Evening star., 1923-05-13
RADIO GOSSIP AND NEWS

/ - ~ ~ ~ .
Washington radio broadcasting sta
tions along with those in other Sec
tions Of the country will change their
transmitting wave bands Tuesday as
result of the adoption by tho gov
ernment of the recommendations of
the second national radio conference.
The new plan includes the division
of the entire United States into Ave
zones with separate wave lengths
designated to certain localities In
each zone and the division Of all
radio stations into three classes. By
this system it is expected to eliminate
interference. the bugaboo of radio
broadcasting.
Two local stations-WIAY of Wood
ward Lothrop and WEAS Of the
Hecht Company-will continue to op-
crate on the 360-meter wave band.
NAA. the naval radio station at Ar
new wave lane OF 435 meters. bring
Ing its speech waves in resonance
with the receiving outfits Of all radio
fans instead of q favored few who
were able to adjust their sets for
reception on the 10 meter wave
The Doubleday-Hill Electric Com
pany Station WMU will change from
$50 to 261 meter wave length. Will.
the Continental Electric Company
station will broadcast on $50 instead
Of $50 meters as heretofore. With
the change Station WITH of the White
& Boyer Company will transmit on
273 meters.
To Use KtlocycIes.
The method OF designating radio
waves by frequency in kilocycles,
recommended by the second national
radio conference, which met with
Secretary Of Commerce Hoover in
March. Is destined to eventually replace
the use OF wave length In meters.
Advantages Of this practice have
been familiar to radio engineers for
some time. AS q matter of fact, wave
length Is somewhat artificial con-
ception in the handling OF radio ap-
paratus and Is one OF the difficult
stand. The frequency Of the radio
wave Is the same as the frequency of
the alternating current which flows
In the radio transmitting or receiv-
Ing set.
As often happens In technical mat
ters. the idea Of 'Kilocycles" Is SIM
pier than the forbidding aspect the
word suggests. "Kilo" means a
thousand and "cycle" means one COM
piete alienation. The number of
thousands of times that the rapidly
alternating current repeats its flow
in either direction in the antenna in
one second. The smaller the wave
length in meters the larger Is the
frequency in klocycles.
The reason that kilocycles are
coming into use and displacing
meters is that the necessary separa-
tion of the frequency OF transmitting
stations to prevent interference is
the same. no matter what the fire.
separation Is variable and quite mis-
leading when expressed in meters.
Thus the number OF radio messages
that can be transmitted stimuli
taneously without interference can
cycles. but not from the meters. For
example. the amateurs will in the
future work in a band of wave
lengths from $50 to 200 meters but
this Is frequency band from 1000
to 1900 kilocycles. This is an enor-
mously wider band when considered
from the viewpoint Of kilocycles than.
for example. the band having the
same width in meters from 1000 to
1850 meters. which is 900 to 2S6 kilo-
cycles. While 1t Is possible to carry
on fifty simultaneous radio telephone
meters. only one could be carried on
between 1000 and 1850 meters.
In accordance with the recommen-
dation OF the second national radio
conference. the Department of Com
merce and tho government depart
ments will hereafter follow the prac-
tice Of specifying in even values OF
llilocycles rather than meters. The
conference recommended the practice
Of expressing wave frequency in kilo-
cycles per second with wave length in
meters in parentheses thereafter
The relation between the two is very
simple. To obtain kilocycles divide
300.0 900 by tho number OF meters: to
obtain meters. divide 100000 by the
number OF kilocyclea For example.
100 meters equal approximately 5000
kilocycles: 800 meters equal 1000 kilo-
cycles; 1000 meters equal 800 kilo-
cycles: 5000 meters equal 100
kilocycles. For highly accurate con-
version the factor 2ss.820 should be
t1s -