Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-02-15
OPINIONS CLASH
! OVER TELEWS|ON
Conference in Capital Tndi-
Gates Visual Radio Trans
mission Is Coming.
BY MARTIN CODEL.

GeIeVlSl0n Is coming sooner OF laIeT Was
needed than the mere presence at the
conference of so many OF the best
minds in radio and the evidence from
their own words that they are now in
tent on the problems of visual broad
casting and confident of results.
al, Their respective accomplishments in
the field of televiSion and their views
on the subject were discussed by such
outstanding men in the radio art as DR..
Lee De Forrest, inventor of the vacuum
tube which makes modern radio posi-
BILE and who is often called The Father
of Radio; DR.. Frank Conrad, inventor,
known as The Father of Broadcast
ing" for conducting the first regular
broadcasts not farther back than 1921,
and C. Francis jenkins. noted Wash
ington inventor and the pioneer in what
he chooses to call radio vision"
The question before the conference
was whether televiSion signals should
be allowed on the broadcasting wave
lengths to which the average audio re-
Ceiving set can tune. Because the rat
ties and whirrs that must be translated
into light images at the receiving end
are source of interference with sound
programs, the Radio Commission has
tentatively ruled that visual broadcasts
may take place only between the hours
Of and am.
Opposing Schools.
Two oprosing schools of thought de-
Veloped with respect to the order in the
course of the discussions, pro and con.
Many essential details about the pres
emit state of television cropped out, in
spite of the obvious unwillingneSs of
the rival experimenters to tell each
other what they are doing. The nom
technical man visiting the conference
was struck by the earnest belief that
seemed to actuate all these leaders In
fadio-the belief that televiSion Is
around the corner, even though, as one
of them said, that corner may be many
miles away.
ing the jenkins silhouette and cartoon
radio receivers, about to go on the mar
ket. wanted television to be allowed
within the broadcast band SO that ordi-
nary brgadcasting stations could send
out the signals on schedule to be picked
Up by the sets. DR.. De Forrest, MFR.
Jenkins. A. j. Carter and M. B. Sleeper
urged that minimum Of restriction be
imposed upon this art, DR.. De Forrest
predicting that its progress would be
more rapid than audio broadcasting be- |
cause millions of radio listeners are
already radio WISE"
The other school, chiefly composed of |
Radio Corporation of America, General
Electric and Westinghouse scientists, |
opposed having television in the broad |
casting band at all. Backed by the |
commissions engineer in charge of |
broadcasting, Capt Guy Hill, u S. A., |
they pointed out that the broadcasting |
band is already overcrowded with audio |
stations. They insisted that television |
ID not ready to come out of the labora-
tow rfa -
ton be fixed before televisor sets are
placed on the market, and declared that
the short-wave bands being reserved for
television are sufficient for the immedi-
ate progress Of the art.
Encourage Experiments.
Within the commission there is agree
raent that television experiments should
be encouraged, but there is hesitancy to
place an apparent official stamp of in
dorSement on particular kinds of COM
mercial sets that can be tuned only to
particular wave lengths by granting the |
us, OF those wave lengths for transmits |
sion.
The present public utility of tele-
vision is questioned, Chairman Robin |
son holding that relatively few persons, |
and those only experimenterS, would be |
willing to install and operate such sets |
at the present time, with the prospect |
of scrapping them when more progress |
is made. Commissioner Caldwell, along |
with such men as John v. L. Hogan, |
Edgar Felix, Oswald Schuette and Hugo
Gernsbach, is for permitting the devel- |
Opnent in bands of waves within the |
tuning range of the average receiving |
sets, so that attachments to sets now |
In use will bring in the image radio.
Five bands of high frequencies, or |
short waves. each 100 kilocycleS wide, |
have been set aside for picture broad |
casting in the impending continental |
fhort-Waye agreement It is proposed |
by some of the experimenters to confine
television to those mountaineering |
bands and to place televisor apparatus |
on the market only after certain stand |
ARCS concerning detail and clearneSs of |
pictures have been established.
Wave Lengths Scarce.
The scarcity of wave lengths will re-
nuire the confinement OF television
transmission to comparatively few chan |
a1els. G. E. Hoffman, chief engineer of |
the Jenkins Television Corporation, re- |
ported that 48-line image, with a |
definition sufficient to distinguish rope |
with which girl Is jumping, can be |
seen in black and white silhouette on |
a receiver that attaches to set like a |
loud speaker by utilizing band of only |
10 kilocycles. The picture would be |
about 6 by 6 inches. he said
On the other hand julius Vein |
berger. test chief for the Radio Cor |
poration of America, described objects |
that can be transmitted within the |
narrow limits of 10 kilocycles as crude |
and simple" and declared that COM |
mercial televtsion cannot be accommo- |
dated without a band so to 100 kilo- |
cycles vide. Harry Hadewater, engi- |
neer Of WGY, reported that the |
Schenecta y station of the General |
Electric Co. has given up transmitting |
ats late-hour television programs be- |
cause they lacked entertainment value |
time.
The report Of the National Electrical
Manufacturers Association, opposing |
television during the broadcasting hours, |
was presented by Edgar Felix, the radio
consultant. He stood with the others
for authorizing television during "ob-
scure hours" and against what A. j.
Carter Of the Carter Television Cor
poration called regulating to death"
as in foreign countries.
Frequent illusions to the unforeseen
developments in the telephone sound
radio, talking movies and the airplane
since the early days were made by vari-
ous men during the course of the hear
ings. The commission was urged not to
assume that ''today's limitations are the
limits Of possibility" Another research
man remarked that anything a man
can visualize can be accomplished in
time"
tCopyright, 1929. by North American News
paper Ailiance.)
AAARCuAI E0Hu nETTED