Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-01-20
EUROPE TRIES NEW
SET-UP IDEA TODAY
"PIan de BruxeIIeS" Was
Worked Out After Three
Months Consultations.

After a little over three years OF
broadcasting under plan formulated
to eliminate chaos from the air shared
by nearly three-score nations, Europe is
placing on trial today a new set-up
which will attempt to satisfy increased
requi1emen in the broadcast band
occasioned by this long period Of air
Felicity.
a number of European transmitters
win readjust today their tranSmitters
TO the new frequencies handed to them
by the technical committee of the
Union International de Radiophonie,
a bureau in Geneva, Switzerland, with
international jurisdiction over every
broadcaSting station in Europe.
The plan de Bruxelles."
The new set-up is known as the
"Plan de BruXelles." 1t was worked out
after more than three months of con-
sultation among the leading technicians
Of the Continent.
It was an outgrowth of the early
plan called the Plan de Geneve,"
which was placed in operation in No
Vember, 1925. There were about 80
stations broadcasting in Europe when
the Radio Union was formed, follow
ing a meeting of the principal European
nations in London, on March 10, 1925.
Since this number has grown to twice
the amount.
Committee Studied Chaos.
As soon as the union was formed, it
set its technical committee to work on
the chaotic condition obtaining in
Europe at the time. There had been no
organized international development of
radio, stations having sprung up at the
whim and fancy of each nation with
out regard for the need, or the future.
With M. Braillard as its head, the
committee worked out an ALLEGATION
plan which was not unlike that followed
by the Federal Radio Commission in
this country several years later 1t pro-
vided that 80 bands should be made
available within the broadcast fire.
Quency allotted to the broadcast serv-
ices between 200 and 1892 meters q, 800
to $40 kilocycles). Actually, these were
divided between two groups, 80 ex-
elusive channels and l6 of them COM
mon.
Channels Reserved for Future.
It was further decided that % chan
rels out of the 80 should be reserved
for the future progress of the art, and
that the SIS remaining ones would be
shared by the nations according to a
formula involving population. service,
geographical formation and other fac
tors. E1
Germany received IL wave lengths,
France and England 9 each. Italy,
Spain, Sweden and Russia 5, and other
countries In proportion. 1t was then
possible for the technicianS to place
about 90 small, practically local stations,
on the 16 common waves, there being
not more than 10 stations on any one
assignment.
This worked very we'll for a time.
During the last two years, however,
some of the nations who were not orig
inally interested in broadcasting devel-
oped a sudden taste for it, and others
that had taxed their facilities were
looking for more frequencies In fact,
nations not provided for had not re-
ceived out of the reserve channels the
best for their requirements, since the
choicest wave bands were already dis
tributed.
Long Waves Give Trouble.
Besides, although tlae-teehnieai com
mittee had begun working on the long
wave situation as early as March, 1927,
those treQuencieS were not considered
in the original Geneva plan. Much in
reference developed in the higher wave
lengths as well, due partly to the use
OF greatly increased power and the i'm
possibility to keep very close kilocycle
separation at the low frequencieS.
In october of last year the technical
committee of the union, as well as con-
Wulttng experts from many foreign
countries, met in Brussels to formulate
a new plan which would more ade-
quately provide for good broadcasting
In Europe.
More data was at hand concerning
ghe broadcasting needs of Europe than
" 1925, when the union began to func-
Won. The committee, however, had to
anticipate the new radio situation ex-
listing as soon as the provisions of the
International Radio Conference of
Washington were placed in full force
on January l, 1929.
Problems Facing Committee.
Among other things, it had to con-
slider the loss of three wave lengths in
their broadcast band and the curtail-
ment of long-wave broadcasting on
waves designed to other types of serv.
ices.
It was found, then, that the chief
problem was to find nine more fire.
QuencieS above 800 meters and below
1000 kilocycles and allow for the three
1requencies lost to the conference above
this limit
Practically the committee followed
the basic idea of the first plan and
decided that countries favored in the
original set-up would have to give up
frequencieS above 300 in favor of those
nations worse of, and that the separa-
ton between stations should be re-
duced still more TO allow placing adj
ditional channels between adjacent sta
tons.
Getting Additional Frequencies.
Due to the greater stability and re-
liability OF modern tranSmitters. it was
possible TO drop the separation between
stations from 10 to 9 kilocycles in
the spectrum above 800 meters. In this
manner, five additional channels were
gained. 1t was necessary to find four
more.
England and Germany were induced
to exchange each one channel above
300 for channel below that wave
length. BY suppreSsing an international
common channel of 400 meters ESQ
kilocycles), established by the commit
tee, an eighth channel was found. Then,
by reducing the separation a small frac-
ton on frequencies between 236 and
439 meters 0,270 and 613 kilocycles),
ninth channel was obtained
This plan is frankly a compromise
1t has gone further than the provisions
of the Washington International Radio
Conference. This means that read
justment will be necessary sooner or
later.
Work Outstagger Plan.
Engineers believe that the 10 kilo-
cycle separation is dangerously close,
although they talked of an eight kilo-
cycle separation in 1925.
They have carried out the stagger
plan of assigning adjacent wave lengths,
placing very close station frequencies
as far apart, geographically, as possible.