Ham Radio in Old John Wayne Film

[N6KX]

I was watching an old black-and-white movie on AMC last night, "The High and the Mighty," made in 1954. #It involves the crash of a four-engine prop airliner, probably WWII surplus, where the pilot is John Wayne, and co-pilot Robert Stack. #This is sort of the original "Airport" movie; ironically, Stack appears decades later in the spoof "Airplane."

There's a scene focussed on the radio shack of an old rusty freighter that happens to be in the flight path of the plane. #The assistant radio man is at one point being chided by his superior for listening to aircraft comms on a radio of his own, separate from the ship's radios. #He warns him that, "The FCC'll pull your license!" #Perhaps it was illegal to have the unauthorized radio in the ship's shack. #The assistant, in light-hearted defiance, boasts about the rig, saying he built it himself.

For a moment, the radio is visible in the background, and on the adjacent, dimly lit wall, there are several QSL cards visible! #And one of them is from W1AW!

According to info I dug up on the Web, a guy named Wellman, who was either the director or writer, was a ham operator, and found a way to insinuate ham radio into his film. It would be nice if that happened more frequently in movies today.

Howie N6KX #http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[K6BTM]

Quote[/b] (N6KX @ April 21 2006,05:00)]I was watching an old black-and-white movie on AMC last night, "The High and the Mighty," made in 1954....

Howie N6KX http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif
The "The High and the Mighty," will reshow today, Friday, 4-21-06 @ 2 pm PDT on AMC. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

Tivo is all set here. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

[W7WV]

Anyone besides me like the movie "Frequency"?
I really like the segment where the Heathkit repairs itself.
I have tried this method many times myself but it has not worked well on my equipment, HI HI. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

[k9cn]

What a coincidence. I just caught "The High and the Mighty" last night.

What's funny is that with the passage of time, the movie now seems a parody of itself, even though it was dead serious at the time it was made.

It's got every stock passenger you can think of: the couple with marital troubles, the optimistic furniture salesman with the key to happiness, the young couple just starting out, the aging beauty queen, the suspected adulterers and suspicious husband, the young Asian girl heading to America, the nuclear scientist with a conscience, even the rambunctious young boy (by now a guy pushing 60) who sleeps through it all. Nowadays the TSA would never let such a group even get on the same plane together -- you'd just know something bad's going to happen.

And as to things that have changed: Everyone's smoking, everyone's dressed up well, the stewardess -- from back when they were still cute -- pours a couple of scotches from a regular bottle and not those little single-shot jobs, the seats look big enough to actually sit in, there's not a metal detector or TSA agent in sight...it appears flying may actually have been pleasurable back then. (Except for the part about almost crashing.)

Personally, I think this movie is pretty hokey and I like "Island in the Sky" a lot better. Still, there's something about these 1950s flying movies that gets me, particularly the scenes of an actual piston-driven aircraft in the air. One of my favorites is "Strategic Air Command" with those wonderful shots of getting a Convair B-36 fired up and off the ground. For the guys who lived it, that must have been a unique experience.

[w3sy]

Quote[/b] (W7WV @ April 20 2006,08:59)]Anyone besides me like the movie "Frequency"?
I really like the segment where the Heathkit repairs itself.
I have tried this method many times myself but it has not worked well on my equipment, HI HI. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif
And the Heathkit receiver learns to be a transmitter.

Hell, all ya had to do was plug a mic into the headphone jack! I'll bet ALL receivers can do this, but nobody is adventurous (or stupid) enough to try it. Perhaps it's a "hidden feature" that has been there for decades!

And if you DID plug a mic into the headphone jack, and LO AND BEHOLD it worked, would you ADMIT to this discovery?? I bet you wouldn't. That's because you'd never be able to go to another hamfest or club meeting without a couple guys elbowing each other and snickering about "the dumb@$$ who plugged a mic into his receiver's headphone jack."

[ai4ep]

w3sy...shame on you.

One of the best kept secrets of radio has now been unleashed.

Now we all will suffer.

shame shame shame.

justapickinatcha !!

AI4EP (Robert) http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[W2ILP]

w3sy worries because an actor in the movie "Frequency" was able to talk to the dead with a Heatkit receiver instead of a Heathkit transceiver. What the heck difference would it make? Believe in one miracle and you might as well believe in many others. People talk to Jesus every day without any radios at all. I never heard Him QSL but maybe they can get an answer that satisfies them. If they want to believe don't let me deny their right to do so....for Christ's sake.

Not many people worry about the logic of praying to an unseen all mighty God but some can't accept using one Bible instead of another. This IMHO is just about as foolish as worrying about broadcasting to the dead with a receiver instead of a transmitter. What big difference could it really make?

w2ilp (I Like Possibilities)...but I'm skeptical about even minor miracles.

[W7WV]

I just pulled the movie out of my collection and watched Frequency again.
Anyone ever notice that in the ham shack there are several QSL cards on the wall.
One of the callsigns is KOA 1537. I believe that was a CB callsign of the time? They show it several times.
The OM's callsign, W2QYV is held by a radio club in NY.

[kd5rpo]

For those who like me saw both The High and the Mighty, and Island In the sky, Why did the DC3s in Island in the sky have the word CORSAIR on the side of the cabin?

The pilots were from civilian service and the planes seemed to be from civilian service rather than the military C-47.

[W4HAY]

...now we know why those 'movie blooper' programs are always so much fun...

My favorite was the home-made radio in Stalag 17.

[K9STH]

RPO:

The pilots in Island in the Sky were contract personnel flying Air Force aircraft. That is why the colonel was in charge of the search and rescue operations. Remember that all of the aircraft had Air Force markings. Had the C-47 aircraft been civilian DC-3 they would not have had all of the military type radio equipment (such as the CW compartment) and the interior would have been much more "finished" (seats, paneling on the walls, etc.). Also, the Air Force insigna would not be present but some airline or air transport company's name would have been on the aircraft.

Many of the Air Force aircraft during that period of time were named by their crews. Now civilian transport aircraft also were named but usually by the company. This is still happening but in a much reduced manner. But, today the aircraft is often painted to reflect the name rather than just having the name painted on the nose (i.e. Southwest Airline's "Shamoo" which was named for and painted as the Orca in Sea World).

Glen, K9STH

[al2i]

Quote[/b] (K9STH @ April 22 2006,09:46)]Southwest Airline's "Shamoo" which was named for and painted as the Orca in Sea World
Our King salmon are nearly as big as Southwest Airline's whale.

http://www.davemcgraw.com/Images/kingsalmonplane.jpg

[K9STH]

2I:

And they taste much better!

Glen, K9STH

[kb2vxa]

Hi guys,

Anybody notice the co-pilot and the ship's radio operator were using the same WW2 Army surplus carbon mic with the PTT button on the side and hanger loop on top? What I didn't notice was whether it was plugged into the headphone jack but the rig had those classic National knobs and VFO escutcheon.

AL2I, what's that, a flying fish? http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[K9STH]

The old T-17 handheld microphone.

Army MARS was sending these out in the 101 pound packages that they were sending to MARS members in the very early 1960s. About every 2 months you got a shipment of "whatever" the supply depot was wanting to get rid of that month. Every shipment weighed in at exactly 101 pounds. At least this was true in 5th Army MARS.

Sometimes the shipment had some equipment, other times there were all sorts of items. One time I did get a brand new power supply that was made to run from 115 VAC, 230 VAC, 6 VDC, 12 VDC, and 28 VDC. It would provide all of the voltages needed to run an ARC-5 transmitter and receiver. It was about 12 inches by 12 inches by 16 inches. I opened it up and inside there was a container that held a schematic printed on silk cloth that opened up to about 2 feet by 3 feet. Everything that you needed to know about the power supply was on the schematic.

Getting back to the T-17: They used carbon elements and were the mainstay of many military voice transmitters until well after Korea. They were ugly, but they definitely worked. Many were advertised in QST and CQ magazine from just after World War II until the 1960s.

I don't know what I did with the T-17 units that I had. Probably at least one is up in my attic. There are a couple of local amateur radio operators who definitely want to explore my attic (I have been in this house for 34 years and the attic has never been cleaned out!). Of course there is also the toys from 3 daughters, clothes, baby bed, bassinett, and all sorts of things up there as well. I really need to have a garage sale!

Glen, K9STH

[W4HAY]

That T-17 was neat! A little bias and it could excite a 6C4 enough to drive a pair of 6L6's and modulate an 807 without having to fool around with that microphonic 6SL7 preamp.

[KW4MW]

I had one of those carbon mics one of the older hams gave me because I could afford a good mic. #I don't know the model but he said it came of of a tank radio.

I had a little outboard screen modulator (12AX7 and 12AT7) and I simply connected the mic in place of the cathode resistor on the pre-amp. #

Worked OK for local 75M net. #

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the way, doncha just hate it when those movie radio operators say "over and out"?

[W0LPQ]

The bad thing about the T-17 was the screws ... you could get one hell of an RF burn via them things..!

Been there ... done that..!

Bill, W0LPQ

[WA2ZDY]

Quote[/b] (W7WV @ April 21 2006,09:59)]Anyone besides me like the movie "Frequency"?
No, it is yet another example of Hollywood making hams look like doofuses. Frequency, Alf, etc. Just another Hollywood "fact" to debunk when your neighbour finds out your "one of those weirdos who thinks he can talk to dead people."

[wv6z]

Quote[/b] (WA2ZDY @ April 22 2006,11:35)]Quote[/b] (W7WV @ April 21 2006,09:59)]Anyone besides me like the movie "Frequency"?
No, it is yet another example of Hollywood making hams look like doofuses. #Frequency, Alf, etc. #Just another Hollywood "fact" to debunk when your neighbour finds out your "one of those weirdos who thinks he can talk to dead people."
My family all enjoyed it, to the point that my daughter insisted we buy the DVD when it came out.... and we did. One only has to read my bio on the call sign look up to see what she thinks of us. I thought it could have been better done if they had paid a bit more attention to the details, both big and small. The important thing to remember is..... nobody but US noticed all of the cheesey crap. I have to disagree with you on this one.... my kid's right...... Hollywood doesn't make hams look like retards...... hams do. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[W2ILP]

Red Skeleton made a radio transmitter from a BC radio receiver when he was locked in a cellar by villains in the movie "Whistling in the Dark". I know how this can be done with an ordinary 5 tube radio receiver and can explain it. I had explained it on the old rec.radio.amateur.policy site. It doesn't take a miracle.. just a soldering iron. I dunno if Red could have dood it if he really got locked in a cellar.

w2ilp (Its Logically Possible) and requires no help from angels, devils, dead hams or spirits.

[wv6z]

Quote[/b] (W2ILP @ April 22 2006,19:27)]w2ilp (Its Logically Possible) and requires no help from angels, devils, dead hams or spirits.
http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif