Engine House, Senate and House garages and Maltby Building, 1927

Repairs and improvements, courthouse, District of Columbia, 1927

7,500.00

Maintenance, etc., Columbia Hospital for Women, 1927

Total___

Appropriated, annual act, District of Columbia, May 10, 1926–

Appropriated, annual act, District of Columbia, approved May 10, 1926--

$1,235. 05 978. 04 5, 480. 61 8,334.80 444. 32 711.00

1, 953. 74 1,067.47

766.22

654.79

3, 312, 75

61. 21

25,000.00

25, 000, 00

Appropriated, legislative act, approved May 13, 1926_

11, 922. 04

12, 542. 08 1, 674. 75

91, 684. 00

91, 684. 00

о

1st Session

No. 9

BROADCASTING BY RADIO THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE SENATE

LETTER FROM THE SECRETARY OF WAR AND THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY TRANSMITTING, IN RESPONSE TO SENATE RESOLUTION 197, SIXTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION, THE REPORT OF A JOINT COMMISSION APPOINTED BY THEM RELATIVE TO BROADCASTING BY RADIO OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE SENATE

DECEMBER 6 (calendar day, DECEMBER 9), 1927.-Referred to the Committee on Rules and ordered to be printed

NAVY DEPARTMENT, Washington, December 8, 1927.

The PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE,

Washington, D. C.

SIR: Under date of May 3, 1924, the Secretary of the Senate communicated to the Secretary of War and to the Secretary of the Navy the following resolution of the Senate (No. 197, 68th Cong., 1st sess.), adopted April 24 (calendar day, May 2), 1924:

Resolved, That the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy be, and are hereby, requested to cooperate in the appointment of a joint commission of radio experts from the War and Navy Departments to investigate and report to the Senate upon the following problems, to wit:

First. The equipment of the Senate Chamber with electrical transmission and receiving apparatus such that without defacing the Senate Chamber each Senator at his desk may individually and clearly hear, without the use of a head receiver, the proceedings of the Senate at all times in whatever tone of voice conducted. Second. The additional equipment necessary for the broadcasting by radio of the proceedings of the Senate throughout the country, utilizing the radio stations of the War and Navy Departments.

The report of said commission to include the estimated cost of installation, maintenance, and operation of the proposed systems suggested in paragraphs 1 and 2 hereof.

In compliance with this resolution an officer of the Army and an officer of the Navy, both radio experts, were appointed a joint commission to investigate and report to the Senate upon the problems covered thereby.

As result of investigation thus made a report has been formulated by Commander Stanford C. Hooper, United States Navy, and Lieut. Col. Joseph O. Mauborgne (Signal Corps), United States Army, of which we have the honor to transmit an original and one copy.

Respectfully,

DWIGHT F. DAVIS,
Secretary of War.
CURTIS D. WILBUR,
Secretary of the Navy.

S D-70-1-vol 24-11

REPORT OF A JOINT COMMISSION TO INVESTIGATE AND REPORT TO THE SENATE IN ACCORDANCE WITH SENATE RESOLUTION 197 OF THE SIXTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION

After exhaustive investigation into the problems upon which report is requested, your committee makes the following report in brief, amplifying discussion by subsequent pages:

First. The equipment of the Senate Chamber with electrical transmission and receiving apparatus such that without defacing the Senate Chamber each Senator at his desk may individually and clearly hear, without the use of a head receiver, the proceedings of the Senate at all times in whatever tone of voice conducted.

This installation is impracticable at the present stage of the art of radio or telephone transmission.

Engineers of the Bell Telephone Laboratories have stated that in their opinion such an installation would require an infinite amount of research conducted at great cost with no market for such apparatus, if the problem could be solved, except to the Senate Chamber.

Second. The additional equipment necessary for the broadcasting by radio of the proceedings of the Senate throughout the country utilizing the radio stations of the War and Navy Depart

ments.

The War and Navy Departments operate a number of radiotelegraph stations in various parts of the country along the seacoast and in the interior sufficient to reach at least two-thirds of the whole area of the United States. Neither the War nor Navy Department has equipment over which speech may be broadcast excepting for the Navy Department station in the Washington Navy Yard, D. C. Nor has either department equipment of sufficient power to enable such broadcast to be made even were funds available to reconstruct the apparatus for reproduction of speech.

Your committee in considering the tenor and purpose of the resolution referred to has examined all channels open to accomplish either wholly or in part the desired end of broadcasting the proceedings of the Senate; first, within the Senate Chamber, and, second, to the entire United States.

In amplifying the brief report first given, your committee further reports specifically:

1. It may be stated that there are two principal reasons why a public-address system could not be employed successfully in the Senate Chamber, assuming that individual microphones are desired on each Senator's desk so as to obviate the necessity of talking from any given point in the Chamber.

2. The first of these is the singing effect which results when the sounds emitted from the projectors or loud speakers reach the sensitive microphone with a sufficient degree of loudness to operate it. For successful operation of any loud-speaking system, the projectors or loud speakers must be so arranged as to direct the sound away from the microphone, thus preventing coupling between the loud speaker and the microphone and the resultant singing effect. Under ordinary conditions where only a single microphone mounted on the speaker's stand is employed, the foregoing condition can be met very readily, i. e., the loud speaker can be suspended above the microphone in such a manner as to direct the sound away from the

microphone. Obviously this requirement could not be met in the Senate Chamber where nearly 100 would be needed and these distributed over the entire floor.

3. The second impracticable feature is that of providing a satisfactory switching arrangement for energizing and deenergizing the various microphones at the proper instant. The noises and confusion which would result if more than one microphone were connected with the loud speaker at any given time renders such an arrangement imperative. This problem would be a comparatively simple one if the loud speaker were only to be used while speeches were being made by the various Members. It could readily be solved with the aid of a microphone control switchboard operated by an attendant who would connect the loud speaker to any one of the microphones as required. In debate, however, where brief remarks are exchanged by several different Members in rapid succession, it would be extremely difficult, if not physically impossible, to energize and deenergize the various microphones with sufficient dispatch to extend the facilities of the loud speaker at the proper instant to each individual who wished to talk or who obtained the floor.

4. From the foregoing it will be seen that the present development of the art is such that the employment of the public-address system in the Senate Chamber possessing the features outlined in Senate Resolution No. 197 is impracticable at this time.

That the use of existing stations of the War and Navy Departments would require that certain apparatus and antennæ supports be added to equipment now provided. In the past five years the widespread interest in broadcasting has forced the Army and Navy out of the frequency band normally used for broadcasting of speech and music. Consequently, the Army and Navy have no apparatus in this particular band worthy of mention. The frequencies used by broadcasting stations determine the frequency band of all existing broadcast receivers, and in order to reach the listening public all broadcasting must be within the required band. As a natural result, the Army and Navy would be required to purchase suitable broadcasting transmitters for installation at their various stations. The number of such transmitters and the power determines the cost of purchase and, later, maintenance and upkeep of the installation.

It is unfortunate that the proceedings of the Senate are carried on during daylight hours, since the daylight distances of transmitters in the broadcast band are considerably less than night distances. It is estimated that the distance of a 5-kilowatt output transmitter in daylight, using the average receiver now employed by listeners, is approximately 100 miles; the distance of a 10-kilowatt about 175 miles; the distance of a 20-kilowatt about 250 miles; and of a 50kilowatt about 350 miles.

Utilizing land already in use by the Army or Navy, your committee finds that the greater part of the country might best be covered by the installation of:

(a) 10-50 kilowatt transmitters located at

(1) Selfridge Field, Mich.

(2) Fort McPherson, Ga.

(3) Key West, Fla.

(4) Fort Omaha, Nebr.