Text 29582, 158 rader
Skriven 2012-06-08 08:19:05 av Roy Witt (1:387/22)
  Kommentar till text 29563 av Richard Webb (1:116/901.0)
Ärende: Fidonews Vol 29 No 23 June 04, 2012 Page: 2
===================================================
07 Jun 12 20:37, Richard Webb wrote to Roy Witt:

 Roy>>> The record of what happened in the shack of the Itasca and what
 Roy>>> radio events was recorded (on paper) by all the stations and ships
 Roy>>> in the vicinity, exists. It consists of 117 pages and can be found
 Roy>>> at the Perdue University's website. I'm left it at page 20
 Roy>>> yesterday.

 RW> <snip>

 RW>> INdeed, but they can be perused, so that helps.

 Roy>> I'd think that would be a task left for someone with computer
 Roy>> skills that can read them aloud, as what is available can't be cut
 Roy>> and pasted. I've tried!

 RW> NO doubt, probably handwritten, or hand printed anyway,
 RW> making a scan and then optical character recognition
 RW> difficult if not impossible.

I posted an example here earlier, which no one commented on.

Here it is again:

/quote on

From George Palmer Putnam Collection of Amelia Earhart Papers.
web site: http://www.lib.purdue.edu/aearhart
Subjects: Earhart, Amelia, 1897-1937
          Lae (Papua New Guinea)
          Itasca (Ship)
          Radios

U.S. Coast Guard Dispatch, 2710, ITASCA TO GOVERNOR SAMOA, radio
calibrated, June 23, 1937

8028 FOLLOWING FOR AMELIA EARHART PUTNAM LAE QUOTE ITASCA TRANSMITTER
CALIBRATED 7500 6210 3105 500 AND 425 KCS CW AND LAST THREE EITHER CW OR
MCW PERIOD ITASCA DIRECTION FINDER FREQUENCY RANGE 550 TO 270 KCS PERIOD
REQUEST WE BE ADVISED AS TO TIME OF DEPARTURE AND ZONE TIME TO BE USED ON
RADIO SCHEDULES PERIOD ITASCA AT HOWLAND ISLAND DURING FLIGHT 0910
=================

/quote off

It's in all caps, so you might need to adjust your reader.

Basically it's a typed message, all in caps with breaks for periods
inserted to end a sentence.

It reads: 8028 Following for Amelia Earhart Putnam, Lae - quote - Itasca
transmitter calibrated 7500, 6210, 3105, 500 and 425 Kilocycles and last
three (frequencies) either CW or MCW. Itasca direction finder frequency
range 550 to 270 kilocycles. Request we be advised as to time of departure
and zone time to be used on radio schedules. Itasca at Howland Island
during flight 910.
==================

I have no idea what the number 8028 is used for.

I inserted the word (frequencies) to simplify the messages frequencies in
use and the seperation of frequencies using CW and/or voice.

 RW>> What people forget with a lot of things like this is the sad fact
 RW>> that meticulous research properly done costs real money to get the
 RW>> trained professionals with the equipment and knowledge to do it (not
 RW>> referencing the radio logs so much as the physical evidence at the
 RW>> alleged crash site.) But those logs are an interesting read I'll
 RW>> bet.

 Roy>> They are, since the one I'm reading was meticulously done by the
 Roy>> Coast Guard and Navy Dept...

 RW> OH yeah, the USCG radio ops are trained to be.  Goes with
 RW> the teritory with those guys.

Apparently that is true of the Navy ops too.

 RW>> ON another note from this thread ... size of the radio ...
 RW>> IF that radio only did cw then no modulator needed, that
 RW>> would cut down on some components.  Most serious pilots back then
 RW>> knew MOrse.  IT's quite possible cw was the only mode in use.

 Roy>> It's possible, but MCW was mentioned several times in those
 Roy>> archives...

 RW> True, but if one's listening to a cw signal with the bfo
 RW> engaged it's hard to tell whether one is actually hearing
 RW> mcw or regular on off keyed cw.

Dunno myself. I haven't used CW in perhaps, 30 years.

 RW> I don't think receivers of
 RW> that period were commonly equipped with an s meter, so
 RW> watching the needle bounce wouldn't help ya there <g>.

The Itasca apparently had an S-meter, as they reported her signal at
S9...unfortunately, she couldn't hear that transmission.

 RW> Someone knowing the specs of the transmitter they took
 RW> aboard that flight could tell you for sure, but lack of a
 RW> modulator would reduce the bulk quite a bit, always a
 RW> consideration.

The photo of the factory rep presenting Earhart with the name and model of
that radio:

"Amelia Earhart and E. Jay Quinby of the Western Electric Company, with
the radio equipment for her Lockheed Electra plane, ca. 1937"

http://tinyurl.com/7e7dyx4

The small box she's holding looks more like it would be a direction
finder, as it has what looks like a 3" meter in the center of the box,
with a few knobs and switches on it. You know how reporters are with
descriptions of what's in the photos their photographer furnishes them.

 RW> iF your pilots are using the code anyway and you're
 RW> trying to maximize flight distance and duration any pound you can
 RW> shed is a plus, especially back then.  That one might be easily
 RW> removed from the realm of speculation if one could find the specs of
 RW> that unit and know which of any add-on options were present.

The size of most radios in the day were much bigger than I would have
expected an airplane radio to be. But I havn't run across a photo of the
airplane's actual receiver/transmitter yet.

 Roy>> That could mean that one or two additional tubes would add to the
 Roy>> size.

 RW> YEp, plus additional power supply capability to operate
 RW> those tubes.  An old friend and i were reminiscing just last night on
 RW> the phone about old homebrew radios such as the novice ops of
 RW> yesteryear built to get on the air.  HE was talking about a kit he
 RW> built with iirc a pair of 6gf5's, crystal controlled transmitter of
 RW> course.  QST published plans to add a modulator to it so that said
 RW> novice could get on am voice when he upgraded, just pop in a
 RW> different crystal.  HE noted that it doubled the weight of the
 RW> transmitter and then some.

If you're familiar with the Heathkit 'Lunch Box' radios offered in the 50s
and 60s, they were 15 and 10 meter, 5 watt AM radios with small tubes. Not
much to them and they had a xtal socket on the front for changing
'channels' ... totally locked in on transmit but had a tunable receiver.

Haven't seen one of those animals in a coon's age.


                R\%/itt



... besides, IMNSHO, Ward Dossche should resign as ZC2 and surrender his
... net node-number to the ZCC !            - Cato the Elder -


--- Twit(t) Filter v2.1 (C) 2000-10
 * Origin: Roiz Flying \A/ Service * South Texas * USA * (1:387/22)