WIRELESS offers more scope for enjoyment than any other hobby. This is a big claim, but any one who has cultivated wireless knows that it is a claim that can be supported by facts.

The one outstanding feature of wireless as a hobby is that it can be pursued anywhere, at any time. In dry summer weather or in the depths of winter, in brilliant daylight or in utter darkness, in the privacy of your own den or in the heart of the country, you can rig up your wireless equipment and listen to messages from the most distant corners of the earth.

You can make a portable wireless receiver which will fit comfortably into quite a small box and which can be taken anywhere without the slightest inconvenience, or you can erect a permanent installation at home.

The science of wireless has been developed to such a pitch during recent years that it is possible to pick up messages to-day under conditions which would have made reception impossible before.

Whilst boating on the river, for instance, you can, by means of quite a simple apparatus, listen-in to wireless signals from any of the high-power stations in the country. Or, with similar instruments, you can pick up wireless messages in a railway carriage as you whirl along at the rate of sixty miles per hour.

Many railway trains and motor cars are fitted with wireless to-day. Then, again, you can take your wireless outfit with you when you go for a ramble in the country, and you can rig it up and listen-in wherever you choose—provided you are not trespassing!

“What is there to be heard on a wireless receiver?” you may ask. Well, there are two kinds of signals to be heard: telegraphic and telephonic. Telegraphic signals are sent in the Morse code, i.e., by means of “dots” and “dashes,” which have to be interpreted before the message can be understood. If you learn the Morse code you can hear (and understand) the hundreds of messages that are exchanged daily between the high-power stations of the world, and between merchant ships at sea.

Without troubling about the Morse code, you can hear plenty of telephonic signals. There are six big broadcasting stations in action at present—at London, Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle, Glasgow and Cardiff, and it is probable that there will be seven or eight in operation by the first or second week of October. The two new stations will be at Aberdeen and Bournemouth. These stations send out special telephony programmes each evening, consisting of news reports, stories for children, vocal and orchestral music, weather forecasts, speeches, etc.

The London station, for instance, opens up at 5 p.m. each evening, and at 5.30 the “children’s hour” commences, to be followed by an excellent programme for grown-ups. This includes selections from the wireless orchestra, and if you have a sufficiently sensitive receiver the music will be so loud that you can fill a large room with it. In hundreds of homes these musical items are made the occasion for a little “dancing practice” each evening.

Other items on the musical part of the programme include songs, violin solos, duets, etc., which are followed by a special late news report at 9.30 p.m. Before closing down for the night a forecast of the weather conditions likely to obtain on the next day is given. This, of course, is invaluable to people who wish to plan outdoor excursions overnight.

Related posts:

1. Radio Advancements in 1929
2. World Aviation Code Required 1930

This entry was posted on Friday, May 15th, 2009 at 9:39 am and is filed under Radio. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Comments and pings are closed.

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