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Most discussed of all single topics at the Radio Show this year will be television. The very fact that the position is still obscure, and nobody in the radio industry who really knows anything about it will talk lest his competitors should learn something to their advantage, provokes rather than discourages argument.
A Marconi-EMI television camera such as will be used for direct transmission of scenes.
It does not necessarily mean that, because the subject will be widely discussed at the Show, the public will be less interested in the other more normal wireless exhibits, or that they will be eager to place orders for television sets at once. Before any great response can be expected from the public it will certainly be necessary for opportunities to be given to judge of the capabilities of the new service. So far, very few persons indeed, in proportion to the population, have had the opportunity of seeing even the old 30-line, low-definition transmissions which the BBC discontinued some two years ago.
At the moment of writing there is no positive news regarding demonstrations of television at Olympia, everything seems to depend upon whether tests now being carried out with the vision transmitter at the Alexandra Palace by the engineers prove entirely satisfactory, and the next point to consider is whether reception conditions at Olympia are sufficiently satisfactory and free from electrical interference.
Facilities are being arranged at Olympia for public demonstrations as if they were to take place, but they will be abandoned if success cannot be assured.
The Radio Manufacturers' Association organising the Show is anxious to provide some kind of demonstration of television for the public but, quite rightly, they do not favour anything which will not be truly representative of what the public may demonstration without a wireless link, will be staged at Olympia.
It is very desirable that the exhibition authorities should maintain this attitude and decline to put up a demonstration of working television unless the receivers on which the demonstration is given are of a type which will be available to the public and the reception is carried out under home conditions.
An example of what will be available in the way of receivers. This is a Marconiphone model combined with an all-wave radio-gramophone.
Even if demonstrations are impossible, there will be more of a television atmosphere about the Show this year than at any previous show, for although in years gone by there have been examples of the old 30-line television receivers on one or two stands, this year there will be modern high-definition types of television receivers shown on the stands of quite a number of manufacturers, and although it is understood that these will not yet be for sale, nor will orders be taken at the Show for them, they will give the public a very good idea of what they may have to instal in their homes as soon as the service begins.
The sets on the stands will certainly not be shown in operation; they will be there as a kind of guarantee of 'things to come'.
It is already known that the cost of television receivers, when they are on sale, will be high, and probably nothing will be available below £65 to £80, so that television must, at the outset at any rate, be a luxury, and once again it may be emphasised that the television service is quite distinct from the broadcast service, so that the buying of ordinary broadcast receivers ought not to be affected as a result of the anticipations of the television service. In fact, one might say that ordinary broadcast receivers and television receivers are at least as distinct in identity as the ordinary type of camera and the cine camera.
If there is still to be some delay before the television service gets going we can at least rest assured that there can be no turning back now. The BBC is most definitely committed to running the television service, the money is available, and a large staff is engaged in the task of organising programmes. Several commercial companies are heavily involved financially and we can be sure that they and the BBC together are determined to make the utmost success of the project. Difficulties will yet be encountered, and temporary setbacks must certainly occur before everything is smooth running, but the inertia of the early stages has been overcome, and the project gains impetus day by day. If programmes do not arrest popular attention it will not be through lack of effort on the part of the BBC, and on the side of the manufacturers so much is involved that the public may be sure that the BBC transmissions will not be marred through any lack of effort to attain technical perfection on their part.
The television mast erected at the Hayes works of HMV for experimental work in television development.
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