Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-03-21
RADIO BEACONS AID
SAFETY OF PLANES
Device Tested Successfully
on Recent Flight of All
Metal Machine.

Application of the radio beacon serv-
ice for guiding the direction of pas
senger and freight carrying airplanes
Introduces n new measure of safety to
commercial aviation. The radio beacon
developed by the Army Signal Corps
and the Bureau of Standards was
used successfully in this way for the
first time recently during a fight of
one of the giant new Ford all-metal
planes.
Direction for the first half of flight
OF the three -enPined monitor from the
Ford airport at Dearborn, Mich, TO
McCook Field at Dayton, Ohio, was
from the beacon at the former air
port For the latter half the plane
was guided by the beacon service Of
the Army material division at Nc
Cook Field. which is accredited a large
share in the development Of the radio
beacon.
Army experts report that the ex-
pertinent with the large commercial
plane worked perfectly. The craft
was guided directly over the landing
field in both instances under exceed
ingly poor visibility conditions. The
flight both ways was made the same
day.
The dependence OF flyers upon
weather conditions has been consider
ably minimized by the adaptation or
the beacon service, which furnishes a
sure guide for the aviator despite poor
visibility conditions. The beam recep-
ton is in the radio receiving set itself
In the commercial plane the set was
located to the rear of the pilots seat,
and there was small radio Compart-
y10nf tho nf tho nilnt q COCK
pit to accommodate an operator.
The date for the international radio
telegraph conference to be held in
Washington has been definitely set
for October I. The agenda contain
ing proposals Of subjects to be taken
up has been forwarded to Washington
from Bern. Switzerland. One of the
10 nations submitting proposals is the
United States. 1t is expected that
practically every maritime nation in
the world-and many others now that
land radio has become even more
widespread than ship radio--will be
represented by delegates to the Wash
ington conference, the first since the
one held in 1912 at London.
Roxy" and "his gang" return to
the broadcast arena tonight for their
third concert, which will be broadcast
by WRC and the stations Of the blue"
network of the National BroadcdSting
Co. The Roxy concert heads a pro-
gram OF varied features, which in
cludes the weekly programs Of the
A. & p. Gypsies and Hires Harvesters
and Massenet's opera, "Manon," which
will be sung by the National Grand
Opera Co.
WRC also will introduce a new fea-
ture, to be known as Society and the
Stage in the sos" This attraction
will come from the studio Of the sta
ton.
The musical adventure of the Har-
vesters will be in South America,
which will be entered at Valparaiso,
the great commercial city of Chile.
BY rail they viii travel to the Atlantic
side Of the continent to Buenos Aires
and then to the open spaces Of Brazil.
The journey will terminate at Rio de
Janeiro.
The program of the Gypsies will FIJI
clude the music OF the rugged North
land and the songs of the nomads.
John Barnes Wells, tener, will sing
several selections during the rest
periods Of the ensemble.
Quite unsatisfactory was radio re-
ception over the week end. The ether
seemed TO be blanketed by q heavy
atmospheric pressure. which created
an almost impenetratable barrier to
radio signals. Only those stations
with superpower strength had volume
enough for loud-speaker reproduction,
and even their signals lacked clarity.
Though noisy Saturday night, static
was present last night in but feeble
way, so this bugaboo was not a con-
fributing factor to poor reception.
Despite the adverse conditions the
following stations were heard with
sufficient volume for Identification:
WPCH and WARS, the two.station
chain in New York; WMBF, Miami
Beach; WAX, Jacksonville; WPG,
Atlantic City; WIZ, WIN and VIGIL,
New York. and WCAU Philadelnhia