World Radiocommunication Research Articles

Astronomers Protect Endangered Bands

Amsterdam—Radio astronomers are treating a handful of footnotes in a document produced at the World Radio Conference held last month in Geneva, Switzerland, as a major achievement. The footnotes ask governments to protect certain bands—especially the methanol line at 6668 megahertz—for exclusive use by astronomers. These bands are being encroached on by telecommunication and satellite companies, swamping the faint signals from deep space so precious to astronomers. The footnotes are usually respected, but astronomers are lobbying for stronger protections.

Radioastronomy and the unquiet radio sky

This week's meeting of the World Radio Conference could make or break radioastronomy by making wise or foolish decisions about the reservation of radio-frequencies.

Determination of the coordination area of an earth station: a review of the new ITU-R recommendations

The recently adopted ITU-R recommendations on how to determine the coordination area of an earth station are reviewed. These recommendations are intended as a replacement for Appendix 28 of the Radio Regulations, once a competent World Radio Conference makes a decision to do so. It is therefore of interest to compare the coordination distances obtained with the new recommendations with those obtained with Appendix 28. Such a comparison has been made and shows that the new recommendations, in general, give smaller coordination distances than Appendix 28. A brief description of the software implementation of these recommendations is given.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

Marlene Goertzen, RN: HOME CARE NURSE IN ECUADOR

Karen Schmidt, RN,a missionary nurse/writer/editor for HCJB World Radio, lives in Quito, Ecuador, teaches health promotion seminars for women and produces a weekly shortwave radio program about Latin American cooking and culture. Her U.S. church home is First Baptist Church of San Lorenzo Valley, Felton, California.

World radio for education and enlightenment

World radio for education and enlightenment

WILL THE NEXT SUPERNOVA IN OUR GALAXY BE DISCOVERED BY A RADIO TELESCOPE

ABSTRACT Given that a large fraction of young supernovae which occur in the Galaxy are probably too much obscured by dust to be detected optically and that little suitable radio monitoring now takes place, the chances of an accidental radio detection are estimated. Using young extragalactic supernovae recently detected at radio wavelengths as a model, the expected flux density of a young supernova occurring on the opposite side of the Milky Way at a distance of 30 kpc is as strong as the half-dozen strongest sources now in the sky. An analysis of the characteristics and programs of the world's radio telescopes then indicates for several reasons that wavelengths in the 2- to 20-cm range are much more likely than others to make such a discovery, typically within 1-2 yr of the appearance of the new source. Older but still active microwave dishes, such as the Kraus-type reflector at Ohio State University, are the best candidates for an accidental discovery.

Scienter and SEC Injunction Suits: "SEC v. Bausch &amp; Lomb, Inc." and "SEC v. World Radio Mission, Inc."

Scienter and SEC Injunction Suits: "SEC v. Bausch &amp; Lomb, Inc." and "SEC v. World Radio Mission, Inc."

Media Publications of the United Nations

World Radio and Television (3.50), and World Press ($3,00) George Codding's Broadcasting Without Barriers (1959, $3.00 in paper and a hardback is available)

ISSUES OF CULTURAL DIVERSITIES IN DISNEY’S ANIMATED MOVIES (Reflective Essay)

The movie “industry” nowadays is “more sensitive to issues of culture and gender than it once was”, however many pictures “still perpetuate common misconception about” cultural diversities. “Such oversimplified and inaccurate portrayals can profoundly affect how [people] perceive [each other] and how [people] value [themselves]” (http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/parents/ movies/concerns/stereotyping_movies.cfm., undated, no page).It was Walt Disney, the person who created many famous classical stories in the 1940s and 1950s, such as Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, Pinocio, Snow White, The Little Mermaid and Sleeping Beauty. In fact, Disney’s animated movies based on those classic stories are still popular at the moment, particularly among children around the world (Radio Suara Amerika, 2002, on line).It cannot be ignored that the viewers who are watching classic animation movies, such as Disney’s, are still “getting stereotypical messages” at the moment (Mifflin, 1999, p.E.8). “Animated [pictures] have their share of stereotypes, because they are familiar and easily understood (http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/parents/movies/concerns/stereotyping_movies.cfm., undated, no page). However, it seemed that new versions of Disney’s animated movies have tried to improve the use of stereotypes (Durbin, 1998, p.2.13).In this essay, I would like to analyse some Disney’s animated movies as the particular media genre which I chose to see how they reflect cultural diversities, such as gender and race.

Children's Literature about Africa

Although the quantity of children's literature about Africa has been increasing rapidly in recent years--probably more has been published since 1960 than in the preceding three decades--the total volume is small and mediocre. Children's literature in this discussion refers to books written especially for children up to twelve or thirteen years of age. Somewhat over half the books which have been written for this age group are geographies, animal stories, and factual compendia with titles like First Book of Liberia, Getting to Know Tanganyika, Land and People of South Africa, and so on. Young persons are likely to use such books in connection with school assignments or purely for pleasure (in the case of animal stories), but they will gain little understanding of African peoples and cultures from them. The smaller segment of children's books about Africa is comprised of storybooks and factual presentations of African history and contemporary African life. Some of these books are sufficiently attractive to catch the attention of library users and of children whose parents are affluent enough to buy books for them. But do these books help create an understanding of the peoples and cultures of Africa? This question is especially pertinent since school curricula still devote relatively little attention to Africa, despite its increased importance on the world scene, and television, radio, movies, and other mass media to which children have access often do little or nothing to promote an understanding of Africa and its people.

Sound broadcasting in great Britain

The “changing role of radio” discussed in the preceding article has, to some extent, been one of retrenchment and acceptance of a lesser role in the lives of the public. Has this same response, largely due to the advent of television, been shown in other parts of the world? Today there are more television stations outside the U.S. than there are inside. Yet, in most countries of the world radio is still the more important form of broadcast communication. Whether due to the shortage of transmission channels in compact areas such as Europe, to competition from broadcasting systems of other nations, to national public policy, or to economic decisions by government or the people, most countries still maintain radio broadcasting systems of a relative size and scope beyond that seen in the United States for more than a decade. Although the popular base for radio broadcasting in Great Britain is, shrinking, and British domestic radio broadcasting may show an accelerating tendency to diminish in stature and effectiveness, today it is still a remarkable example of what radio can be following the introduction of television—provided that the introduction of television is slower than was the case in the United States.

Report on World Radio Conference Geneva, Switzerland, 1959

A report on the world radio conference held in Geneva, Switzerland, during the last four months of 1959 is presented. The Conference was held under auspices of the International Telecommunication Union, the specialized agency of the United Nations which deals with radio and other telecommunication matters at international level. The organization of the conference is described, to show the mechanism by which engineers and telecommunication administrators from many nations work together to produce what amounts to international legislation in a highly technical field. The four principal work areas of the conference were: Radio spectrum allocations; frequency management techniques; definition of technical terms and establishment of technical standards; and operating regulations in the aeronautical and maritime radio services. Major decisions of interest to engineers in the United States are summarized, including new terminology which engineers will be expected to learn gradually in the years ahead.

Solar Activity and Radio Communication

IN the speech made by the Postmaster-General, Major Tryon, at a luncheon of the Newcastle-on-Tyne Chamber of Commerce, he announced that the Post Office, after consultations With the American telephone authorities, is constructing a special radio receiving station to combat the intense sunspot activity which is expected to interfere seriously with world-radio communications in 1940. The long distance international radio-telephone services are mainly operated on short wave-lengths, and are found to be particularly susceptible to serious interference at periods of great sunspot activity. This has been proved by the graphs at short-wave reception stations, and the connexion between solar flares causing sunspots and fade-outs and magnetic disturbances has been clearly established. Approximately, they appear to follow an eleven-year cycle, a disturbance being due in 1940, and owing to the enormous increase in the long-distance telephone traffic, engineers are doing their utmost to prevent disorganization of the traffic at that period.

Broadcasting and the Coronation

CORONATION day, May 12, is likely to mark an interesting and notable event in the history of radio communication, for it will witness the most complicated outside broadcasts yet undertaken by the British Broadcasting Corporation. The arrangements for the sound programme were explained in the issue of the Radio Times of April 23, while some details of the means to be adopted for televising the Coronation procession were given in World Radio of the same date. On the sound side, apart from the arrangements necessary for the home and Empire programmes, the B.B.C. is providing facilities for about a dozen foreign Observers to broadcast commentaries in their own languages direct to their own countries. Two separate control rooms will be established, one at Westminster Abbey for the British programmes and the other at the Middlesex Guildhall for the foreign commentaries. In addition to supplying all the B.B.C. transmitters, the ‘home’ programme will be distributed to loudspeakers within the Abbey and to others on some of the stands along the route followed by the procession. By this means, a large number of the public will be enabled to follow the progress of the procession and to hear the service in the Abbey. At the foreign control room, provision is being made for ten separate commentaries in different languages to be fed by land-line to the International Trunk Exchange of the British Post Office, whence the programmes will be distributed to the countries concerned. Some 472 miles of special wiring are involved in the whole installation, which is being carried out by the General Post Office in co-operation with the B.B.C. Engineering Division. This one outside broadcast will involve the use of fifty-eight microphones, and, not least among the technical difficulties, is the necessity of rendering the installation of these as inconspicuous as possible, particularly inside the Abbey.

New Northern Ireland Broadcasting Station

THE new Northern Ireland Regional Station of the British Broadcasting Corporation was opened on March 20 by the Duke of Abercorn, Governor of Northern Ireland. This new transmitting station is situated at Lisburn, about nine miles south-west of Belfast. An illustrated technical description of the station given in World Radio of March 20 shows that the design is based upon the experience obtained by the B.B.C. in the erection and operation of the other regional stations. The total power output of the new transmitter is 100 kw., and its electrical circuit is very similar in general design to that of the longwave national transmitter at Droitwich. In normal circumstances the power supply for the station is obtained from the system of the Electricity Board for Northern Ireland, which has installed duplicate overhead feeders connected to its 33,000 volt ring main. An emergency supply has, however, been installed, in the form of a 600 horse-power Diesel engine driving a 400 kw. three-phase alternator. In addition to the transmitter hall and machine room, the station building contains a control room and office and studio accommodation.

Wireless Equipment on the Queen Mary

ACCORDING to an article in World Radio of January 10, the 75,000 ton Cunard–White Star liner, the Queen Mary, will possess wireless equipment in keeping with the high reputation she has already acquired as a modern trans-Atlantic express liner. The transmitting and receiving rooms are on the boat deck and separated by a distance of about 250 feet. The four transmitters are operated remotely from the receiving end, which acts as the control room for the whole of the ship's radio equipment. This room contains eight operating positions, the radio-telephone exchange and the emergency installation; and it is in direct telephone connexion with the bridge and all other important positions in the ship. The various services to be undertaken by the Queen Mary while at sea will involve the use of thirty-two wave-lengths, eleven of which are for short-wave telegraphy, nine for radio-telephony, seven for long-wave and five for medium-wave telegraphy. By co-operation with the British Post Office and the International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation of New York, two-way radio-telephone conversation to practically any part of the world will be possible at any time; and two independent conversations may take place simultaneously with the aid of the usual devices for ensuring secrecy. This service will be available from any one of the five hundred state-rooms, each of which is fitted with a bedside telephone, while for passengers in all classes, numerous telephone booths in various parts of the ship will be available. In addition to the apparatus for normal radio communication, a music- and speech-amplifying installation is provided for the simultaneous relaying of three different programmes in the public rooms through thirty-eight loud-speakers. An extensive library of gramophone records of all types will be carried in the ship to supplement the orchestral music and broadcasting programmes normally provided.

Operation of the Lucerne Plan in Broadcasting

THE broadcasting stations of Europe have now been working for two years in accordance with the Lucerne plan, by which a redistribution of wavelengths was put into operation on the night of January 14-15, 1934 (see NATTJBE of December 2, 1933, and January 20, 1934). A review of the working of this arrangement during the past two years is given in World Radio of January 17. The Lucerne plan has been more nearly applied than its predecessors of Geneva, Brussels and Prague, but the recommendations of the plan have not been fully adopted even by some of the countries which signed it. This failure is chiefly confined to the long-wave broadcast band, in which portions of three separate international arrangements now co-exist. On the medium waves, the position is much clearer and, generally speaking, the broadcasting stations are in their allotted places. The exceptions are chiefly confined to cases in which frequencies were allotted in the plan to stations not yet built, and these are now being used temporarily by other stations. A noteworthy development which has resulted from the application of the Lucerne plan is in the increased stability of frequency of broadcast transmitters which has taken place. The plan recommended a tolerance of ±50 cycles per second for stations using exclusive waves, and of ±10 cycles per second for stations using shared waves. A table of observations given in the article referred to above shows that in November 1935, 107 stations had attained the first limit, while 67 stations came within the smaller tolerance. Actually 12 stations showed a maximum deviation from their normal frequencies of 1 cycle per second or less. On the whole, it may be said that the results of international co-operation on the technical aspects of broadcasting in Europe have been fairly satisfactory; for some 230 stations in thirty-five different countries are now working relatively free of interference.

International Broadcasting Union

ACCORDING to a report in World Radio for July 5, the International Broadcasting Union concluded its annual meeting on June 26, at Warsaw. Representatives of broadcasting organisations in twenty European States and in the United States of America were present. It was stated during the course of the session that the potential audience of listeners at the beginning of June has reached at least 200 millions. Among the more important business of the conference was the decision to organise a limited number of international programmes each year, in the form of discourses in which direct contact will be established between the greatest contemporary leaders in science and art, and listeners in the various countries of the Union. The progress in technical precision in broadcasting stations in recent years is illustrated by the results obtained at the Union's central observation laboratory in Brussels. Whereas ten years ago stations were known to fluctuate a few thousand cycles per second from their normal frequency during the course of a few hours, to-day the principal European stations do not fluctuate more than one or two cycles in a month from their established frequency, which in many cases is of the order of one million cycles per second. This meeting formally marked the conclusion of the first ten years of the Union's activities; and it witnessed also the passing from the office of president of Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Carpendale (a controller of the B.B.C.) who has been president of the Union since its foundation. Very warm tributes were paid to Sir Charles for his services in the cause of international broadcasting. The new president of the Union is M. Maurice Rambert, administrateur-delegue of the Socie'te’ Suisse de Radiodiffusion.

The Christmas Day Empire Broadcast

FOR the third year in succession, the British broadcasting programmes on Christmas Day included a special hour during which greetings were exchanged with various parts of the world. This year the major portion of the programme came from the countries of the Empire; the Dominions, India and Southern Rhodesia each contributed one or more scenes representing different phases of their national lives. Twenty-five different scenes were presented, and the programme was notable for the accuracy of the timing and the rapidity with which the various connexions were made in succession. It was not a steady tour round the world as was the case on a former occasion; rather had it the air of a random selection of individuals in such places as Australia, Ireland, South Africa, Canada and so on. A broad outline of the technical arrangements by which the programme was carried out was given in the issue of World Radio of December 21. In order that so many different programme sources may be blended together to form a homogeneous whole, rapid and silent switching arrangements must be provided by means of which each item may be faded into the next without a break. This is made possible by the dramatic control panel, which was originally designed by the B.B.C. to provide silent and speedy switching between a number of studios in a production of a radio play. It is a simple step to adapt the use of such a panel to the switching of long distance telephone circuits, whether these be land-line or radio.

Broadcast of the Royal Wedding Service

THE broadcasting of the wedding service of H.R.H. The Duke of Kent and Princess Marina from Westminster Abbey on November 29 was described by the Times wireless correspondent as an unparalleled technical feat of the B.B.C. engineers. All who listened on this occasion will agree completely with this opinion; while those whom circumstances compelled to wait for the re-broadcast of the ceremony in the evening programme will have been equally impressed by the very high quality of the recording and reproducing technique. A brief description of the technical arrangements adopted for this occasion was given in World Radio of November 23, from which it is quite clear that the wireless listener was in a much better position, so far as hearing was concerned, than were probably most of those who attended the wedding service in the Abbey itself.