The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1922-04-01
Boys Radio Clubs
Mean Big Saving
Pooling of Funds and Knowl-
edge Gives Greatest
Advantages
Saturday is boys day again.

Saturday Is boys day again.
Many boys interested in radio
have been discouraged in starting a
radio set because The Herald has
stated that a first-class radiophone
receiving set would cost $500 to $500.
This article Is intended to help boys
to help themselves with the use OF
real radiophone set so they may hear
music from Pittsburgh, Newark and
Chicago, in addition to the interest
ing messages which are exchanged
between ships at sea.
A club of boys, properly organized
will overcome the obstacles Of ex-
pense. lack Of technical knowledge.
and the various "how to start" ques-
tions which invariably confuse the
radio novice. Twenty boys. each with
some little knowledge OF radio viii
be better equipped to actually ac-
complish something In radio work
than one boy who has neither time
nor opportunity to study the many
phases of this subject
How to Get the Best.
A crystal detector set, in crude
form and with aerial and all equip
ment, will cost little less than $40.
The time spent in fooling with such
a set. which can receive only local
high-power signals with assurance.
Is time which can be spent to much
better advantage. II these twenty
boys Clipped in SO each they could
procure a modern vacuum tube radio
phone set. This placed in central
location and equipped with a loud
speaker would accomplish the work
desired. namely to hear signals on
scheduled hours
The time each boy would have
spent with a crystal detector can
be well utilized in the following
ways; az Taking turns operating
the big set; g studying. by having
a model at hand. the newest devel-
opments in the field of radio telc-
phony which are now centering
about the action of the vacuum tube
as q detector, incubator. generator,
and amplif1er. gradually Increasing
the receiving range of the set by
increasing the number of amplifier
tubes; 90 working on a transmitting
set. SO signals could be sent from
the club headquarters to other Sec
tions of the country; go printing a
club bulletin to give the neighbors
advance information OF world
events, and so on.
Starting At Top.
In short. instead of using his time
and money to follow the early
forms of radio reception which
have long since been displaced, he
is going to no more individual ex-
pense and has at hand the most
modern equipment His endeavors
will be to start rather than stop at
the point where radio science is
today.
When Edison started his expert
ments with electricity he didn't
stand in a wet rain and fly a kite
as Ben Franklin did years before.
Edison and all other scientific men
have started at just as advanced a
stage of their work as the efforts
and discoveries of men who pre-
ceded them would permit. other
wise the world would not advance.
Two years from now a boys con-
versation about radio will not in
clude the terms silicon, atoms, lack
of space to stretch an aerial, etc,
but rather he will be in step with
the times and will talk about cleo
irons, grids, plates, loop and I'M
derwater or underground radio re-
ception, remote control and many
other terms which even now are
several years old.
So the question Of expense and
the problem of knowing how to
start could be answered by forming
Radio Club. as 1t has been
answered in hundreds of localities
including Washington.
Tomorrow we will talk about or
ganization, particularly for boys in
rural communities who need to
know more about this Radio Club
idea.