Evening star., 1925-08-30
No. 30: Some Dead Spots.

Judging from Smiths manner the
other day, any one would have thought
he had burned out all of his tubes
or charged the storage battery without
any water in the cells. He was low
In spirit.
! started talking about the wonder
full concert had heard the night
before, just on suspicion that someone
else had been bossting Of good recep-
tion and rubbing Smith the wrong
way. told him that never before
had WEAR come in so beautifully.
That's rubbing II in Smith
Smith growled. Why don't you come
out with the truth? Why don't you
tell me ! should buy good set?''
"Becaus" you have . good set" I
answered. do you know any one who
gets any better results"
That started the fuse
Il don't get half the things | ought
to-" he complained. The other eve
ming we had friends from the East.
I just wish you could hear the sta
tions they pick up. They talked about
their stations, their concerts and their
announcers, and every time they
asked me whether | got so-and.so l
head to reply In the negative. They
were sure | didn't have a good re-
ceiver."
Maybe you didn't have good
argument" | suggested.
Argument? What do you mean
We'll. you should have asked them
II they enjoy our local stations. II
you had recalled some of the events
that have been staged by the stations
which You customa lily hear night
after night III wager they would have
come down a few pegs. They don't
get as much distance as YOU do, and
II some OF their stations didn't have so
many blind spots YOU could pick up
some of their stations all the time as
we'll as the ones you get with ease. "
Blind Spots New.
Blind spots" were something new
to Smith. He had heard of dead
areas" or dead spots" as they are
better known, but the new term need
ed an explanation.
"A blind spot often gives the effect
Of dead spot - told him. Some
radio fans move to new quarters and
find that something in the character
Of the land kills radio waves and
ma kes reception wellnish impossible
but II radio station has blind
spot II is apt TO give some radio fan
the effect 'of living in A dead spot
for that particular station. You cal
tell whether you're in a dead spot or
just in a location where station g
pllnU spot is eHect1Ne DN Inc sort OF
reception you get The former gives
you virtually no reception at all. eX-
cept on very powerful or very nearby
stations. while the latter simply cuts
receptions on the one particular sta.
ton.
It's the high steel buildings Ind tn e
electric power lines that make II dim.
cult for us TO pick up WDX up this
way. Sometimes a forest between the
station and the receiving set will act
as a blind spot It's very much like
the blind spots in your car-those
body spots that are so hard to see
through"
Still Smith wasn't satisfied.
That's very true. but ! think I'm
in a dead spot, otherwise why were
you able TO hear WAR so well when
l never get 1t at all?" he asked
That was easy to explain. because
WAR had been advanced TO the
super class just the day before.
Smith hadn't tuned in on the particu.
lar evening and wasn't aware Of the
change.
Loop AnterRa Aids.
The fact that we csn now get
WAR so well certainly proves that
continued. AS matter of fact I
wouldn't worry about dead spots SO
much even when you take your port
able set with YOU on motor trip.
There are MOI so many of these places
We just hear about them because
they are 81 interesting. In northern