Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1926-03-26

from the $40 or $40 broadcasting
stations of the United States. Two
OF these have a power of 5O-kilo-
watts, about Is of them a power Of
5-kilowatts each, and the remaining
525 average perhaps LIS of q kilo-
watt apiece. Adding up the total
power of all these stations we find
ESQ kilowatts of power radiated from
them. In round numbers, the broad
casters of the United States pour
into the air each evening about 800
kilowatts of program carrying power.
This figure should be kept in mind.
The individual receiving set in the
United States does not use much
power but, since there are many re-
ceiving sets, the total power used Is
very considerable. We can, take 1t for
granted for the purposes of this APP
proximate discussion that there are
100000 receiving sets in the United
States and that they average three
tubes apiece. OF course many sets
have more than three. tubes, but
there are also a large number of peo-
pie who are still using one-tube and
two-tube sets. An average of three
tubes in the set Is close enough for
the purposes of these calculations
Assuming these tubes to be electro
cally similar to the storage battery
Radiotrons type UV-2e1-A, they will
use O.25 ampere at 6 volts for each
Filament. This Is LIS watts power
per filament, or IS watts to light the
filaments of the three tubes. The plate
battery will probably have 80 volts
and deliver 10 milliamperes, or a
power of 90 watts for the two plate
circuits Of the three tubes. We may
neglect the grid circuit power in most
cases.
1t appears then that the average
receiver uses 50 watts and that all
the receivers in the country use s.
100000 times as much, or $4,000 kilo-
watts.
In round numbers. the receiving
sets of the United States use there
fore 10000 kilowatts, or no less than
100 times as much as the total anten-
ma power of all the broadcasting sta
tons in the country! This is cer-
tainly not in accordance with most
peoples preconceived notions, for 1t
certainly is not generally believed that
the receiving sets of the United States
require 100 times the power which is
supplied to the antennas Of the broad
cast transmitting sets. And, with
lne increase Ill the use OF SlX-tuD anu
eighttube sets, the ratio will become
still higher unless broadcast trans
hitting stations increase their power.
1t should be pointed out that me
cost of the power used in receiving
sets is high. 1t is expensive to pro-
duce flament and plate power at the
peculiar voltages which are required,
and the cost per kilowatt of such
power is far greater than the cost of
power delivered from power plants. SO
that the listeners of the United States
would greatly appreciate any transmit
ting method which enable them to cut
down their consumption of power in
the receiving set.
Let us imagine for a moment that
the broadcasters of the United States,
or at least the low powered stations,
increased their power one hundred
fold. They would then use the same
amount of power for broadcast trans
mission as is now used for broadcast
reception. but it would be power pur-
chased at the lower rates which apply
to that generated at larger power
plant, The listeners of the United
States on the other hand. would get