CONELRAD in the Movies

[KC7VH]

A Day Called X

You all might be interested in watching this Youtube video of a CBS documentary from 1957.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueEl7A7KaHA

 

[Token]

My Hammarlund HQ-100 and HQ-160 receivers both have prominent Civil Defense triangle symbols at 640 and 1240 kHz. Oddly enough, my Hallicrafters SX-110 receiver doesn't have the Conelrad symbols on its dial, and it was manufactured at roughly the same time as my HQ-100 and HQ-160. Also, I seem to recall reading that some of the early Japanese made transistor radios still had the Conelrad symbols on their dials as late as 1966.

Just goes to show you how tricky memory can be. I have the HQ-100 and did not remember that it has the markings on the dial. And both of the HQ-129X's currently in my collection do not have the markings (despite my post early remembering to have seen them on a 129X). I am, however, 100% certain I have seen them on a 129X before, it must have been one of the others I have owned over the years.

Just for my own information I decided to go through the collection here and look at general coverage receivers to see what did and did not have the markings. I limited it to general coverage models only, and models with production years that covered, where in, or overlapped, 1952 to 1968. It ended up being an odd mix of yes and no on the markings, and about 50% either way. Most Hammarlunds were marked, most Hallicrafters (except portables) were not marked.

Link to chart here:
CONELRAD markings on general coverage receivers about 1952 to 1968

T!

 

[badge2043]

Conelrad

Anyone here still have radios with the conelrad points on the dial? None on my Telefunken, none on my Korting Delmonico, none on my SX-88, but the only one I have with them is my Zenith 500D transistor portable.

Got a Halicrafter shortwave (older than me) that has the Conelrad markings on it...

 

[adcockfred]

Yeah, duck and cover sounded like a good idea at the time, but it was just a wooden desk !

 

[KK4JUG]

Yeah, duck and cover sounded like a good idea at the time, but it was just a wooden desk !

I never thought about that. I lived in Kansas back then. If we weren't gonna get an atomic blast, we get a tornado. The drills were about the same thing except we moved into the hallway.

 

[Token]

I never thought about that. I lived in Kansas back then. If we weren't gonna get an atomic blast, we get a tornado. The drills were about the same thing except we moved into the hallway.

Did the same thing for nuke drills. While some places got under the desk, other places moved to the hallway. This was to protect from the flying glass.

Later, in professional life, I helped with some of the testing that is now sometimes seen in film showing glass flying and embedding in mannequins.

T!

 

[ridgescan]

Got a Halicrafter shortwave (older than me) that has the Conelrad markings on it...

What model do you have there?

 

[KK4JUG]

I guess if there really were any US targets during the Cold War, Wichita was one. That's where I lived. Boeing, Beech, Cessna and McConnell AFB are located there. (LearJet came later and Stearman maintains a large parts warehouse there. Wichita was surrounded by missile silos (18, if I remember correctly) so gov't officials took it pretty serious. My father worked at Boeing and all they made or modified at that time was B-52s. I later worked at the Military Aircraft Division of Cessna. I had to get a security clearance because a lot of the work was classified.

That was a looooong time ago.

 

[spongella]

Back then I lived near Fort Slocum, NY, it was an active Army base and was supposed to be a NIKE missile base.

Our local Boy's Club took us there on a field trip, had to take a ferry over to the island where it was located. During WWII it was a prisoner-of-war camp.

 

[SCPD]

A few years ago I was at a local flea market where a high school was selling off the contents of the Civil Defense bomb shelter that had been located in the basement of their building. It was a literal time capsule from the Cold War - cots, radiation detectors, de-contamination suits, blankets, boxes and crates of saltine crackers- big containers of water- first aid supplies--- geeeeez- on and on
It was a mountain of stuff.
.
I was lucky to be there as they were unloading the 'treasures' ---and I pulled out two beautiful Coleman lanterns. These lanterns, painted a olive drab, were 'all fuel' (kerosene too??) design's, they had never been used, --with all the mantles, spare parts and storage containers- they were/are still as pristine today as when they were placed into that shelter in the 50's.
.
"How much to you want for them?" I ask'd
.
"Oh, ten dollars each? Ma'm .... ?" answer'd a tall, polite youth,,,"the money is for our school's marching band"
.
I gave them much more (!) for that pair.
.
_____________________________________
.
I later learned that the school board had ok'd the sale. The school's principle told me they were free to use the proceeds for whatever the school want'd or need'd. Along with that story, I got a kind thank you for my contribution to their band.
.
They had asked "the government" to come get those supplies years ago----- No one ever show'd up....
.
.
...................................CF

 

[N4GIX]

Yeah, duck and cover sounded like a good idea at the time, but it was just a wooden desk !

I remember that from my days at Putnam City Elementary School in OKC back in the mid-fifties.

Ducking under the desk was to hopefully protect you from falling debris, nothing more.

 

[pinballwiz86]

If you look on the internet you can find Google Earth place files that show all the minuteman missile silos in the rural areas of the United States! Very interesting in regards to CONELRAD and nuclear threat/deterrence. Now instead of CONELRAD we have the Emergency Alert System (EAS)..let's only hope it never gets activated due to a North Korean ICBM launch towards the mainland US.

 

[eorange]

If you look on the internet you can find Google Earth place files that show all the minuteman missile silos in the rural areas of the United States!

So I just used Google Earth and discovered there was a Nike missile site about 8 miles away from where I grew up, in operation until I was about 7 years old. Nuclear capable, able to intercept supersonic aircraft. Holy cow!

 

[ridgescan]

So I just used Google Earth and discovered there was a Nike missile site about 8 miles away from where I grew up, in operation until I was about 7 years old. Nuclear capable, able to intercept supersonic aircraft. Holy cow!

I tried finding this in GE but couldn't. I know I have a few around me here in SFO. What am I looking for when I get in GE?

 

[eorange]

I tried finding this in GE but couldn't. I know I have a few around me here in SFO. What am I looking for when I get in GE?

I didn't use the original Google Earth client program. I just used Chrome and visited the Google Earth site. From there, I searched for "Nike missile sites", and a ton of markers appeared. Hope this helps.

BTW, this was the 1st time I used GE in a browser, and the 3D imagery was very cool.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-J320A using Tapatalk

 

[ridgescan]

I didn't use the original Google Earth client program. I just used Chrome and visited the Google Earth site. From there, I searched for "Nike missile sites", and a ton of markers appeared. Hope this helps.

BTW, this was the 1st time I used GE in a browser, and the 3D imagery was very cool.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-J320A using Tapatalk

Thanks!

 

[Token]

So I just used Google Earth and discovered there was a Nike missile site about 8 miles away from where I grew up, in operation until I was about 7 years old. Nuclear capable, able to intercept supersonic aircraft. Holy cow!

Even today the monopulse comparator developed for the TTR (target track radar) is a work of art. Designed in the late 40's / early 50's that is still one of the best integrated and self contained X band comparators ever made.

Although the Nike-Ajax and -Hurc systems are long gone from the original design military service the pedestals and antennas themselves are still in use in other applications around the World. Modified versions of the Nike are still used as instrumentation radars in a lot of places.

T!