tauels bs somewat uncontentonsl, the mains en-afl switch being incorporate with the te contra nd ‘the radio-gramo, switch with the Velume control. ‘The range of the receiver fulfils the ex- pectation resulling from an examination fof the cireuit. The medium broadcast band in daylight is as full of stations as ‘the majority. of sets. under night rece tion conditions, and a really sparkling pt formance is provided by the short-wave ranges. Jt is safe to say’ that this set will receive anything that is going in the way of broadcast transmissions with the excep tion of the shortest television wavelengths. The signal-to-noise ratio. throughout the centie range of the set is much above the average, there being bitle to cioose in this ct between any of the wavebands he ultrashort waverange gots down to 8 metres, but docs not get into its full stride until the pointer reaches a setting in the neighbourhood of 6-5 metres. Be= tween this wavelength and 16. metres, that is to say, the point at which it over- Taps the next highest scale, the full magni- fication of the circuit is obviously at the ‘command of the listener. Repeat points are entirely absent on the short waveranges, and there is no trace of. second-channel interference and ‘whistles on the broadcast bands. With the selectivity control set to give the narrowest IF band width, adjacent channel selectivity is. possible between Stations such as Cologne, North Regional ‘and Sottens. With this setting’ the ‘Deutschlandsender is also easily separated from its adjacent stations on the long some form of local-distance control con: nected externally across the aerial and earth terminals, Another point to watch “Metal valees are Used throughout the receiver chassis, a) "The chassis is divided into two parts, the receiver proper, and the power Supply’ and. output stages. ‘The cores-of the twin mains transformers areof unusually generous proportions, aid ‘the range of mains voltage adjustment i= ECTIER_ VANES za"s eas, ec, Valve “The eight valves comprising the output stage are mounted together with the rectifiers and the . vopenain loud speaker on a separate chassis. for in tuning the set is a slight shift of the centre of tuning when the variable selectivity control is changed. This would seem to indicate that the adjustment of exceptionally wide, covering as it does voltages from 110 to 250. The power consumption is 250 watts and the total Weight of the equipment is gslb,Whetess Word, August 70h, 1036 Broadcast Brevities Tricky Landtine Work NOT the least arduous jb in connection with the bread cast from Beachy Head on Wednesday last was the estab Uishment of the landline link Detoreen the lighthouse and the mainland." Normally, all com- munication with the shore i via rotor boat to Eastboure Pier, fn hour's tailing distance away ‘and it was by this route that the Commentator travelled, The fandlines however, had. to. be lowered over the face of the elif ‘Stormy Weather It 9 happened that the weather was exceptionally bois terous. when. the Post” Offce fable was being slung from the {elegraph post at the cli sum mit, sf feom the beach, and the installation engineers spent ome hectic howrs "hanging. by. the eyebrows” until the abe was safely in positon. Just ‘Shother instante of the detail trork which goes on behind the scenes of a successful broadcast. B.B.C.’s Transport Fleet The motor boat was anew fom of BBC, transport. Motor vehicles aiready comprise quite Jan imposing feet, and it may Surprise many people to kiow that the Corporation owns nearly sixty of these, ranging from’ sovall_pantechnicons fo conveying orchestral instruments to light saloon cars used by pro- gramme stafl and engincers for Visiting outlying districts im con nection with outside broadcasts. Some go per cent. of the vebeles fare weed in the London ave Receivers on Ambulance ‘Chassis Probably the BBC's two heaviest Vans are those contain ing the mobile transmitters used {or field strength. measurements prior to the erection of anew Eansmitting station. The re ceiving apparatus employed for fieldstrength tests is contained fn cars having special "non ‘metallic bodies mounted on m= Dlance chassis, which have super springing arrangements Regional Scheme Stilt Growing CPHE “Regional Scheme,” if such it can still be called, has no end, for as one station fs completed plans are drawn up for the erection of another 10 ‘cover some part of the country Which ‘experience: proves is still fot adequately served. Time twas when we thought that "Burghead-—that lone sen Ainel-like station nearing comple tion on the Moray Firth—would NEWS FROM PORTLAND PLACE ‘complete the B.B.C. chain and fil the cup of listeners” happe fess but long before the foundations were dug it sas Agreed that the South and West of England. must have “new ‘rapsmitters as well, “That, howevee, “is story. North Scottish: Opening ‘Date Burghead’s opening date will be September 20th, “The wave Teng haw not yet been aically announced: bit, asthe North Scottish transmiiter will be, 0 all intents and purposes, nothing fore than a glorited relay sta: tion, we may aseume that ayn hrouiation wil be resorted to With what station wil be sya. chronic? ‘Readers who can answer this question will have uo diieuty another Wireless Relays HE. Postmaster-General has Teceivel a deputation from. the Relay. Services Association of Great Britain, which. placed Dedore hime certain. points aris Ing. from the Goversmeat’s decision to extend the esting licensing “system. for’ another three years, ‘The Assocation is pnatuedlly up in arms against the possibility that existing exe Ehanges. "may be ‘compulsorily, purchased by the PALG. in {ice years’ ime. The points ised by the Association were fully discussed, but the. Pest taste Gouersl while promising fo consiler the, views they poe onward, said that he was hot ina position 40 add_anything to ‘the announcement. already made by” the Government. Demonstrations on 75 Centimetres AT tccent ratio exhibition in were given of transmitters ‘working on 75 centimetres using 2 litle over half a watt input Ie is reported that signals were cleanly received "at_ten miles distance, Power ‘was obtained from a car battery, the voltage Deing stepped up by means ‘ibrator and transformer in the sual auanner, New French High-powered Station Proposed GFENOBLE isto be the J" venue of a super broadcast ing “Station of "high power according to a statement made in guessing the correct wave. eagth, Gertrude Lawrence ORE, of the greatest inter rational artists returis. to ‘the microphone on August 24th (National, 8.0 pum.) and Re. flonal (August ayth, 8.55 Pam). She is Gertrude Laverencey who will play the lead in the musi- al ory, "Never Talk to ‘Strangers:” by Kenneth Leaiee Smith and Phuip Leaver. ~The Story. begins on an Adriatic Steamer, moves onto. Teiesto fd Paris, and ends in the Cus toms Howse at Dover. Gucer ie John Watt Lawrence’ has been broadcasting since 1927, latterly with Noel Coward, with sehom she went oa tour last autumn in "Tonight at 7.30." the Week by M. Pellenc, the Director of State Broadcasting. Already, i ib ssid, engineers have arrived 2 the proposed site of the new Station in order to make a pre- Fiminary suevey. Although £5 hot lutended” to” make this Station the most powerful in Erance, itis said that at least it will be comparable with the 13H New Recording System HE Philips Miller system of sound recording hasbeen stalled atthe Maida Vale Studios of the BKC. The Fecopding is dove on 17.5 mllimetre fl, perforated sony, fone edge. » These perforations fre for. the purpose of sy CChronising thet sound. with the picture film. The sound fin is Aefinitely not a” photographic fone, and ia visible througout the’ recording procest. The system, whieh has a linear re passe’ ef 30 to. 10,000. cycles per second, was ‘doseribed in The Wireless World of February 28th, 2036. ‘The Institute of Wireless Technology PEAKING at the Annuat General” Meeting of the Institute of Wireless Tech nology the’ President. empha. sed. the “necessity "of “special training for television engineer, nd pointed out that the last tute is the only profesional body examining “ia” television He also reminded bi ‘that the standard of necessary for serving tevin receivers will be. very much greater than that “which has been “demanded. by” ordinary broadcast sets Set Making in U.S.A. AX important tecture "com paring. Beith and Ameri= can "methods of manufactare will be given at the Midland Hotel, Manchester, at 7.30 pu on Wednetday, August 13th, by Mr]. B. Ferguson, who is responcible for the production DUTCH TELEVISION. A cirecy scanned outdoor scene transmitted by the Philip 4-lie interlaced sytem Th untouched phot taken with a Sst. expomure, hacdly does jurtce to the pete oe ‘appears ch the viowing teen most powerful existing ones, of ‘The extet power and other tech: nical details have yet 10. be decided upon. the wellknown Ferguson brand" of "American recetvers, ‘Those interested ate ‘cordially invited to attend,432 The Dynatron By “CATHODE RAY” OME time ago, when explaining the simplices of Ohm's Law, T nen fiona that there are stim thin Sach ag ae, tat ae nol rl thereby. Hf they were, valve charcter- Piretrees would be supertuous would be nectcaty to know merely the resistance tf thevvale, from which tbe eusent for Shy HIT, vokage could immediately be Galatea with any diary se "Gurve’” of a syon0-oun resistor, which shows what I iheam by saying that is too simple to take the trouble to draw The one fig *"5,000"" tells the whale ory. Apping 50 ells causes a erent Fig. 1 —Charactesetie “curves” of ordi- fpery seisons. The fall fine i fora ‘Soso-ohm resistor, the. dotted line for 10; hms. of 20 milams to pass; doubling the ‘voltage doubles the current; reversing the voltage (50) causes a reverse current {=10 mnilfiamp.) to flow. That is simple Ohm's Law. ‘The dotted line is the characteristic of 1 10,000-ohm resistor, and it will be noted {hat i makes is appearance 252 slope of half the steepness of the 5,000-olum line. ‘When a valve specification declares that the resistance (or impedance) is. 5,000. ‘ohms, it either implies or specifically States that this'is so under some definite con ditions usually 00 volts on the anode land zero grid Volts. When there are other lectrodes—screens and so. forth—their voltages have to be specified too. Resistance and Impedance a shows acne eve, A o's Safe that Sono st the taal oh date eee Mr oniuey soc cnn Heber af aon vl would Pll'90 tmp as shown by the ai one inp anda other polis woud be on SSR ne, B (wich, of cure, ee Simply Explained- same as the full line in Fig, x). But al- though our valve is 5,000 ohms at 100 volts, this does not) mean that the corresponding anode current is 20. mill lamps. It is probably’ a good deal les. perhaps about 10, as shown by the marked ppoint on the eurve A. According to Fig. 1 ‘this would stand for 1,000 ohms. In. what sense, then, can the valve be considered to be 5,000 ohms? When a valve is in-actual use, one is generally concerned with small changes in woltage, caused by a. signal, above and below the point that is fixed by batt ‘or power supply voltage. ‘The importat part of the characteristic curve, then, is the part in the immediate neighbourhood ‘of the working point. Supposing for the ‘moment that the working point-happens to be at 100 volts and zero grid bias, the slope of the curve here is indicated by the dotted line C, and it is parallel to B. just around the working point the valve behaves in the same way as a 5,000-0hm resistor so far as small variations im voltage are concerned. ‘That is why 5,000 ohms is said to be the AC resistance or the im- pedance. The resistance, according to Ohm's Law, would be 20 72 10,000 ‘ohms ; and that is of interest when making the power supply arrangements. But it is not the figure to be used when calculating the amplifcation obtainable from the | Fig. 2.—The line Ais a Wpicl valve ‘heracirate curve, ‘The slope at Too vos [the same as that ofthe s.o00-ohan fine By {or0000 ohms” The fre given nthe watve “catalogue in the AC® resistance, Sooo ohms. Talking of amplification; in actual practice one would not use the Valve with ho grid bias, and. probably’ the anode voltage would be higher than 00. Tt is perfectly clear from Fig. 2 that, if the Anode Voltage is altered, the slope of the Wireless World, Anguse 7, 1036. 1 “Ft { | | —and, Incidentally, Most Other Sorts of Valves as Well curve, and hence the AC resistance, alters oo" "And addtional curves for other id voltages were ible, they would show Shute lealy the alterations in ceistance Ceased by them. So when the valve leaflet Say the Tesstasce so many bine, i Inist not be segarded as a fixed fat inde pendent of how the salve sod. In pase tng i may’ be mentioned that when a negative gid bias 8 applied to 4 valve i Canes a nereae in aide AC reastance that approximately” afte the deerease cased by an addition of times as na Walls to the anode. For example i out Valve had (ampliiation factor) of 5, ind vere worked with a grid bias of ~) Salts, the workiag point cendiens would be restored by adding 45" vols the hot akin’ 45 ale Bu it mut be remembered that this is an approximate Fale that useful for most normal con: ditions of operating valves, and’ may cease to olin exceptional cate Full and Partial Rectification Before going on to look at one of the most interesting of these exceptions, just take note of what happens when the aniode voltage is negative. There is no anode current at all, either positive or negative there is no slope at all to the line. ahd thai ‘means that the resistance is infinite, the valve is worked at the zero point, and an alternating voltage is applied, the positive hhalf causes a positive current, the negative half causes, nothing, so. an alternating voltage produces a unidirectional current ‘That is fectication, and it occurs to some extent whenever the applied voltage covers conditions of varying AC resistance. Ina valve the resistance varies most markedly round the zero point, which is conse. ‘quently selected for intentional rectiica- tion; but unhappily it varies also to some extent throughout the range of possible operating conditions, so that rectiication fand consequently distortion ere never entirely absent ‘Another aside ; allthis talk about slopes of valve characteristic curves must on na, account be confused with what is usuallyAUGUST jth, 1936 Bae Drnton Simply Hagan — Understood by the tem "slope in such 2 connection, which incidentally, bas n0 toore git tothe exclave un ofthe tenn than the soater Thave jst been deci ing But there 5 a general agement to tikiertand by slope anathercharacte ic of a valve the mutual conductance ‘Sch i actoaly the slope of the anode oment grid voltage curve, As a. mater of interet the ratio of the So Slopes the amplification factor ‘The Interesting iroguarty to which 1 rae references In the characterise of the now clappearing screnegid valve ‘The cane of te deappearance i this Very itregulaty, which He succesor, the HE pentode, oes nat possese; but what Fenders the teuode stce-gd valve less Eaitabie for general use qualifes for ceria special ues ‘The Negative Resistance Kink ‘The tiode valve has a curve of the type shown in Fig. 2. As the anode vollage increases the line continues to rise up- wards, getting straighter, until the filament ‘ean no longer supply the wherewithal for so much current, and the line bends over towards the horizontal again. The pentode ig also curved, but with a different shape at the lower end (full line in Fig. 3) ‘Tho tetrode is similar at all anode voltages greater than the screen voltage, but below this there is a curious dip (doited line in Fig. 3). The thing that is really remarkable and special about itis that the line slopes ‘down from left to right. This may not sce Fig. A pentode arve hes the shape of the fll ine, beng {se moat purposes an improvement ‘on The ‘Soued iin, Which Je the characteristic. of "eicode lcreen-gid wale). to be anything to get excited about, until ‘one begins to think it out. In almost every. fort of resistance that can be thought of, whether it obeys Ohm's Law or not, an increase in voltage causes an inerease in current, and a voltage does not drive a teurrent in the opposite direction, like an obstinate mule. This backward sloping ‘curve is really almost as phenomenal as a Stream gaily flowing uphill, Tf an in ‘erease of V volts causes an increase of — lamps, the resistance can only be regarded as —V5in effect, a negative resistance That may appear as easy to visualise as a mathematical imaginary quantity or a fourth dimension. Let us think it out a Dit further. What docs a resistance really Wireless World amount to in practice? When one wants to heat a room by electricity, one does it by connecting a resistance’ across the supply circuit. The more resistance that a given current can be forced through, the more heat. When a transformer, motor, or any other electric power converter is ‘wound with excessively thin wire for the purpose, the undue resistance causes the thing to overheat. Heat is the evidence ‘of power being lost. Usefully lost, it may be, on a cold day, but lost nevertheless so far as the electric circuit is concerned. Fig. 4-—What cilator circuit could be Simpler than the dynatron When the object is to use the electricity for driving a train, dusting the room, ot ‘making a foud sound issue from a speaker, Toss of some of the electricity in the form of heat is wastelul, if not a good deal worse, So resistance ig in the nature of a otaltogether-avoidable evil. Resistance in a valve absorbs some of the power with th that valve is entrusted. "When the valve is connected across a tuned radio circuit, is resistance damps the eircuit and makes it les responsive and selective. It is like a rusty suspension to a pendulum, ‘ora dirty bearing for a hair-spring.. When the resistance is infinite, that is to say when there is none at all (for explanation of this paradox see " Resistance~Meat ot Poison," April 17th, 1936). the tuned circuit is ftee and ‘undamped by any except its own internal resistance. And when the valve resistance is negative? ‘The only meaning that it cam have is that instead of stealing power from the circuit it feeds power into t; instead of blunting the response to tuned signals it sharpens it; and, if the negative resistance is such as to outweigh the combined positive resistance of everything else influencing the circuit, the excess of power builds up continuous oscillations at the frequency 10 which the cireuit is tuned, So the tetrode, when suitably adjusted, can be made to improve the selectivity of 4 circuit, or even fo generate oscillations init. Used in this way, the valve is called fa dynatron, ‘The Simplest Oscillator Circuit As everybody knows, this is not the only way of causing a valve to generate oscillations, nor even the usual way. Any receiver with “ reaction” will do it if the 153 knob is tamed far enough, although itis extremely unlikely that suy valve therein SS capable of being adjusted to any. con dition conesponding to a backward: Sloping resistance curve.” Tnstead, a coil inthe anode circuit is coupled to one inthe fd eet in such away that fr corents Gr vullages of the particular frequency 10 ‘thick these cols are tuned the. whole Arrangement {s equivalent to a ‘negative resistance. ‘This i not obvious, and 1am hot going to stop to explain it, but there hare fo things to be noted. One's thatthe negative esktance “of a. back-coupled Nalveis confined toa particular frequency {ihe resistance being’ postive s0 Tar’ ther currents are concemed), whereas the dynatron negative resistance ie general; the others that an ordinary valve requites reaction ceils, or tapped coll, or double Condensers, or some sich compliation be- fore the negative ressance effet can be obtained, whereas the. dynatron “works tn anything that connected in the anede Gheuit So any coll of which only the two {erminals ae accessible canbe "oscil. lated" merely’ by connecting it t0 the dynatron. This i very handy for testing poses or whenever an esciltor it Sasted with ‘the minimem of “circuit complication BRITISH BUILT STATION IN BULGARIA Zagora and Vasarel,Tnedese World, August 7th, 1096. PRINCIPAL BROADCASTING STATIONS OF EUROPE Arranged in Order of Frequency and Wavelength ‘Bucharest (Romania) Resco, Re 4 RW (Stan) (USSR). te ‘aakaes (Teg an i BB aw ‘Brasov (Hadlo Homania) (Romania) 150 || Agen (Fea) ‘iversum Mo. 1 (Hella) (10 £0) til 7 400 || Benin Germany) cat Norwegian aay Stations Bete die) Howto, He RW! (Komiaiern) (0'88.5.) lense (Span) ‘ac iad Pa) rane) Simforopl RWS2 (USSR) Tantalus) Stasbourr (France) Tew (USS) Poms (Fold). ‘Deusclasdsendr (Geemany} ‘London Regioat (Bréckmans Part) Drea Ee an Manse vio (Ess) a eynjaie esac) a Molla (Sweden| Novesbust, HWTS (83) ara, ond anngad Wo. RWS oii) (8.8.8; ante i Kalmdtert Helsinki Finan, Lsmogte PTT. Case) (Germany) Dreposetrore (SSR) pret ‘Toulnse (Bato Toulouse) (France) eSBSeeeisatex 288 e (Denar Wine 4 Caen) ‘Tasha’, WHT (USS) f i i 2 is wo itniov (isa) st, | Bedate'Suae as Been rag /Migle| S| oicetetay Tae Ra = 4ilo®) §2 | Sern ir moins Piast ere ia] 33 | Sema Eee bn Re [Bet] S| roe tt S23] $a | item cota, is wi 2.0 Eradoic Ré (UR) | ie] me ise grat |e | Re (Caray as BiniaSyaticl(onchodoiia > 38 | 00 ingest % Ears ato) fa | Gieaon oat : sion leh (usin) sob? | Sc ete iy : bres et te | Eco i Vac fe (sy 18% | os Grain is Hear a | Ronis N+ csi) Coan ° Catenin) 182 | Revicaeah : sr ry Gr | Lens Se an isn) & Herne 7 | nt are rae s Tort sai) ‘5 | Seotes nats (Paki) so ie ons 35 | ments as, 8 ia 18° | Poth titi 6) oie) ty 3 | mshi eseie) : Be | Rema le rs # ap | Rotini ar 133 | le ey : 2 | Hats HE pan 3 S| Mac ey 8 tea came 108 | sions (ats 8 Freres area ram cert t5 irae Be [Rea nonvaty id tin not Git Hah] 189. | Rete rai Nerm (heey 3 scr el a ere ear 8 Seely B | Sect : Hite dat 3 | Serie dines bss Cen Rags 8 | arrecag 8 enact ee B | ie Getty " iti & [pola 2 (Mer 20, || London National (Brookmans Park) 2» iB | Minton taba 3 133 | SONS that e. 2 | Ric toute 3s AB | Bic eet ‘ Garni en i ‘ 18 | SPREE TR lu sciy <2 8 lew orm as | Ber Ge trans 3 thoes Bb | Psi Ces orem 3 ane 3 trae s Sr seas i Eecinin Gets | Libs ruses 3 Reser, S| Rae laade Maren ai 8 Ratan (SE | | Reser ser a tn deni B | Seaeen, $ 2a Ee Ra 3 | eat uik Fee : ate bs | Schicieos, t Bil arty soa? | ee cans 8 Mn EE ion $2] °93 | HSS hia) : Heise 88] | Seaman le pa } See in $8) das] Me rman) i Perera SE5) 2] SARA ie hen fresh i sett ion) Bi] 3 | So (Rowen a Eel Ee Sis) 2 | Settee Aa 33 outer Sea a | Groat elem) ole iets” 5] SS) san | Rion An) 3 ml | Bi sc i ECAR pin Ha] "hs | Seine hin Log 3 sce fia | Smal 6° | bag 3 is Wit Heel war ci Bu) [Gosia oo os ‘Milan, No. 1 (ltaty) <| 3086] 50 |) Magyarova a 125AUGUST 7th, 1936 Wireless is 2 ‘World : German Fsiy Station avis (Bill Towee) (France) er, PPT (Pee) 1330 Pees (Ifungaey) : Te (Patra) ee 15s Antwerp (Belgiun) oo. Dain le Foc State) 2] ite Conriat Ueletum) ejukan (Norway) Bournerouth $alaburg (Aastra Plymouth SS ere (Bila) inch (Beli) 7 GaerNo. Uy) : Chaco wa) SS Kénignberg (Germans) aon (Bele) NNeton Norway) > | Sees tane) eS Tatan Rey Stato s Albacete (Spat) a lle de Fratee (Frame) S I Ratio Alcoy (Spo) Hae (Switzer ‘antigo pai Bere (Satan) 3 tege(Hndio Coin) (ekg) Wana No.2 (olan | Verviers (Belgium) : Tyo ado Lone) (rans | 1308 | Plotammaet (tinny <2 12D eater (Rad Mi) (ranee) ches | ‘adi Abals(Spuin) ‘Alora Now? (FRUPt) te | Kerlskrona (Sweden) ‘Ture Finland) os I Liephs (lateia) > Mickle (Huogary) a an a fowl} [see |i ace | a ont Deena (Axor) eras 7300 | 005] | Jeldy Qvorway) woo as | Riarbarovse (Hay Rvs ST ]40.80 | 20° | | Setcootady Us. 8 : Sts | 25 Sourabare ase) yp Bratt | | Zouon Wermany) : BLa8 | “3 {Camcat (Yemen) Vane S22] 1 || Zeon (Germans) *. a 3138/8 Sanden (Cont Hien) nx 5182] 1 || Bombe (india) CT] tse | ts Maracaibo (Vererela, War seas] 2 || amet A 2) Biss | 40 Natuoan Cy (Watian Stic). | HN 0 || 3 5138/13 ‘Troi (Domeniea) Hix 22020] gaa | “oa oe coc) atag | esi City (enc) 2) eer S0m0 | T° || Been Ai (Argentina) Sum] 5 Moncow (si) iwss 5000 20 || Phitadeipbra (USAy SS SOs | Draarmoatvalle(Casaaa) ‘S| cPor 4996 | 60, || Syduey (tuntrain Sf | 20 vas (ba) 5 | Goo, 49.9 | “ts | | Hodnocen etl) S18 | 30 ingnpore (Malays) <2 fa SICE}488 | loo} | Prgms edi Nations) itera Sau | a Bogota (Colombia) 20 gans 4038 | £8 | | Rome cia Sis | a aren (German) bic fags | 5° || Lisbow Portus CSC )atar | as. ‘Peoama Cy (Parana) Rese | $875 | 04 | | Liston (Portal) 300) os Calgary (Canada) S| Vics $978 | 0 || Nada (Spin oo oc] | an Boon (U8) : WISaL 987/10 || Benno ane) oS SI aoa | 40 wel UA) Wax {Bir | "as || Revie (ium oe | 's bo (rs \aasr| so (Japan). o SST] axa | rangle (Colombia) #885] Gas| | Toto apes : Sse | 20, ently (GE. Britain) $880 | 18 || Medlin (Colombia) Tusana, mae | t remmets(UR AY 050 | 10 | | Winnipee Canada). S| ane Bao | 2 Phiadetphn (USA, $950 | "1 | | Paris Hadi. Colonal (race) *. | TRAC 20.) BS | 10 ‘Skambetnck (Denar) | #950 | Os | | Daventry i. tiny csp 2] ass | Manizales Colombia) S| 448 ||| zeeen ermans) P| bi | 540 | 's, Nieane (Asi) Ba oar 13°| | Boson eA) : wikar, Bas | 10 ena als) . 49.38 | 0185) | Home (tai St | ako S00] pao | hie (USA) 7 | 4938 | 05 | | Daventry Ot, Biaind are 2538 | 35 Nairobi (Kenva) | 85 | | Wayne S.A) Wve SINT] apa |" Bowne (Canada) 83 | | Liston Portus) fT fens 2528| 2 ‘ekanesbate oath Ac) 8° || Daventry (Gt Detain) ask 20 | 15 Hound Brock (UE) : 38 || Pitsbargh (8) Wek, Beat | 40 Ghtenge (RAD 7 Wax $0 | | Pane (rae Catal ch Bas | 10 Belge (¥wgelsich Sto Sets] 'T || Aida Cabs) 3.00 | "35 Sank (aor : ibisAui [4045 | 1 || Stowow (tsi Boo | 20 Dayentey (Gt eta) 18 || Easton (Portal) : ea3 | "os atte ndia 105 | | Keyhjeri leeandy -- bese | 13 Maden {acmbin) 4°) | Dated Porta 2420 | 035 Wayne Wh) ce Sava uy S 2 Ba) t Him (Cuba) 7 25] | Warne (Poland <2 | B00 | 10, Males (Canada) a3 on] | Bech Amateurs S21 : | 2s | "oo Probe (tea time “Rome “on about "25 metres, tnd. Zesen on bout 305 tres proved very strong teal “oo mol Guys: and there wore generals umber sf amateur tramsmstons to be found” around 40 atten the Fal wiring diagram of the power uni46 ‘A-Wave Super Sereo— American signals are not as a rule well received until the early evening, and, of course, are much more dependent upon the prevailing conditions. The ro-metre band, however, should provide the best results from this continent during the day’ Tight and twilight hours, but after dark i Wireless World better results may be-sécured from stations ‘operating on rather longer wavelengths. ‘Tuning on the short waveband is very sharp, and the control must be turned very slowly if weak signals are not to be passed over and missed, Itis, however, by mo means difficult, and anyone can handle it after very little practice. erate false Mine prints of the wiring diagrams of the rescver and the power anit are ‘SII fom te Pos, Doron Stand pa fre ‘stud London, SEI. rl Te, Ga eagh, Lamps for Volume Expansion By RB. H. rANY readers have apparently found dificulty in choosing bulbs suitable for the simplified volume-expan- sion circuit deseribed in The Wireless World recently. Since.every different set of speech coil impedances and output powers involves different lamp ratings, it {s impossible to give more than a few examples. The table given below, however, sug: gests suitable lamps for know Rear view of the dynatron ‘slllato from Which all the ‘omponeats can'be identied, The compte se of nterchangeabe cas ‘more about it than merely its quantity the proper instrument to use isthe cathode ray osaillograph, ere are plenty of other pieces of ap- paratus designed for signal measurement, but those mentioned—output meter, valveAUGUST 14th, 1936 oe Home aoratary— Neltinter, atenvator and cathode ray ibe nal probably” be enoogh for even the ambitloms heme expermenter"t0 Consider fora start ‘A valvevetmeter ca be we fr ot Bit ie is certainly rot the most et Yenientfastrament forthe purpose ‘The metal teeter Wireless ‘World suitable as the indicating pact of an out pat -meter, is the Universal Avominer ests, Sound Sales have produced a special transformer giving seven low resist- voltmeter that is probably at and for ordinary AC tests is much more practical. The out- ut power can be faleulated from the voltage, it the load resistance is known, (Miliwatts (Wotts)* 1d in doing so Thousands of Ohins account must, of course, be taken of the Tesistance of the meter itself. A. proper Output meter is provided with means for adjsting the load resistance (0 suit the power valve, and is calibrated direct in Imillivatts. If it consisted merely of a voltmeter actoss a. variable resistance the riliwatt seale would have to be different {or every value of resistance, which would be impracticable ifa really useful selection ‘of resistances were provided. The difficulty is avoided by providing an output trans former with a. fixed secondary” winding ‘across which the voltmeter and additional load resistance are connected ; the primary B g Terr a Fig, A pica! output chasacteristic fora {rode valve showing that the asin Stine we the toe equals the wave hve i ied to minimise dtortan, and the “ous of eutpat ie smalls is tapped, or a number of separate ‘hindhgs Provided, ao thatthe fae Tow resistance can be made equivalent to any fone of a number of different resistances, looked at from the primary side, Under these conditions a transformer which gives nearly perfect characteristics at all frequencies from (say) 30 to 10,000 is a pretty difficult thing to design; but for the purposes for which an output meter is used avery high standard of accuracy tunder all conditions is hardly necessary. "As an output meter of the type described is quite an expensive instrument it may be fof interest (1 supply information on how to adapt a rectifier-type AC voltmeter. A voltmeter that is popular with exper renters and service engineers for general testing, and that also happens to be very Fig, 2—Circuit of ait for adding to mul Fe eat to convert i nto an Sotput meter. ange ance inp windings and Seven of high resistance This selection is enough tovenable ovtput chase: teristics to. be. potted, Such a the sample given here a Fig. “The veragt logs due io the transformer 3s adb,, increasing Somewhat above 6,000 c/s. The secondary winding 's designed for the resistance of the Avominor ‘at its lowest range 2,000 ohms. On the other ranges. the resistance is higher, so. extra shunt resistors are needed to maintain the load constant, as shown in the citeuit diagram of the unit (Fig. 2). The meter reads as low as o.r millivatt; and, as 5,000 mili- alts is about as high as is needed in most work, only the first three ranges of the Avominor are utlised. It should be noted that on the 5-volt range the resistance of the meter rises much above 2,0c0 ohms at small deflections, so. tests in which this matters should be run at ot less’ than 5 mW, Non-inductive Resistances ‘The transformer, tesistors and range switches ean be built into a compact unit in any forin that suits the experimenter; it ix not necessary for me to do more than Sug- gest this, The resistors call for some com: ment, though, They should be non inductive, and the composition sort is good enough if selected and checked for correct resistance within afew per cent. The 2,r00-0hm one bas to dissipate up to 5 watts, so it may be necessary to use Several of lower rating connected in series or parallel, With abit of luck, half a dozen 4o0-0hm watt resistors might do for both. An alternative is to wind them of Eureka wire on thin flat slips of mica; 60 yards of 40 gauge for the 2,100 ohms ‘and 12 yards for the 400 ohms leaves ‘enough to spare for final adjustment, 155 To provide a direct-reading milliwatt scale without opening up the instrument a good idea is to get a piece of stil Bristol board from an artists’ dealer and cut it into a shape to fit snugly over the glass Without sliding about. “Cut a curved slot in the middle to reveal the position of the pointer over the whole length of the scale, and mark the milliwatt scales above and Delow. Fig. 3 is useful for denving the millivattseales from the wot scales. Anybody who feels entitled to refer to his worktoom as a laboratory ought not to need reminding to set the switch at a high range for preliminary adjustments. ‘A rather useful tip that may not be so ‘dig "roe" sal to an hhomecmade resistor. which = Siitetlynon-inductie: well known is that when the meter is con- nected in parallel with the loud speaker, either because there is no” convenient ‘means of cutting the latter out or in order to listen to what is going on, the equivalent fof the normal standard test output of 50 milliwatts is approximately 13 mili. ‘watts when the output valve is a pentode ‘stan cela Cael op ond ese ci 200 ohne and about 22 with a triode. This assumes that the impedance of the output meter yhas been made equal to that of the speaker, Not only is there a division of power between meter and speaker, but the