Tht RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1319 
How Radio Works 
I’akt II 
W AVE LENGTH.—I have told you of the re¬ 
markable speed with which radio waves 
travel, and now I will tell you how each broadcast¬ 
ing station can send out music and voices at the 
same time that other broadcasting stations are also 
sending out programs; also how it is that you can 
separate one from the other so that you can listen 
to the program from any station that 
you wish. Though all broadcasting 
stations are sending out on radio 
waves that travel at exactly the same 
speed, yet each station is given by the 
government, a certain “wave length” 
upon which they must send. This wave 
length is given in “meters” (a meter 
is equal to about one and one-tentli 
yards, or 39 inches) and means that 
when one wave.has left the aerial of 
the broadcasting station it has trav¬ 
eled, say 860 meters, before the second 
wave starts and the second wave has 
gone 360 meters before the third wave 
starts and so on, each wave following 
the other iby 360 meters. In this in¬ 
stance the station would be said to 
have “a wave length of 360 meters.” 
Another station may have 346 meters, 
or 425 or any number that the govern¬ 
ment assigned. These waves travel 
several hundred meters apart but they 
leave the aerial of the broadcasting 
station at the rate of 250,000 to 1,000,- 
000 time a second and travel at a speed 
of 186,000 miles a second. 
TUNING-IN.—IWe are all more or 
less familiar with musical instru¬ 
ments; we know that pianos, violins, 
guitars, harps and other string instru¬ 
ments have to be tuned before they are 
played in order to get harmonious 
music from them. A violinist will tune 
liis violin by tightening or loosening a 
string until the sound from it corre¬ 
sponds exactly with a certain keynote 
of the piano. His strings must corre¬ 
spond with the G-D-A-E notes of the 
piano, and if they do not, the music 
that the player makes is out of tune, 
and rather hard on the ears of the lis¬ 
teners. When a note is struck on the 
piano, the wire vibrates at a certain 
speed, and this makes the air around 
the wire vibrate at the same rate or 
speed, and then it is the vibrating air 
that makes our ear drums vibrate, so 
•that we hear the sound produced by the 
vibrating strings of the piano. When 
a violin or mandolin or any such in¬ 
strument is tuned, it is ordinarily 
spoken of as “tuning up;” an orches¬ 
tra “tunes up” before commencing their 
playing and so it is with radio, only 
with radio we speak of it as “tuning- 
in.” In tuning-in with radio, we must 
have a radio receiving set, a set that 
is made up of different parts and so 
arranged that when your aerial picks 
up the passing radio waves, they will 
pass through your receiving set and 
you will “tune-in,” or tune your set to 
correspond to the wave length of the 
broadcasting station that you wish to 
bear. For instance, if you wish to 
listen to KDKA, Pittsburgh, sending 
out a broadcast on a 360-meter wave, 
you must tune your receiving set so 
that it will electrically vibrate witli 
the 360-meter wave that is passing 
through it. This will enable you to listen to this sta¬ 
tion only, and when you wish to listen to another sta¬ 
tion sending on another wave length you must tune in 
to their wave length or you will not be able to hear 
them. To those who want to study the exact reasons 
and the exact electrical theories that make this 
necessary a text book should be consulted, but for 
the farmer or rural community user of a radio set 
al 1 that is necessary to know is that you must tune 
your receiving set, like a violin, so that it vibrates 
at the same rate of speed as the broadcasting sta¬ 
tion waves vibrate, to which you wish to listen. 
WHAT YOU NEED FOR RECEIVING BROAD¬ 
CASTS.—I have explained, briefly, broadcasting sta¬ 
tions, call letters, the personal element, how radio 
works, wave length and tuning-in: now we are ready 
to find out just what it is necessary to have so that 
we can receive these broadcasts. We will need, 
first, an aerial; second, a receiving set connected to 
the aerial, and third, a connection to the earth, com¬ 
monly called “ground.” Each of these three parts 
will consist, of several parts in themselves, and I 
will tell you in later articles how to put up your 
aerial and connect your receiving set to the aerial 
and ground. 
DIFFICULTIES TO BE ENCOUNTERED OR 
Commissioner F. P. (Graves, of the Educational Department, and the prize spell¬ 
ers, at the New York State Fair. At left, Edwina Elizabeth Weis, of Westchester 
Co. At right, Mary Stewart, of Cortland Co. Re-engraved from N. Y. Times 
Blanching Celery With Boards 
EXPECTED,—To install a radio set and operate it 
is not as difficult as one imagines; for a person who 
can run a sewing machine, like all good housewives, 
with the winding of the bobbin, threading the needle, 
using the hemmer, the binder, the tucker, the quilter 
or the embroidering attachment the operating of a 
receiving set is very simple. To the man or boy who 
tinkers around a car, tractor or other piece of farm 
machinery, the radio set will be simple. For the 
one who is not familiar with any of the above, but 
who will follow simple instructions and follow them 
carefully, no difficulty will be encountered. 
FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS.—That is all that you 
have to do to get the benefit out of radio, whether 
you build or buy your radio set. .t. h. f. 
Domesticated Woodchucks; Their Meat 
Staring Celery 
I HAVE read with interest the woodchuck discus¬ 
sion and the question of F. C. N., and Joe Gravel 
make it seem necessary for me to tell them a few. 
Woodchucks are more intelligent in a minute than 
rabbits ever were and can be trained to do a number 
of tricks, therefore make very interesting pets. Put 
a small rubber nipple on a 2 oz. bottle, filled with 
cow’s milk and hand it to a young chuck, and see 
how quick he will empty it. He will 
soon learn to sit up “bear fashion" and 
hold it in his paws while drinking. 
They do not multiply as rapidly as 
rabbits, but it is surprising how thick 
they will get if left alone. To domesti¬ 
cate, enclose a dry piece of ground so 
they cannot dig out. and make a few 
artificial dens for them and they will 
do the rest. If you have a piece of 
ground that is now inhabited with 
them it will make an excellent begin¬ 
ning. Feed them young green clover, 
lettuce, beet tops, etc. Gradually teach 
them to eat dry whole oats, as the meat 
will become firmer and not so fat. 
To put up for Winter, boil until well 
done. Remove the meat from the bones 
and pack in glass jars. Pour in enough 
of the hot liquid in which it was boiled 
to cover the meat and seal while hot. 
To salt them down cut up in small 
pieces, put a layer of salt in the con¬ 
tainer, then a layer of meat, and con¬ 
tinue until all is packed and finish 
with a layer of salt on top. Do not 
be afraid of using too much salt, ns 
the meat will only absorb what the 
pores will hold. To prepare for cook¬ 
ing soak in fresh water over night or 
longer if necessary. 
Woodchucks are now selling for 
a round 30c per lb. dressed, and there 
is no reason why raising them should 
not show a nice profit as the expense 
is practically nothing. 
Pennsylvania. w. p. danieeson. 
More About Those Vermont Woodchucks 
Here is another note from our good 
French Canadian friend Joe Gravel: 
I read some more in your paper of 
Sept. 27, where N. want for know 
if the woodchuck can be tamed. Suit* 
he can be; I tame one myself. He say 
he live on one hill 4,000 ft. high, and 
40 miles to a city. Perhaps the wood¬ 
chuck aint lack those climate; maybe 
too cold for him to come out; sleep all 
through these six years, and the one 
he see fell off the moon when she pass 
over some night. I should say hang 
a lot of alarm clock on his woods. 81m 
is what the farmer in Vermont use to 
wak the hire man, and if those don't 
wake he can send to Clark Allis, in 
Sept 6 paper, and get some for trans¬ 
plant on his hill. 
Mr. Allis claim he got plenty, 1,000 
or 1,500; he probably aint count them 
every day, but could spare F. C. N., a 
few, or if he want the whole lot it 
would give him a good start in the 
woodchuck business, but if he had alL 
of them tamed, he would need to plant 
a few more string bean, or his wife 
aint have plenty for can. 
I think he make plenty money with 
those tam woodchuck. He go build 
up a trade in the city, and he could 
take down some big load, as it must 
be all way down hill. After 'his customer get a 
taste of those woodchuck he would hanker after it 
as a man does when he lose her tobacco. 
And I tink as the fur-bearing animals get scarce 
jou will see the first ladies in the land go ware 
woodchuck coats. They aint shine lack mink, and 
if the hair come off the hide is strong and they 
would look a little baldhead like our Vermont 
deacons, but still useful. 
And how handy it would be if you had the min¬ 
ister or the Prince of Wales drop in for dinner; 
just slip off from the back door and pick up a wood¬ 
chuck and dress him and not to pick pinfeathers 
as you do on some hole hen. .toe gravet.. 
Vermont. 
