Monday, June 15, 2020
The Gibson Girl
While researching the pigeons and pigeoneers, this popped up. I had some real experience with this unit, so I'd always considered it for a graphics project. Might as well front-burner it. Got to keep the MAKEFORCE juices flowing.
The SCR-578, commonly called the Gibson Girl, was an emergency transmitter and receiver for liferaft and rescue conditions. It required no skill, just unpack the kite, send up the antenna, and start cranking. The crank turned a generator that powered a simple transmitter on the international rescue frequency of 500 Kc. The crank also automatically keyed SOS. You had to hope that a nearby ship or port would be listening, equipped with direction-finding equipment. For more skilled operators there was a key button on the front, and a switch to choose manual keying.
My real experience was NOT in a real rescue; it was in the Manhattan High ham radio club. For some reason the students in an earlier year had used club funds to buy one of these. It still worked, and we could receive the SOS on 500 Kc. We understood that fake emergency operation was illegal FOR A GOOD REASON, so we only tried it briefly. Kansas was a long way from any ports, but the FCC was alert and serious in those days.
I've pictured Polistra near the Chumbe Lighthouse to symbolize Be Your Own Beacon, appropriate for the SCR-578.
= = = = =
Rambling footnote: Federal laws and enforcement mostly had A GOOD REASON in 1966. Vietnam was just then breaking the common sense of military action, and Nixon would soon start the long process of disassembling REASON in '69. EPA, affirmative action, abortion, negative income tax, connection with China, break the gold standard. Nixon started it all, and everything gradually snowballed and avalanched down to the current total massacre. All GOOD REASONS and alert enforcement to prevent crime and monopolies disappeared, replaced by Bezos and Soros and universal fake emergencies.
The SCR-578, commonly called the Gibson Girl, was an emergency transmitter and receiver for liferaft and rescue conditions. It required no skill, just unpack the kite, send up the antenna, and start cranking. The crank turned a generator that powered a simple transmitter on the international rescue frequency of 500 Kc. The crank also automatically keyed SOS. You had to hope that a nearby ship or port would be listening, equipped with direction-finding equipment. For more skilled operators there was a key button on the front, and a switch to choose manual keying.
My real experience was NOT in a real rescue; it was in the Manhattan High ham radio club. For some reason the students in an earlier year had used club funds to buy one of these. It still worked, and we could receive the SOS on 500 Kc. We understood that fake emergency operation was illegal FOR A GOOD REASON, so we only tried it briefly. Kansas was a long way from any ports, but the FCC was alert and serious in those days.
I've pictured Polistra near the Chumbe Lighthouse to symbolize Be Your Own Beacon, appropriate for the SCR-578.
= = = = =
Rambling footnote: Federal laws and enforcement mostly had A GOOD REASON in 1966. Vietnam was just then breaking the common sense of military action, and Nixon would soon start the long process of disassembling REASON in '69. EPA, affirmative action, abortion, negative income tax, connection with China, break the gold standard. Nixon started it all, and everything gradually snowballed and avalanched down to the current total massacre. All GOOD REASONS and alert enforcement to prevent crime and monopolies disappeared, replaced by Bezos and Soros and universal fake emergencies.Labels: defensible spaces, defensible times
¶ 9:24 AM
