Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-02-05
100000 ENGINEERS SEEK
TO SOLVE RADIO TANCLE
Federal Commission Holds Experts Are
Doing More Than Legislators and Exec
utives-Amateurs Play Important Part.

! quencics at will and without delay?
Beam broadcaSting is being worked
out to such high degree of efficiency
. that even in the present undeveloped
i state OF the art narrow beam of cleo
trlcal energy can be transmitted great
distances through the air No listener
on either side of the beam can get the
transmission. and only receivers tuned
10 the wave length and in the exact
path of the beam can receive the mes
sage. This method has possibilities of
limited nature
Out IN Chicago. where radio engineers
are con2resatin2 in increasing numbers.
one OF the technical men connected
WITH great electrical corporation has
developed method that may 90 a
/ long way toward solving the conecStcG
broa casting problem Broadcasting sta
tons at present operating are Separat-
cd, theoretically at least. by 10 kilo-
! cycles. A 5-kilocycle side band of en-
ergy called the carrier wave, extends
on either side of the narrow band
through which comes the pure and un-
interrupted music. Only when the apex.
or exact center. of the l0-kiiocycle band
is reached by the receiving set tuning
apparatus is the station really tuned in
The Chicago engineer has found a way
10 eliminate one of the side bands.
Eventually. the commission hopes. this
VIII bt 50 developed that stations may
be separated by only kilocycles in
stead Of the l0-kiloCyCle separation now
held to be the smallest maximum for
proper reception
On the side Of tho receiving appa-
ratus Itself major Improvements are III
progress that might conceivably i'm
prove the situation by making sets
very much mere Selective. One of the
most recent and most highly regarded
OF these is the shielded grid tube a
rectifyine and simplifying unit for re-
ceiYlng sets that is claimed. to permit
The highest degree Of selectivity known
10 the radio world
Field Strength Studied.
Considerable study has been made by
the big corporations Of the field
strength Of transmitting stations. De-
velopment OF this offers wide field for
placing stations much closer together il,
the same area of the country. 1t has
been found that the field strength of a
transmitter on one side of a city is
frequently very much greater and
stretches out TO greater distances than
on another side. The station program
reaches out to astounding distances III
me quarters and is relatively restricted
in another direction.
This mysterious and unS0lved freak
o, radio waves offers engaging new pos
Sibilities. in the view of the commits
sion, for having determined the field
strength of 2 station in a certain direc-
ton. il will be entirely possible to place
another station on the same frequency
within a short geographical distance of
the other without interference. Dis
lance may mean nothing on one side of
broadcaSier and mean everything on
the other side. The commission has an
idea that by measuring the field
strength OF transmitters a patchwork
picture OF the country may develop new
means OF fitting together the compo-
nent parts of the broadcaStin2 puzzle.
Wired wireless. the development OF
Maj. Gen Squier. late chief signal off,
Ger. United States Army. has great pos
Slbllitles. in the view Of the commission
b. this means the power lines which
enter every household become potential
substitutes for the crowded ether chan
nels and every electric line becomes a
potential transmitter directly into the
home
From every angle of the industry
come these suggestions. each of them
with new idea for improving trans
mission and reception. The commission
is sure that the sum of them all will
serve 10 work out the p. Jblem in a way
Tar more satisfactory than the present
administrative methods. even though 1t
holds that Government regulation Is an
absolute necessity IN the art.