The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-09-03
RAY TELLS ABOUT PUTTING IN HIS
 1-:STEP AMPL|F| TER -.
Tries Some Experiments in \ Sending on Energy of
 Receiving Set

4 No doubt you all remember the person who was introduced to you 2 last Sunday in this page. You re- member he did not want his name Lowe. We'll Ray has kept his promise about letting us know what he is doing along the lines of radio and who he Is hearing.
 . 1 was over at his house the other day when he was trying to put in that stage amplifier he has been talking about for so long. Well, he seemed to think that 1t was going to be an easy job and instead of talk ing the part he was going to work on out of the dining room fyou re- member he is the one that made his set so near that he put 1t In the din- ing rooml. He left it in there and it was lucky that I was the only one present as-well. you know how it eff fleets you when you get in hard knot so you can solder connection that looks like 1t couldn't get in . worse place if it tried and after 8 moments silence you realize that the soldering iron has been gently rest ing on your finger and you break the silenceN with saying-er-with saving ouch, and then you start all over again.
 This Is what happened to Ray more than once, but finally after many efforts he got his "one- step" 'hooked up," but you would never know that he had 1t in the dining room. The buffet had a drlll on 1t and the dining room table had vice fixed to it with n blow torch and many other articles such as pliers, rHr-t%r ytPn nId dAv-ff, ufa bolts and taps and all the stuff" it takes tos aid in installing "one- step" Well. Ray gave a sigh of re- lief when the job was finished and looked like a coal miner after days work. Then came the part of the Job that Ray said he hated most and that was turning that place that I would have thought was work shop back into a dining room. He called on me for assistance and after quite awhile occupied in doing this we got all the main material out of the way but Ray and myself haven't got the talent to make that place look right so we had to walt till Mrs. Owe fixed 1t.
 You know how 1t Is whom you get something finished; we'll. that Is the way Ray was; he put in the plug and you know just that part of it seems to give lot of satisfaction to the new owner of an amplifier. and after turning on the bulbs we heard the delightful program being contin- uously broadcasted from the station that comes in loudest in the summer. Station STATIC. Well. anyway, we got the pleasure of knowing that
 did "step up" something, but we had to wait till later in the after noon to see the real results.
 I was interested in Rays station Gn I paD m a fn ten in" We picked up the Atlanta Journal and then listened In on an amateur conversation between 5 D G and s; then we heard the Kan sas City Star fine making long distance test, and Louisville, Ky, ''roared in" The old one-step made a great improvement and I believe the next time we hear from Ray he will have a two-step. Between the time that the broadcasting stations send and the late concert of W B starts Ray tried a novel experiment with one of his nearby neighbors.
 This experiment was to try to com municate on the energy sent out by the receiving sets. The nearby sta- tion talked to Rays for awhile by means of breaking the plate voltage on the detector thus sending dots and dashes. After this was done for awhile the other station placed a car
 
 ground and after several attempts and adjustments the voice from that station could be plainly heard, under stood at Rays station. Ray thought he would do a little better still by increasing his plate voltage, but the old detector began turning blue and got to looking like Rays five berries was about to Ego up the creek" so he changed it and put his simplifying bulb in the detector socket and made a regular radiophone out of his re- ceiving set.
 This is a good experiment for you fellows to try who have a vacuum tube set. Just place microphone in series with your ground and short your phones. Then all you have to do is to talk This will only carry a block or two but 1t Is no trouble and it will work. Of course, if you want to get a better distance put an am plifying tube in the detector socket and increase your plate voltage all you can. (Ray used three 22h-volt ''B'' batteries).
 Another way to get farther dis tance is to send with the plate our rent. To do this just short the phones and take out the microphone and send dots and dashes with the ''B" battery clip.
 Ray had very small brass horn the other night which was not over four or five inches in diameter at the largest part. By putting his head set to the end of this he heard the late program of the Atlanta Journal all over the room. That is good for "one-step."
 Ray is making his station grow fast now and will let us hear what he Is doing next Sunday on this page. --------------