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American Agriculturist, January 13, 1923 
Choosing the Farm Radio 
Factors That Determine the Set for Best Results 
As announced recently. American Agri¬ 
culturist has made arrangements with sev¬ 
eral radio experts to prepare special articles 
on buying, making and operating the radio. 
These articies are in reality a progression 
and when complete will constitute a fairly 
comprehensive treatise on the construction 
and operation of the radio. Readers who 
are interested in radio shouid keep these 
articles especially, in order to refer back to 
previous instructions. This is the first of the 
series and is written by Brainard Foote, 
radio expert on the staff of the New York 
Evening Mail. During the war Mr. Foote 
was Master Signal Electrician in the United 
States army. Readers of American Agri¬ 
culturist who are interested in radio and de¬ 
sire information on the construction or pur¬ 
chase of apparatus are invited to submit their 
Inquiries to the Radio Department of the 
American Agriculturist. 
A S a fad and novelty, radio has had 
its rise and its fall during the past 
year. As an indispensable aid to busi¬ 
ness and speedy exchange of informa¬ 
tion it is now finding its true position. 
The city dweller has experimented with 
radio, wasted money thoughtlessly, while 
the farmer has wisely waited for radio 
to reach a settled basis before entering 
a field which holds such bright pros¬ 
pects of pleasure and profit and yet 
which may be a thorough disappoint¬ 
ment through unreliable guidance. 
By virtue of location, the farmer has 
an immeasurable advantage over the 
city man as far as actual results are 
concerned. While the countless steel 
structures and electrical wiring systems 
of city and suburb greatly weaken the 
radio impulses before they reach aerial 
wires strung upon ' apartment houses, 
no such obstructions oppose the opera¬ 
tion of radio in the country. Thus a 
set that is only fairly sensitive will 
bring in dozens of broadcast programs 
every evening in a country location, 
and the user of the set may jump at 
will to the one he likes the best. 
Serves Many Practical Purposes 
While the farmer’s radio outfit will 
be used more for entertainment than 
for any other purpose, there are several 
utilitarian features which a live-stock 
raiser or produce grower finds of utmost 
importance. Practically all of the im¬ 
portant broadcasting stations and espe¬ 
cially those in agricultural districts, 
broadcast stock market reports several 
times daily. Many farmers have found 
these of incalculable value in selecting 
the psychological time for shipment. 
Radio information of this character 
is far superior to the telegraph not only 
in speed but in completeness. Then for 
news of the nation and of foreign 
countries, radio is often several days 
ahead of metropolitan newspapers, 
since important happenings are broad¬ 
casted immediately. Farm bureaus are 
now making extensive use of radio to 
supplement their regular meetings. 
Advance information of the spread of 
an insect pest, or plant disease, is given 
along with late bulletins on methods of 
control. Many colleges now are includ¬ 
ing lecture series broadcast on definite 
schedule as a part of the college curri¬ 
culum. Daily weather reports are of 
value as well. 
Factors Determine the Choice of a Set 
As a comfortable and convenient 
form of entertainment, there is little 
that will compare with radio. Radio 
will while-away long winter evenings, 
will provide an outlet for the energy 
of restless son or daughter, and will 
bring from hundreds of miles away the 
songs and stories of a dozen different 
cities. Cold weather is a tonic for radio 
waves, and thus, in winter when the 
farm folks have most time on their 
hands, they may receive over the long¬ 
est distances and hear the greatest 
number of broadcasting stations. It is 
then that they may “tune in” WWJ of 
the Detroit News and receive a dance 
program; or pick up KYW of Chicago, 
broadcasting an opera from the Chicago 
Opera House; or with a shift of the 
dial catch WEAF in New York City. 
The choice of the farmer’s radio out¬ 
fit is a matter deserving careful consid¬ 
eration together with the conditions 
under which the set will be operated. 
How near is the nearest broadcasting 
station?^ How near are the broadcast¬ 
ing stations in which he is most inter¬ 
ested? Has he a clear stretch of about 
125 feet available for an aerial ? Does 
he wish to listen with telephone re¬ 
ceivers on his head or would he prefer 
to hear speech and music around the 
room as with a phonograph? Has he 
facilities for having a storage battery 
charged or would he like to use the new 
style of vacuum tubes which are lighted 
by dry batteries? Are there any com¬ 
mercial coast stations within 25 miles 
_ exchanging messages with ships which 
' would be likely to interfere with clear 
reception of the message? 
If there is a broadcasting station not 
over 20 miles away, the simplest form 
of receiving set is the “crystal” set using 
the “crystal detector” which gives satis¬ 
factory results with head telephones. 
No batteries are needed and there is 
no expense for upkeep. The crystal is 
a mineral so employed that it has the 
power to transform the radio impulses 
picked up by the aerial wire into intelli¬ 
gible sounds in the head telephones. 
Tube Set More Sensitive Than Crystal 
The vacuum tube is a far more sen¬ 
sitive detector than a crystal, when 
connected in what is known as a “re¬ 
generative” circuit. It is so called 
because the instruments are connected 
to use over again some of the current 
flowing through the head telephones. 
A “non-regenerative” vacuum tube is 
not greatly superior to the crystal. But 
when “regenerative” the reliable work¬ 
ing range is about 40 miles daytime 
and 200 miles at night. Darkness has 
a beneficial effect on radio waves so 
that distances up to 1000 miles are 
usually covered by a regenerative one- 
tube receiving set in a country location. 
Vacuum tubes may be added to “am¬ 
plify” the signals or increase their 
sound as picked up on the detector. In 
general, any broadcasting heard clearly 
with headphones on one vacuum tube 
may be amplified or intensified by two 
additional vacuum tubes so that a group 
of people may hear it without wearing 
the telephone receivers. Then a horn 
may be placed over the receivers to 
form a “loud speaker,” or the phono¬ 
graph may be pressed into service for 
this duty. ^Either of these will give as 
good results as the loud speakers on the 
market which use an ordinary type of 
headphone. ^ There are however, loud 
speakers using telephone reproducers 
of especially heavy build which will do 
the amplifying job somewhat more 
satisfactorily. 
Two Classes of Tube Sets 
There are two general classes of 
vacuum tube receiving outfits. Where 
there are no broadcasting or commer¬ 
cial stations nearer than 30 miles, a 
simple form of set may be used. This 
is called the “single circuit,” and has 
one or two control knobs. It is easy to 
operate, and quick. However, if there 
are two nearby broadcasting stations, 
let us say within 30 miles, and some 
commercial stations as well, it is advis¬ 
able to make use of the other type of 
set known as the “two-circuit.” While 
more complicated in adjustment, it is 
far more selective and capable of 
eliminating or “tuning out” practically 
all unwanted stations. Either of these 
may be supplied with additional vacu¬ 
um tubes in a unit, termed a “two- 
stage” amplifier. If standard vacuum 
tubes are employed, a six-volt storage 
battery of^ at least 80 ampere-hours 
capacity will be needed, but if the new 
“dry-cell” tube is desired, results will 
be not quite as good with the amplifier, 
and dry batteries are used. There is 
also a form of amplification in which 
vacuum tubes are used to amplify the 
radio impulses before they are made 
audible by the detector. This is “radio 
frequency” amplification, and will in¬ 
crease the strength of distant signals. 
Such additional expense need not 
be undertaken by the country dwell¬ 
er, since he is unhampered by poor 
location. 
A Word About Costs 
• 
A home-made simple crystal set, in¬ 
cluding all accessories, should not ex¬ 
ceed $15 in cost. A good set of this 
type may be purchased for about $25. 
A single tube regenerative receiver, 
with all accessories, should amount to 
about $40 if home-made and about $75 
if purchased outright. With the two- 
{Continued on page 39) 
33 
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Partial List 
of Contents 
^Woman’s Error and Her 
Debt. 
Two Classes of Women. 
Cries of Despair. 
*Wfaen Should a Woman 
Avoid Having Children? 
Birth Control—A Parent’s 
Problem or Woman’s. 
^Continence—Is It Practi¬ 
cable or Desirable? 
*Are Preventive Means 
Certain? 
"‘Contraceptirea or Abor¬ 
tion? 
Women and the New 
Morality. 
Legislating Woman’s 
Morals. 
Why Not Birth Control 
Clinics in America? 
Progress We Have Made. 
♦Any one of these chapters 
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she has neither the 
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Troth Publishing Co., 
Dept. T-871, 1400 Broadway, New York City 
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garet Sanger’s book. “Woman and the New Race.” 1 
am enclosing no money, but will give the postman whc 
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