Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-11-26
BY C. n. WARD.

&i111lSS " hCth tAC DSSi1itL 3"
Radio are appearing in countless num-
, bers in the Radio publications., news
papers and elsewhere, and rightly so,
for the number of newcomers in the art
is legion. : There are also discussions
Of the niceties, theories of operation,
and more or less complicated and
unique layouts of apparatus for the adj
ranced amateur-the fellow who has
the inclination, time and apparatus to
go into the theory of Radio for its
own sake and to help in the develop
ment of the art. Personally [ feel that
| belong to neither class and have often
heard the same comment from other
amateurs.
The Experienced Amateur
Let me speak for these other fell
lows when [ say that we understand
the principles involved in a practical
way, that we usually want to have a
hand in the construction and installa-
ton of our apparatus and that we nave
the habit of periodically changing our
apparatus and circuits for better or
for worse-sometimes to the intense
displeasure of our listening family and
friends. Foremost in our minds, though,
are good results-we find it necessary
to know the theory of Radio, but we
L L1olE lJbtieStSu LII thC AoihS .hNA
in the knowing.
If our Radio experience began be-
fore the war, its history is probably
about as follows, up to the introduc-
ton of phone b~roadcasting:
Loose coupler and crystal,
Loose coupler and audion.
A ticker hook-up' using the old
coupler or ~honeycomb coils.
Finally the climax in a short wave
set" The latter seems like an indefi-
mite term, but to the amateurs of a
short time ago it could only mean one
thing-a regenerative set consisting Of
three tuned circuits using q ~yarlcoupled
and two yariometers.
When Broadcasting Was Young
If We were to carry our history q
little way into the future, it would prob
ably have something to do with a
awe, for we remember those dots and
a loop aerial. However, most of us
still look on that short wave set with
awe. for We REMINDER those dots and
dashes from low power, far distant
stations that other Radio bugs" could
only hear in their imaginations. And
when broadcasting started, there were
nights when it seemed hat the pro-
gram was in the same room and the
III aSlhllS VI tHC . 'lN
were almost uncanny. One could hear
him draw Lis breath and make the
other little noises incident to speech
that remind us of the wonderful pro-
auctions of Harry LADDERS voice on
the photograph. But unfortunately
there were nights when programs did
not measure up IN tone quality to ever
the cheapest phouograph.-especially
when our friends dropped in to listen
for an evening. Yes, there have been
nights when even the sound of a voice
of any kind would have been welcome
to our ears, and others when signals
started to swing and our nerves were
so shattered trying to keep in tune that
we swung up and copied Navy press
just to be sure Of something. To make
matters more embarrassing, possibly,
we stopped in to hear the neighbours
set-one of the new broadcasting re-
ceivers-an immaculate little thing
with two knobs to play with and pos
sibly n set Of dry cells to light its
filament, and behold, we heard the
whole concert through. OF course, the
tone quality isn't in the same class as
that from our three-circuit set when
it decides to perform, and static is
pretty strong. but still we have to hand
it to our neighbor for he always gets
something and sometimes we get moth
ing.
Personal Experiences
From here on l must stick to per-
sonal experiences. Possibly they will
be repetitions of other fellows expert
ences, but they may help others to
get the results | am getting now-good
results. When I saw my neighbours set
and others like it, l at first decided
that the refinements introduced in
large scale manufacture or receiving
sets for concert reception made posi-
BILE a set that could not be duplicated
by the home workshop except by
chance, and we should all remember
that this is true, NJ matter how good
our results may be. Later, however,
when | found the boys turning out one
and two circuit sets that performed
almost rs well as manufactured ones,
and some Of them very crude in con
struction, it seemed to be up to me to
junk the old short wave set and build
something new.
While planning the new set it oc-
Cured to me that all such sets diff
fered from the conventional three-cir-