Radio Broadcast - 1923, August - 86 Pages, 8.5 ... - VacuumTubeEra

The March of Radio 277LISTENING TO WJAZ FROM JUST OUTSIDE THE STUDIOGuests at the Edgewater Beach Hotel, Chicago, can see the broadcasters through the windows at the left and the controlroom operators through the windows at the centre. At the same time, they can listen to the program by means of areceiver and loud speakerSecretary Hoover ActsWEBEMOANED the failure of Congressto act on the White bill, bywhich the broadcast situation wasto be remedied; but before the echo of ourmoans had died away we found the situationsuddenly remedied without the White bill!Apparently feeling that it already had sufficientauthority, and that the situation was badenough to warrant immediate action, the Departmentof Commerce, acting in accord withthe opinion of the radio experts and authoritiesof the country, has reassigned frequenciesto practically all the broadcasting stationsin the country and has done it so well that weno longer have any cause for complaint. Insteadof the bedlam of noise to which we hadbecome almost accustomed, there is practicallyno interference at all. With a good receivingset, one can go through the range of wavelengthsassigned to broadcasting and pick upperhaps twenty stations with no appreciableinterference.To be sure, it was possible for the expert,even under previous conditions, to get rid ofmuch of the interference, because no two stationssent on exactly the same wavelength,and by using two- and three-circuit tuners withjust the right amount of regeneration, he wasable to cut out many of the disturbing stations.Most of us, however, were not sufficiently expert,and didn't have sufficiently complicatedsets (and didn't want them, either) to do suchfine tuning. But now no such skill is required.Even the novice can eliminate practically allinterference; and the concerts, ever improvingin quality, are really worth while staying athome to hear. The finer passages are notspoiled by the whining beat note of a competingstation, as they formerly were.With this re-assignment of wavelengths, abig step has been taken in forwarding theinterests of radio broadcasting; considering theapparent ease with which it was accomplishedwe wonder more than ever why the Departmentof Commerce delayed its good work solong.