Evening star., 1924-08-24

fleet transmitter has been copied in
Baltimore on it's lowest power with
only a few hundredths ampere in its
antenna. also without the use of an
tenna or ground. The intrinsic radi-
alton on these short waves Is ex-
tremely high.
There Is field of investigation
here which, in the opinion of the
laboratory. should be entered by the
naval service to keep abreast of other
countries. The number OF possible
channels Of communication at these
very high freQuencies Is almost in
finite theoretically, and is very large
practically.
Radio Vaudeville Next.
The radio vaudeville circuit which
was beginning to take shape last
winter will be an actuality this year.
WDAF, the Kansas City Stars high
powered station, has made arrange
ments for the coming season to broad
cast original musical novelties by
some of the most popular entertain
ers, vaudeville artists. as one of the
group of country's largest broad
casters to establish the ether cir
cult.
The first season will last from Sep
tember l to June 1, 1925. Robinson
and Bernard, the Dixie stars; Fred
Hughes. tenor: Addy Britt and Dick
Finch. are some of the names which
will headline the principal routes
Each of the acts will be musical, del
icately favored with clean comedy.
Interference Great Handicap.
On August / the Bureau of Stand
ards brought to a close the taking of
so, 900 observations in its study of
to tcta xlyhio hoc
in progress for two years. 1t had as
it's aim the securing of statistical
data on the actual distances Of broad
cast reception and the effects OF
varying conditions. such fading,
atmospheric station interference,
radiating receiving sets, weather, etc.
The observations were made on the
signals from stations kDkA, Pitts
burgh, Pa, and WLAG, Minneapolis,
Mimi, by about 200 voluntary OBJ
servers located at varying distances
up to 900 miles from these stations.
These tests were SO organized and the
recording forms SO devised that it Is
possible to analyze the complex data
with mechanical tabulating machines.
Preliminary results indicate that
the major obstacles to broadcast re-
ception in these tests were: Other
broadcast stations, atmospherics and
quire considerable time, but the re-
suits will be announced as soon as
available.
Radio Frequency Stnnda ardixntion.
A method Of high accuracy for the
primary Standardization Of radio
frequency has been developed by the
Bureau of Standards. Comparison is
made between the frequencies of two
alternating currents, one of radio
frequency and one of an accurately
known audio frequency by the use
of Lissajous figures produced in
cathode-ray tube. The Lissajous fig
ures were formed on the fluorescent
screen by the alternating electric
fields from two generating sets ap
piled to two pairs of small condenser
plates mounted in the tube at right
angles to each other and to the cleo
tron stream.
The procedure adopted was to ad
just a radio frequency generating
set to known multiple of the audio
frequency by the use of the Lissa jous
patterns produced in the cathode
ray oscillagraph.
The standard wavemeter was then
brought into resonance with the
radio-frequency generating set and
read for the known frequency. A
range from / II to % times the known
audio frequency was covered in this