Evening star., 1928-12-27
RADIO SHORT WAVE
GRANTS ARE MADE
Commission Assigns Sixty
Channels to New Company
and Twenty to Press.
BY MARTIN CODEL.

BY MARTIN CODEL.
Once regarded as the graveyard oi
radio, the range of radio frequencie;
between 1900 and 5000 kilecycles (20C
to so meters) has been plotted and sub
divided and in one fell swoop allocateo
to various American commercial IN
tereSts.
In making its long-awaited general
ALLEGATION of the now precious snort
waves the Federal Radio Commission
has given a lease Of life to an enter
prise projected to compete directly with
the Western Union and Postal Tele-
graph Cos, in furnishing radio tele-
graph message service between most
of the large cities of the United States
The granting of 40 communication
frequencies to the Universal wireless
Communications Co. constitutes tne
most important and far-reaching de-
cision ever reached by the commission.
aside from its we'll known reallocatlon
of the country's broadcasting, Almost
as important, but not as slgnlncant 70
the average man, is the fact that the
commission has also granted 20 ire
uuencies to a group of newspapers and
press associations for handling their
own news traffic and that OF the press
of the United States.
so Grants Made.
These so frequency grants are the
outstanding among the scores OF others
made known by the Federal Radio
Commission today. There are 66s
channels, between 1900 and 5000 kllo-
cycles, in the graveyard where, tor-
merly the amateurs played about almost
at will.
The commission was faced with some
$50 applications for these channels. IL
reserved 95 for Government use, 30o
for fixed stationary land) stations, 14S
for mobile (ship, aircraft and portable)
services and 88 for later division after
discussions with Canada, Cuba ana
Mexico.
The. commission announced with its
ALLEGATION of freuuencies or groups OF
freuuencies that its motivating prlncl-
pie was public service" TINS was
largely discretionary in the matter OF
land Stations, but made it obvious that
suficient space in the ether must be
preserved for aircraft" and marine
service obtained 73 frequencies and the
aviation service 64.
The principle was construed to mean
recognition of the amateurs as 'poten-
tial commercial operators and invent
ors." and the great army of hams
had 134 frequencieS reserved Tor them.
Visual broadcaSting was regarded 10 pe
in a purely experimental stage, and IL
obtained 100 telegraph channels, or
the equivalent OF teleVlSlon or ~ SVll-
picture channels.
81 Applications Denied.
Actual assigneeS of the wave length
are too numerous for compilation here.
In only a few cases were Speciflc CHAM
nels assigned. Such assignments Will
be made later Notable among the sue
cessful applicants for coastal and ma
rine relay stations were SUCH COM
panies as the Radio Corporation OF
America, the Radio Marine Corpora
ton of America, the Mackay Radio
and Telegraph Co.. the Tropical RADIO
the Inland Waterways Commission, the
United States Shipping Board and the
Ford Motor Co.
Various oil stations obtained the rlgnt
to build stations on the Atlantic ana
Gulf coasts, and the geophysicat pros
pectors for oil were granted the right
TO use six mobile channels along with
police and fire department radio serv-
ice. Five frequencies went TO railroads
for signaling by radio and to railroad
harbor and tug stations. Power COM
panies secure enough channels TO trans
nit messages during emergencies Wnen
other means of communication nave
broken down.
Thirty-four applications were denied,
nuotably those of the FfreStone ana
GOODYEAR rubber interests, the Unlver-
sal Pictures Corporation, Sears Roe
buck. Montgomery Ward Cudahy Pack
ing Co. Wilson & Co., Morris ~ 90.
and Anderson, Clayton g. Co. All want
ed to set up point-to-point wireless syS-
TENS of their own.
If the Radio Corporation Of America
and the Mackay interests were success
ful in obtaining additional waves LOT
coastal stations, they failed signally 10
get franchises to build the domestic
radio-telegraph networks they proposed
for intercity service and for a feeder
system into their transoceanic radio
circuits. They are among those whose
applications for public service commits
sion channels we're "set for hearing.
Competition Assured.
It Is apparent that their chances for
obtaining channels to compete with the
newly established Universal wireless
Communications network rest upon the
number of channels the United States
will obtain from among the SO to be
divided at the ottawa conference.
Commissioner H. A. La Fount, VINO
supported the Universal application,
along with Chairman Robinson and
Judge E. Q. Sykes, made the following
statement regarding their chances to
enter the domestic field as competitors
Of the Universal:
"In my opinion, the Radio Corpora
ton of America and the Mackay RADIO
Co, with the channels previously allo-
Gated to them and now in use, Plus
some others that the commission may
grant them, will be well cared for. All
three companies will now be able to
operate extensive wireless conmunlca-
tion networks in this country, thus pro-
viding competition contemplated by the
radio act"
Mr.. La Fount pointed out that the
Radio Corporation of America asked
for 148 channels to serve % cities In II
states. Another applicant, presumably
the Mackay, sought 81 channels 10
serve 16 cities in Is States: The Uni
neIs it received, and it proposes to serve
10 cities. Every State in the Union
will be represented in the list.
Under the grant from the commls-
sion 1t must have 10 of its stations
completed by December 81. 1929, and
all the rest by the end of 1881. Its
director, DR.. John Nathansohn, states
that the company will build its own
transmitting and receiving equipment
part of which includes an oScillatine
circuit employing a four-element tube
constructed along radically new prin-
ciples and invented by DR.. Ross Gum
of the United States Naval Research
Laboratory.
The Universal Wireless Communica-
tions Co. is capitalized at SIS, 900 ,00(
and backed almost entirely by group
of Buffalo business men.
(Copyright 1929 by North American
Newspaper Alliance)
Driver Dies i'm Crash