Evening star., 1928-11-26
BY CAPT. GUY HILL, U. S. A.

BY CAPT. GUY HILL, u. s. A.
The now ALLEGATION has been in opera
ton now for two weeks, and sufficient
information has been received from
various parts of the country to indicate
clearly that it will give the country as
whole greatly improved radio recep-
ton.
The gain to listeners will become
more and more evident as broadoasting
stations improve their operation by
keeping properly on their frequencieS,
Or wave lengths, eliminating broad
tuning and harmonicS, and increasing
the effectiveness of the power they
transmit by increasing their percentage
OF incubation. improvement in mod
ulation will enable many stations to
transmit from two to five times more
efficiently than at present without in
Creasing interference between stations.
The 40 cleared channels, to each of
which only one station is assigned for
operation after darkness, are giving eX-
cellent service. An increase in the
number of such channels would still
further aid general reception.
Has Certain Bad Spots"
The present ALLEGATION, while in gen.
eral giving greatly improved service.
has certain bad spots" at the present
moment Reception at these places,
especially for certain types of receiv-
ing sets, is far from satisfactory From
these spots some rather strong and
sometimes wild protests have come to
the Federal Radio Commission.
There have been very few intelligent
protests against the ALLEGATION plan
Itself that would have been made if all
broadcasting stations were accurately
on their assigned frequencieS and using
modern types of tranSmitters. Nor
would many of them have been made if
the complainantS were using receiving
sets built on efficient engineering
principles.
Those intelligent and detailed reports
from listeners which give sufficient in
formation so that local situations can
be understood are being considered
, with the same care as the official re-
ports. The commission is extending
every effort to improve conditions
where necessary, because even the
listeners with inferior sets must receive
all possible consideration.
Local Conditions Observed.
A few observations on local condi-
~AO1AS o. fe~AAOoS EOAAAtSs do ACHOA OC0 W
Us, will probably apply to certain other
sections of the country which have not
yet submitted any detailed reports.
Reports from the area in and around
New York City show great improve
/, ment, especially on the lower fire.
GuencieS. The same reports show that
en- the higher frequencies-this is, those
at the lower end Of the dial-the results
are not satisfactory. Reports from the
supervisor Of radio in New York show
that only two stations operating be-
tween 800 and. 1,2lQ kilQcycles. were off
frequency, and that IA stations did not
vary more than the allowable amount
of one-half kilocycle
However, from 1910 to 1900 kilo-
cycles, only three stations were on fire.
quency and is more were off, The fall
ure of some of these stations to oper-
ate on their assigned wave length is
causing the bad heterodyne Seuuals.
One station alone varied enough to
spoil three channels.
Enough official reports have not yet
been received from other districts to
show actual conditions. But many of
the complaints of bad reception are
without doubt due to the same trouble
as In New York. As. soon as further
reports are received, designating the
stations that are operating improperly,
those stations will be notified by the
commission that they must take steps
10 adjust their transmitters properly.
Then much of the present troubles
should be eliminated.
Made to Comply With Law.
It must be remembered that the, re-
ellocation was made to comply with the
law passed by Congress. Without going
into the details of that law, it is Suf-
Eicient to state that its fundamental
requirement was that broadcasing ia
cilitieS should be divided equally among
the country's five radio zones. The only
way this could be done, unless it was
to add more stations to the yovercrowd-
ed radio waves from among the 400
or more applications to build new sta
tions, was to reduce the number of
stations in some parts of the country by
making stations divide time and limit
ing others to daytime operation, when
interference is less likely.
Even now it is obvious that too many
stations are on the air for good recep-
ton on all the wave lengths. Every
4 heterodyne squeal on the non-cleared
4 channels is proof of this. Any station
of 1000 watts power win interfere with
all other stations on the same wave at
distances ranging from 1000 to 5000
miles. But there are only so many fire.
# quencies, and part of the engineers
task was to space stations far enough
apart and hold down their powers in
order to prevent interference. If the
present ALLEGATION shows some defects
on that score, there may have to be
still further reductions on six or seven
channels by requiring more time divi-
Sions or decreases in power.
Looking back again at the general
situation and the bad spots" reported,
the commissions engineers on broad
casting have hesitated to make drastic
recommendations in the hope that sta
tionS for their mutual good would get
properly adjusted within ten days or
two weeks after the reallocation went
into effect.
Copyright. 1928. by North American News
paper Alliance