The Empire Service broadcasting station at Daventry

The paper describes the development of the short-wave broadcasting service in this country during 11 years from the initial experiments carried out at Chelmsford in 1927 to the present time. As a result of the initial experiments, the Empire broadcasting station was established at Daventry by the B.B.C.in 1932. The considerations underlying the design of this station are given, together with a brief description of it and the results obtained. Changes to the 1932 aerial system are discussed and an account is given of a series of experiments carried out at Daventry to determine the most suitable type of aerial for short-wave broadcasting. Details are given of the new aerial system erected at Daventry as a result of these experiments. The number and power of transmitters required for a shortwave broadcasting service which has to cover practically the whole world are discussed, and a detailed description is given of two types of high-power short-wave transmitter which have been installed at Daventry. The feeder and feeder-switching system to permit the connection of a number of high-power transmitters to a number of short-wave aerials is described. The paper ends with information on the performance of the station. An Appendix contains notes on the wavebands available for short-wave broadcasting services.