GOOD RADIO

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Volume 58, Issue 89, 17 May 1929, Page 4

GOOD RADIO

WHAT APPARATUS TO CONSIDER. NOTES FOR INTENDING PURCHASERS. A few years ago the radio was unknown. To-day millions of houies are equipped with radio receiving apparatus. That which yesterday wa s a dream is to-day a fact. That which was a luxury has become a daily necessity. The world's progress in radio is advanciug at an cnormous speed. Havfng progressed as rapidl.v as it has it is not to be marvelled at that many are reaching for or accepting the illusory instead of carefully and ihtelligentlv selecting the best. For example, this is an electrica] age. Notliing seems impossible or improhable and when one reads statements made by technicians prophesying what may liappen in the future one is apt to feel that the prophecy is already an estnbhdied fact. When one reads that the ordinarv receiving set can be operated from the ligliting current of the hoine. it appeals to our ideas of progress. Knowing this, the maker of radio sets enlnrges upon these possibilities and so caters to the niinds of their prospective cnstomers in order to mahe the selling of their apparatus as easy as possible. CURRENT QUESTION. The actual facts easily substantiatfed by talking with any engineer versed in radio receiving apparatus, are that all radio apparatus in order to operate satisfactorily must be supplied with an "unfluctuatmg electric current. That in proportion to the fluctuation in tlie current so furnished so must vary ihe reception. As far as is known today there are only two sources of unfluctuatmg electric current suitable for use in a radio receiving apparatus and those are the electric storage batterv and the electric dry battery. Dne to the high voltage required, the cost and trouble of recharging, the electric storage battery, except on an "A" current, has not been a success, which means, therefore, that the radio dry battery is the only,practical source of influctuating current for use in a radio set on the "B" circuit. Radio apparatus can operate, and in 3i any places does operate fairlv satisfactorily using A.C. tubes and drawing current from the house wiring, particularly where the owner is living in a large city. But except in an exreedingly_ limited number of very large eities the electric current passing through the wiring of consumers' hquses fluctuates constnntly and very widely, -while even in the larger cities there is considerable fluctuation in the current. This fluctuation can only be absolutcly overcome by the installation of very expensive regulating equipment, entirely beyond the means of the ordinarv user. These facts are very important when one stops to consider the complexities oi modern life. There are but 24 hours in a day and most of us have only some lour to six hours of leisure at the most. During the short space cf time there are many things which one would like to do — read. talk with our friends. play interesting games, take physical exercises, etc., etc. — so that if one is to give up all or any of these diversions and listen to radio brondcasting, tlien the brondcasting should be something worth wliile hstening to and sl.ould come to us clearlv without . fluctuation, squenls, humming noi^s and other disconcertmg unpleasantnesses. Life is too short to waste on makeshifts. CA0T10N NEEDED. Tlie use of radio apparatus in the home brings education, knowledge of the woi'ld, and satisfaction of the natural hunger for music as no other agency has ever done. Radio is today a practical necessity in every home. To be without a radio receiving apparatus in the home is to he without one of the greatest of God's gifts. But in buving radio apparatus for the home rlemand that the set tought- be. the one which will give you as an individnal the most clear reception and at the lowest possible upkeep cost. If this can be done a limited number living in cities where a comparativelv unflurtuating house current can be obtained, or those in a position to invest a large additional sum of monev in special regulating equipment. will buy an A.C. set and receive splendid satisfaction. The ordinarv householder, be he living in the city or in the country, will probably find • that the set operated with dry "B" tattevies. will not only give far grenter satisfaction in elearness and -unfluctuating tone, but will also be tlie most economical.