German Television
Wilhelm E. Schrage, Radio News, July 1935

While America is still of the belief that television has not advanced sufficiently for general use, England and Germany are now endeavoring, through the aid of their respective governments, to make television as popular as broadcasting. Other European countries are following in their footsteps, and it can be truthfully said that Europe is now in the throes of "television fever."

Four hundred and fifty-three feet in the aIr, rising slightly above the top of the well known Berlin radio tower, with its famous restaurant, two copper rings appear to be growing in the sky. Each has a diameter of about ten feet, and their surfaces shine in the early spring sun like spun gold. They are symbolic of a new era--television is no longer a mere technical problem, but is being made available for the use of the general public. The golden rings are the antennas of the Berlin Television Station. From these high points, far above the surrounding buildings, radio waves of a special kind--ultra-short waves, as the technicians term them, are radiated into the air by a force of 15 kilowatts, covering an area of about 50 miles in diameter. Each of these television stations has two ultra-short-wave transmitters. One radiates the sound impulses, as usual, while the other one delivers the picture impulses to be shown in the home transmitter. The radio listener, or should we say the "television looker," uses a special television receiver to receive these transmissions. Pictur.es of home-movie size are reproduced. These receivers are of two sizes, one having a screen of about 4 inches by 6 inches and the other about 10 inches by 12 inches.

The cartoon character as actually received.

It is simple to tune in on television programs, because there is plenty of space in the present wave range, which is about 7 meters. In other words, there are far less stations in this wave range than in the normal broadcast band, and the selectivity of the television receiver does not have to be as great as for plain broadcasting. Also, the "monkey chatter" does not occur, because of the stations being situated so close to one another. There is also no danger of two stations showing their pictures at the same time to the surprised listener. A great number of these new receivers have to be tuned only once. Later on it is brought into operation by turning only the small switch of the power line.

For the past 9 months, the Berlin Television Station has been radiating interesting programs, daily, on 7 meters. The picture appears, as stated before, behind the surface of a glass plate. Sometimes it is in black and white, but very often, has a slightly bluish or greenish caste. If the transmitter radiates the picture in the so-called "180 lines manner," as is done in Berlin, not only heads, but the entire body may be seen. Entire scenes with all movements are easily recognized.

Two types of receivers.

The average price range of the receivers is from $250.00 to $500.00 per set. A television receiver contains two complete receivers, one for sound reception, and the other for the reception and reproduction of the image. While the sound receiver is only connected with the loudspeaker, the picture receiver works with a cathode-ray tube which is the heart of the visual system. Another type of picture receiver uses a "mirror-screw" for reproducing the picture.

The television newsreel pickup bus on location.

Recently, in Germany, there has been developed a television pick-up car. This car carries on its roof a standard motion-picture camera mounted on a cast-iron roof, allowing the camera to be moved in any desired direction. The hollow pillar of the camera support is used to convey the exposed film ribbon to the dark room which is in the interior of the car. By use of special apparatus and extremely fast-working chemicals, the film is developed in 1-1/2 minutes. The still-wet film ribbon is then sent at once through a so-called "Abtastgerat", which cuts the single-film pictures in 180 lines and transforms each line in a succession of strong and weak electrical impulses. The impulses are radiated from a transmitter into the air and the radio listener, receiving these impulses through the televisor, may see the broadcast scenes.

The ultra-short-wave transmitter in Berlin showing one of the shielded stages being equipped with a new tube.

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