Evening star., 1926-06-06

rhs next step in radio BROADCAST oe
r.ionnnent to give the listener any
\ rs;,, in volume of reception wouio oe
| the increasing Of power 70 oVU,voV
| watts or 500 kilowatts. In the opihton
of Harry Sadenwater, engineer W ur .,e
General Electric Broadcasters' ~,
| schenectady, and kOA, Denver. In-s
| wattage may astound the 1850
listener who thinks 5.kilowatt stations
are powerful enough, and may give
the smaller broadcast station owners
another terrific shock.
Thev will recall the terrible groans
from both fans and broadcasting oper-
ators when the 5.kilowatt stations
wAre contemplated: many expressed
fear that greatly increased inter1ef
ence nd the blanketing Of other broad
| casters would result. but 1t dldn
| Seem to interfere any. Later on there
| was a new panic when the two 50'Rilo-
watt transmitters were announceo'
| some timid fans felt certain their tuoes
| and sets would be consumed by TINS
| tremendous power. But nothing except
some complaints from the immedlate
neichbors OF these big stations result
Cd. and they are now on the air regu'
Iar,v with better programs than ever
before. TO be sure, they were moved
outside the city proper, so al to min
imize local interference. which tended
to improve local reception OF the
smaller stations.
Naturally many would oppose the
installation of q 500-kilowatt set In
their midst, and II such a station is
licensed, it is certain that it would
he situated far from the congested
centers of radio broadcasting and out
in the open spaces where no radio
community existed; also, probably II
would he located some distance inland.
TO date no 500-kilowatt applications
have been received by the Department
Of Commerce. However. an increase
to real superpower is believed to be
the next logical step In developing an
efficient broadcast service by electrical
engineers. and 1t may come soon.
Mr.. Sadenwater asserts that we
have no superpowered hroadcasters
on the air yet. pointing out that so
kilowatts Of power Is often used to
operate a single electric sign. Our
transoceanic radio stations now use
200 kilowatts on their long-wave cir
cults. The increase Of several sta
tions from 500 watts to 5 kilowatts.
or ten times the power. brought only
about three times the signal strength
at a given distance. He says that an
increase in field strength, or what we
might term volume, is scarcely no
ticeable, even by experts. until 1t is
doubled. When WGY, which had been
opera ting at kilowatts, was moved
) miles outside Schenectady and it's
power increased ten times, many local
fans who used to hear it on their
CRYSTAL sets. could no longer receive 1t,
although its power was increased ten
times.
The range Of s-kilowatt station ia
approximately 30 miles for 80 per cent
to estimates Of governmental radio
experts. This checks up with the
General Electric figures. which show
that there are fans within 100 miles
Of WGY who cannot receive the daily
programs regularly with satisfaction
despite 50 kilowatts Of power.
Evidently the G.. e. Co. IL hoping
in the future to serve ali its listeners
within two or more hundred miles
regularly, for Mr.. Sadenwater in
sists that the next practical step
forward would he to again increase
power by a factor OF 10. based upon
the success of the recent increase to
so kilowatts.
Large increases in power, however.
he admits, raise operating costs. with
no definite assurance whether 1t
would be economically practical. A
5.kilowatt transmitter is operated
with three tubes, he adds, whereas
to send with so kilowatts % similar
tubes are necessary. The company
is working on a larger tube to re-
place several of the present size
tubes, and 1t is possible, Mr.. Saden.
water says. that with the larger tube
II may be practical from a mainte-
~ ,,ce expense standpoint to increase
power to 500 kilowatts. Even such
bower is hardly 'superpower," he in
sists, although the station might then
be able to supply a signal well above
the static and other noise level over
a, reasonable range of about $50 miles.
such a range would make it worth
while to provide the very best pro-
grams to an increased number Of
listeners, who would probably be glad
10 tune in program with ample
SIGMA! strength devoid oi the usual
accompanying noises.
Expedition Radio. Equipped.
The American Museum Greenland
expedition, now ready at New York
to start for the North on the schooner
Morrisey, will be radi0-equipped both
for transmission and reception. The
main transmitter. short-wave ap.
paratus, was built by the students
Of Marietta College, the expenses
being borne by -. Atwater Kent Of