Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1922-07-10
BAD OUTLOOK FOR
RADIO WEATHER
Bureau OF Standards Tells of
Many Disturbances on the
Summer Program.

Don't be- surprised this summer II
your new radio receiving set gives
forth n f'rst-clars imitation of boiler.
shop In fun operation instead OF an
anticipated lecture on tho culture of
silk worms. says the Bureau Of stan
dards OF the Department OF Commerce
IN announcing that tho had radio
weather" season In now on.
According 10 the Bureau OF Stan
dards. these summer disturbance
called "strays" static "atmosphcr-
ics" Odd other namcs-arc In evidence
srom about April I 90 Oct. /. Their
seriousness varies from weak inter
ference for brief intervals to a con-
tinuous succession OF boiler shop
noises which may last throughout the
night.
A great deal Of work has been done
by radio engineers and scientists in an
cflort 60 reduce the interfering noise
caused by these strays. At important
Government and commercial stations
certain devices and methods are In use
10y means of which strays are consider
ably reduced. and Il II made possible 10
obtain fairly reliable reception during
the summer. The apparatus and meth
Nds now employed at such stations are
usually too elaborate to be used at the
ordinary amateur station.
one method which the amateur will
md helpful In reducing certain types
Of strsys IL tho u~,. instead ~ the
usual elevated nntcnna. OF a coli anton
m and n moro aensitiVe receiving set.
a coil antenna may Ice constructed hy
aN.s.l a. 4.
wire with proper spacing on n square
wooden frame about four feet square.
Certain types Of strays seem tu cumc
from a particular direction. MANY
strays. however, have no dircctional
properties. including those due 20 local
electric storms
The coil antCnna has the property Of
rrceiNing a stronger signal when
pointed In the direction from which
the signal IN approaching. and recciV-
mg only "a weak signal Whom pointed
o, right angles TO that direction, Thus
by rotating a coll anteuna 10 the
proper position the direCtional types
az straNs can he greatly reduced and
. better ratio of signal e. straNs will
be obtained. Tho ordinary elevate
nntonna does not possess marked di-
rcCtlonal properties, and therefore
cannot he used like the coil antenna
for stray elimination. However. the
strength or the signal picked up by a
coil anicnnn is much smaller than the
strength of signal picked up by the or
binary elevated antenna. and good re-
Quits should not he expected from a
coil nntenna unless three or more
stages OF ampliflcations are used
Some relief can also be obtained ny
parsons having good ampliners by
using a ground antcnna." This II a
LONG insuls ted wire run I'm a shallow
trench or on the surface OF tho
ground The ground wire should he
run IN tho direction OF the station
from which the most signals are 20 be
received. and should preferably be
several hundred feet long
Through strays Of given intensity,
better results san Ice obtained IN re-
cciVing strong signals than weak sig
nails Nearby stations can be received
much better through the strays than
distant stations. IL n. therefore. for
tunate that hruadcssting stations are
bcins established at considerable
number of different cities located in
all parts az the United States. so that
for most parts 81 the country there
is n hroadcasting station from which
fair reception can he expected even
when stays at moderate intensity
exist.
In tho summer one must be con-
tent with weaker signals and should
use less amplification than IN winter
since tho strays are amplified as wei
80 the signal. II considerable amplin-
cation Il used. strong stray disturb
anccs viii produce noises In the tele-
phone receivers which are very un-
Pheasant and make Il almost impos-
s,hle for an operator 10 keep the tele-
phone receivers on his head for any
considerable length OF time.