The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-05-21

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 Radio Editor. Age-Herald:
 1 l am writing this letter to be an- swered in your Sunday Age Herald. l live about 100 miles from Birming ham. also the same distance from Atlanta. Could I hear concerts from those places with a set consisting of sn soo-meter tuning coil. Galena detector, variable condenser. capac- ity .0o5 Nj. F.. one pair 1000 ahm | receivers, and test buzzer? My aerial is one face copper wire 800 feet long. Could telephone lightning over ruler be connected between ground and aerial by using bar ground switch. Any information will be ap- preciated. R. W. c. Replying to your recent letter en- closing letter from one of your sub l scribers at Lafayette, Ala, advise it would hardly be possible to receive music from Birmingham and Atlanta | for q distance of 100 miles with a crystal detector as outlined in the 1 attached letter. and we suggest that you advise your subscriber that If he wishes to receive concerts for this distance 1t will be much better If he puts in a vacuum tube set.
 1 He is correct. however, as to ad- visibility of putting in lightning arrester, as this is very good idea even though he is using a lightning switch as 1t gives double protection in case of thunderstorms. Yours truly, ALABAMA RADIO co. By S. L. Marbery.
 | What an Umbrella Antenna Is 1 Question--f- have heard great deal recently about an umbrella" antenna. Can you tell me what 1t is? 2. Will it be all right to erect an aerial from the house to the garage and then take the lead-in from the end attached to the house, which is 15 feet higher than the end of the garage?-B. c. D.
 Answer--1. An Umbrella" antenna iH used mainly for transmitting pur- poses, as 1t gives excellent radiation in all directions. It Is supported by a single mast. which is usually con structed of steel and is very tall. In some cases these masts rise as high as 800 feet. From the top of the mast. stretched out equally in all directions. there are number of wires insulated from the mast and stretched out taut in exactly the same manner as the ribs of an umbrella. Leads from each of these wires are then taken in to q central point just outside the station, where they are connected together to form a single wire lead-in. That in . general way. Is the umbrella type of aerial. There are, of course, several qualifications of 1t. In a few cases the central mast Is placed on an insulated base and is itself a part of the antenna. 2. It will be perfectly all right to erect the type of aerial that you have de- scribed. The fact that one end is smaller than the other will not, make the slightest difference. As a mat ter of fact. such an aerial as you describe will be like one rib of the umbrella antenna. described above.
 Can static Re Eliminatedf
 Question-Please advise me what ! method or devices can use this sum- mer to eliminate or reduce static. Can use a loop aerial satisfactorily? I am about 1so miles from WIZ; or, are there any other practical methods for reducing static?
 Answer-A great deal has been written and said about static and the terrible effect 1t will have on broad cast entertainment during the com ing summer PeSimists paint awful pictures of the horrible sounds that will emerge from the loud speakers or the head telephone sets and drown out the music that is now entertain
 
 conditions will be anywhere near as bad as they are predicted. They will be troublesome there isn't the slightest doubt about that! However. I do not believe that they will be so troublesome as completely to wipe out all enjoyment being broadcast There Is absolutely no method of eliminating static. The invention of the future will be one which would I accomplish this It will be equal in Importance with the discovery and development of the vacuum tube or the regenerative circuit. In fact. it would be epochaI. As a matter of fact. however. there are some prac- tica1 ways in which the effects of it can be greatly reduced, but of course they necessitate quite a little expen- diture and quite little space for the erection of the necessary antenna. The best method consists of the em- ployment of the loon aerial and q
 highly sensitive receiver. If you have the facilities and desire to ex- pertinent. you could try out a loop baerial with two stages of radio fre- quency amplification in the manner indicated in the diagram on this page: or. you could try q second method-that Is. by means of the BevercdEe antenna. which was de- scribed In last sundays issue of this paper. With this 1t will he necss- sary to have m aerial equal in length to one complete wave length of the station you desire to repro- duce. Tn this case. 1t is WIZ. and as WIZ is operating on Se0 meters. It will Do nAcesaAYy for you to have an