Evening star., 1931-12-06
BRITISH DOM|N|ONS
TO HEAR PROGRAMS
B. B. C. viii Proceed With
Plans for Short-Wave
Empire Station.
BY MARTIN CODEL.

~ OGNIZANT of the growing in
terest the WorlG over in short
wave radio reception, and TAX
~ ing a leaf out Of the book OF
American brOadCasterS' expert
ence in having their auxiliary short
wave transmissionS hears directly or re-
broadcast in all parts Of the world, the
British BroadCasting Cooperation, Great
Britain's radio monopoly, has decided to
proceed Immediately with plans for the
erection of a short-WaVe empire station.
The station will be designed to serve
the crown dominions and colonies regu-
larly with programs from the mother
country The decision to erect it Is an
outgrowth of long consultations between
government departments The empire
broadCaSting station idea, now several
years old, was looked upon with much
favor in the discussions at the last i'm
perial and colonial conferences.
Financing Difficult.
According to an of1cial announce
ment from the British BroadCaSting
Corporation, the difficulties of financing
such a service on a permanent basis
have so far postponed the development
Of experiments previously started from
G5SW, at Chelmsford, from which
many American shOrt-wave fans have
frequently picked up British programs.
The need in the imperial sense, says
the statement. and the strong desire
expressed from all parts Of the empire
have determined the British Broadcast
ing Corporation TO proceed without fur
ther delay.
The object" the announcement con-
tinues, will be to give as many listen
ers as possible in all parts Of the empire
q program from the home country at
hours when it is most convenient for
them to listen, but details Of the times
Of operation will depend upon the re-
suits of experiment ana upon demand,
Technical arrangements include the
use of several wave lengths which will
be chosen so as to provide the best re-
Ception under the varying conditions
which obtain in the dominionS and
colonies. The station will be at Daven-
try and construction will begin shortly"
Programs to BE Relayed.
The technical efficacy of the short
waves for long distance broadcasting
services is now well established, al
though they are still subject to many
variations Of atmoSpnericS and skip
distance effects. Beam transmission,
already applied with good results TO in
ternat4onal autobiography and radio
telephony, can be applied to broadcast
services as well to help overcome some
of these variations. For the most part,
it is assumed, the programs will be di-
Tected to certain points to be picked up
BY special receiving stations and then
rebroadcast by the domestic stations TO
which the listeners OF the particular
country being served are accustomed to
tune.
The short-wave transmissions from
Daventry, like those from about a score
of American stations, can be picked up
directly by radio listeners properly
equipped with short-wave receivers or
with converters to their broadcast re-
ceivers which are now becoming more
and more popular. The short waves, in
fact, now furnish about the only re-
manning avenues for DIX or distance
hunting thrills-what with the over
crowding Of the broadcast wave bands
in practically every country today and
the resultant interference.
Holland Used System.
Holland in 1927 established such an
international relay service for the bene-
fit Of its colonial possessions, and the
success attending the proadcasts to the
Dutch East Indies from the station at
Eindhoven has been watched with
much interest by British technicians.
The American audience has had
smattering of British and Dutch pro-
grams over its own national networks,
with reception at times unusually good.
So successful, in fact, were the N. B. c.
rebroadcasts of short-Wave programs
from England, Holland and Germany
last Christmas day that that network is
planning this coming Christmas to carry
programs picked up on short waves not
only from those countries, but from ia
pan, Australia and various other coun-
tries.