Evening star., 1933-05-07
MOVES
TOWARD SUCCESS
Known Development of Re.
cent Weeks Lend Weight
|, to Prediction.
BY MARTIN CODEL.

y
"television is Just around the
corner" have more to them
i these days than the public may
be wont to believe in view of
the many false starts Of the last few
years. The unusually deep secretive-
ness of the television experimenters,
coincident with the movement Of most
Of the major researchers away from
the old visual wave lengths to the
block of channels made available on
the newly harnessed ultra-short waves,
has given rise to persistent whisper
ings about big new developments In the
art Of sending moving images as well
as sound through space.
Those who have been privileged to
view the latest products Of certain tele-
vision laboratories are more highly
optimistic today than they ever were
about the imminence Of radio pictures
comparable to home movies. The
shroud Of secrecy that surrounds these
visual workshops continues impenetra-
months lend reason to the belief In
many quarters that television will
emerge, on q modest scale at least,
soon after certain barriers are over
come.
OU8t8CACB ACuJOSOos
No one can foretell when, but GER
tain 1t Is that tremendous progress has
been made lately in overcoming techni-
cal obstacles. Chief Of the remaining
barriers to popular television appears
to be the economic situation. 1t Is
generally conceded that the public ac-
ceptance Of television, even If per-
fected, is a rather hopeless expecta-
otoc
People are only buying about one
fourth the radios these days that they
bought in the billion dollar year of
1929, despite the low cost Of sets and
tubes at present.
That television equipment will by no
means be as inexpensive as ordinary
radios, goes almost without saying
when It Is pointed out that the cat
hode ray tubes needed for visual re-
ceivers Of the cathode type today cost
about $45 each and have a life of only
1000 hours.
The greatest technical obstacle to
television was the shortage Of wave
lengths. This is no longer in the way.
for the ultra-short wave lengths offer
almost unlimited space" in the ether
for the transmission Of radio images
Today about half Of the television ex-
periments authorized by the Federal
Radio Commission are being conducted
on these high frequencies. The move
ment away from the old bands Of inter-
mediate wave lengths has been going
on quietly and unobtrusively but never
theless significantly.
Lack Of Ballyhoo.
The reasons for the lack Of bally-
hoo about television these days are
several. For one thing, the major
laboratories are seeking to build up
patent structures more impregnable
than the old radio patent structure
that led to so much litigation. For
another thing, these major expert
menters are earnestly trying to pro-
tect the public against false expecta-
tons and the consequent outcroppings
of stock promotion schemes, for it Is
q fact that few Of the researchers are
being supported by public money.
Still more to the point is the fact
that there are few, If any, amateurs or
tinkerers equipped today to look in
on the ultra-short wave visual trans
missions because the television receivers
they bought or made are not calibrated
to tune in the ultra-shorts. Whereas
there is calculated to be anywhere from
10000 to $4,000 television lockers in
in the United States equipped to re-
ceive the old intermediate frequencies.
there are probably not a dozen out
side the esoteric circles of the labora-
tories that can receive ultra short wave
transmissions