Evening star., 1924-09-12
THIS AND THAT
BY C. f.. TRACEwELL.

wonderful experience, as well as
the door to entertainment.
Whether you make Sour own" or
get it already made, like a suit of
clothes, you go to radio shop first,
either to get the necessary parts or
buy an equipped radio receiving set.
This Is why such a store Is among
the most interesting of shops to
thousands of persons, and it explains
why they have sprung up all over
Washington during the past year.
To me a radio shop Is at once de-
lightful and disconcerting, giving
one the articles to engage in fas-
cinating pursuit, and therefore full
filling it's function.
However many times the radio
fan heartily curses the radio shop,
he goes back again regularly to buy
strange devices with queer names.
Like Omar, he wonders what the radio
store keeper buys half as fine as
what he sells.
In view OF the surprising wonder
and entertainment of radio and its
future possibilities, real pity is to be
felt for those who have not engaged
in the greatest Of Indoor sports"
This is written with no intent to
drum up trade for the radio stores.
They can take care of themselves
sands who as yet have not engaged
in the game Of radio, which comes as
near to rehabilitating the home as
any other one thing in the world
Surely many homes need mending
A professional home mender could
suggest no better thing for many
families than a radio receiving set.
1t would keep the old man home tin
kering around and the children off
the streets.
Radio is something that no one
ought to miss, yet thousands still
look upon it as a curiosity, in that
put-off way most of US have when
our attention is called to something
we know little about.
The home that possesses radio
receiving set, no matter how small a
one, has something that kings did
not have a few years ago. He has
national political conventions right
in his living room, music on tap,
sporting events on his rug.
Purchasing the first crystal set
gives the average fan his first taste
of the radio store. Something has
stirred him to the sticking point.
Maybe he had better go get one OF
them there radios
ne crosses tne WIN mis-
giving, not knowing as yet that this
is no ordinary door-the gateway to
mystery. experience and entertain
ment. Now he is after a radio"
whatever that is.
Where he makes his big mistake
is to be apoiogetic about buying a
crystal set. Il am going to buy a
bigger set later" he carefully ex-
plains to the clerk-who has heard
it before. Il thouht I would get a
crystal set for awhile"
Yes, sir. here is a good one" says
the clerk. 1 put the yes. sir" in for
good measure. Most of them are so
busy they have no time to yes sir
their customers.
The customer looks at the small
box, with bit of wire poking down
into round object he has read
enough about to recognize as the
crystal" from which the set gets
it's name.
After much deliberation upon his
part, put up purely for show, he hands
out the purchase price and goes away
with his strange buy" held gingerly
under his arm.
No one, even the wealthiest, need
be apologetic about buying the cheap
est Of radio sets, for here is a new
thing in the world Of trade:
The cheapest, IN many ways. is the
best.
For purity of tone nothing in radio
equals the crystal set, the mineral
being the best rectifier there is. When
a city Is blessed with two fine broad
casting stations, such as WCAP and
WRC, as has the National Capital,
crystal set is adequate.
AS for wonder, the most elaborate
multitude set in the world, with its
mysterious audions, has nothing on the
crystal set-Superwonderfu because
it is SO simple. Here is a coil of wire,
a crystal. a eats whisker," and
precious little else, yet it brings in all
that the local stations broadcast-er.
radiocast.
X X x
The radio store always has line by
the counter. behind which busy young
fellows dispense condensers, transform
ers, buSs wire, crystals, tubes, bat
teries, sets, antenna wire and literally
hundreds Of other devices used in this
interesting game.
The customer slips in edgewise, dur
ing the Fall and Winter season, when
the naive radio men declare radio re-
ception is at its best-as it is Just
why they ever took it SO seriously in
the Summer, declaring that many radio
Of them do nothing of the kind, is
another of the mysteries of this mys-
teriouS thing.
You have got to know what you are
buying in these stores, with their talk
of radio frequencies, audio frequencies.
superheterodynes, neutrodynes, grid
circuits, grid leaks, inductances, vario-
couplers, rheostats; or, if you do not,
you have to put up mighty big bluff
that you do.
The typical small boy is the best
sample of radio customer. He usually
knows what he wants, why he wants
1t and what it ought to cost Unlike
many Of his elders-including yours
truly-who will take any old thing
once, the small boy sasses the radio
shop clerk for all he is worth. And,
as is the way in this world. generally
he is more respected and gets just what
he wants.
Once a man is a radio fan he auto
matically becomes music critic. address
hound. Judge of tone values and modu-
lations
After year or so Of listening he
wonders why the stations do not put
on more piano solos, as nothing comes
through the air" any better; why they
allow a man to speak for a full half
an hour on a dull subject; why they
permit the orchestraS and bands to use
drums, which are disagreeable in the
headphones or loud speaker
Upon these things, however, many
fans would disagree, so what can the
broadcasting stations do? After "listen-
ing in" for q year. I want to express
my appreciation here for the splendid
work done by the two local broadcast
ing stations. In doing so, I am sure
l voice the sentiments of thousands.
Stations should not feel that the
fans are unappreciative because they
do not write letters Of commendation