Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1934-06-10
PROGRESS MADE
IN TELEWS|ON
Fourteen Radio Engineers
See Advanced Expert
mental Stage.
BY MARTIN CODEL
ZTELEvISION broadcasting Is

Fourteen radio engineers,
all outstanding in their
profession, subscribe to this state
ment In . newly published report of
the Committee on Engineering Devel-
opments Of the National Advisory
Council on Radio in Education. The
N. A. c. r. e. Is q Car
negie endowed organization, headed
by the eminent DR.. Robert A. Milli-
kan. devoted to research in radio to-
ward the end of adapting it to edu-
needs
Mark the word advanced" It is
the first concession, albeit a slight
one. that television is on its way out
Of the laboratories and bearing the
agreement of a group OF
engineers Of such widely diverse
points Of view and connections. Even
the Federal Radio Commission, in its
last three or four annual reports.
would not go so far as to EMPLOY that
adjective. Its judgment simply has
been that "television Is still in the
experimental stage" with an added
but rather ambiguous notation each
year that progress is being made. "
But. the layman will ask. just how
far advanced Is television? What is
its ultimate goal? Answers to the
FIRST question are still diverse. To
the second question the reply is that,
whatever the first widespread intro
duction Of television may bring, the
ultimate goal must be something ap-
home movies with sound.
Hints to Years More.
The head Of one of the greatest
Of the laboratories working on tele-
vision. w. r. G. Baker. general man.
ager of the r. C. A. Victor Co., limited
At five years before we may expect
television In the home. He expressed
this view during the convention at
last week of the Insti-
tute of Radio Engineers This was
his feeling even after some of his
men. long adjured to secrecy about
their television work. had pridefully
pointed to the remarkable success of
their experiments in broadcasting Wis
lally on the ultra-short waves be-
tween test station atop the Empire
State Building in New York and the
R. C. A. factory in Camden, N. j. ~,
Nor was Mr.. Baker more optimistic
because one Of his men. DR.. Vladimir
Zworykin, has received the I. r. E.
prize of $500 for his invention of the
horoscope. which Is the EYE" of the
,athode-ray television system upon
which r. C. A. researchers are work.
ing. Aside from the technical OBJ
stacles still to be surmounted, Mr.,
Baker foresees the tremendous cost
of installing q visual broadcasting
system, providing it with
adequate program material and ex-
pecting it to be supported by spon-
'ors rather than by taxes on the
look listen" audience.
For at least two years Mr.. Bakers
own chief, David Sarnof1, president
Of the parent r. c. A., has insisted
hat television is practically here. but
has held to the view that economic
were not yet ripe for its
The views of the IA aforementioned
engineers may be taken as gospelEthat
Is, unless somebody has something up
his sleeve that none of them and no
other qualified observers know any
thing about. Here is what they say
about the present status of television:
Condition in Advance.
"Television Eoadcasting is in an
advanced EXPERIMENTAL condition at
this time. Transmitting stations ca
pable Of giving reliable television serv-
Ice over q considerable area have not
yet been established nor have there
been provided, on a commercial scale,
receivers which give a clear, bright
picture of an acceptable color, ade-
quate detail, satisfactory size, freedom
from flicker. sufficiently wide angle of
view and requisite steadiness of po-
sition.
The problems involved have been
ana still are under active investiga-
ton, and there is a likelihood that,
within the next few years, equipment
Of this sort will be commercially
available and that at least q moderate
of television broadcasting sta
tons will be in operation to supply
program material to those having
suitable receiving equipment.
This committee sees the need still
existing for definite wave band as
most likely the plentiful
ultra-short waves, and points out how
specialized apparatus will be needed
to add vision to sound. While local
ICED visual broadcasting may soon be
possible, wire line facilities connect
ing local stations for the network syn
of television programs do
not even exist experimentally at this
Tine II television were brought
into the open today, this is all one
could expect of equipment that might
be rendered obsolete even more
quickly than the tube set rendered the
Did crystal catwhisker obsolete.
1T is dimcult to present a clear de-
scription of what television can &C.
in its present state of de-
velopment, partly because there are no
accepted standards and partly because
Of the rapid development which Is
taking place. It may be said that
good 'close-ups' of one or two persons
can be transmitted over limited dis
tances, and that more distant views
Clong shots') of simple events are
also capable of transmission"
Attention on Program.
Even with all these limitations. the
agrees that "television is
the stage where the mechan-
les of the problem will be forgotten
and attention concentrated on the
program itself. Its utility in educa-
ton and in home entertainment is
likely to grow as economic conditions
change to permit the establishment of
service rather than experimental
and the marketing Of
receivers"
There you have the dictum of the
men who should know. If the answer
10 the question when to expect tele-
vision Is still vague andindefinite, blame
It on DR.. Alfred N. Goldsmith, New
York consulting engineer and chairman
Of the N. A. c. r. E. Committee, which
Includes: DR., w, G, Cady. WESLEYAN