[Milsurplus] Re: Conelrad

[Christian R. Fandt]

Upon the date 04:32 PM 12/1/2005, Barry Hauser said something like:
>Hah ...
>
>Thanks Sam -- that site is great.
>
>I thought I was exaggerating about being completely safe if you duck and 
>cover under a table or desk, but I'm playing the Bert The Turtle radio 
>program right now and the wise announcer assures just that.  "in case the 
>atom bomb explodes near us" and "you can tell it's an atom bomb if you can 
>see the bright flash which is brighter than the sun" or words to that 
>effect.  Right.
>
>Plenty of "duck" .. electric organ souns or Rootie Kazootie slide flute 
>and "cover" and more slide flute.  Oh sheesh .. "it can be fun".  ... like 
>a flash -- that means ... duck and cover.  ... do what your parents and 
>teachers tell you to do -- and don't get excited and don't run ..."


I started Kindergarten back in 1957 and all through primary school we never 
practiced anything like that. No duck and cover, nothing, nada.

I don't recall ever hearing of other local school districts around here 
practicing duck and cover either. Fallout shelters were noticed by me 
though, but I recall we were never told how and why to use them. My school, 
Cassadaga Elementary, was/still is about 18 miles north of Jamestown, NY.

I thought that was really curious in my later adult years because of 
hearing/reading folks like some of you talking of ducking and covering as 
practice for an attack. Recently, however, I began to feel that the local 
school districts in this county might have felt it was useless because few 
of the population would know what hit them anyway.

You see, in Jamestown, where I have lived since shortly after graduating 
high school in '71, there is located a major military and commercial 
bearing manufacturer. The roller bearing was invented in Jamestown by the 
old Gurney Bearing Company back in the Teens or 20s, and Gurney is one of 
the antecedent companies of the present MRC Bearings Co. I think they are 
*the* major military bearing contractor, if not the only one, in the United 
States since at least WWII. They make jet engine and helicopter bearings, 
amongst other military bearings.

So, I figure the Russians probably had this region targeted with a rather 
large amount of their nuclear assets. Can you say "Instant Vaporization"?

We have a radio station on 1240 KHz in Jamestown, WJTN.  Puts out around 
1kw of power which was the same back in the 40s and 50s, IIRC. That's 
piqued my interest to look them up sometime and see if anybody is old 
enough to recall the Conelrad system or even have some of the old hardware 
and paper around.

Indeed that website is great, Sam and Barry.

Interesting Conelrad discussion. Brings back memories of those times for me 
too regardless of my lack of experiencing the duck and cover practice.

Regards,   Chris F.

NNNN


>----- Original Message ----- From: "Hole in the Head Press" 
><sestokes at sonic.net>
>To: <Milsurplus at mailman.qth.net>
>Sent: Thursday, December 01, 2005 3:52 PM
>Subject: [Milsurplus] Re: Conelrad
>
>
>>For a trip down memory lane.
>>
>>http://conelrad.com/
>>
>>--
>>Sam Stokes, KG6WYZ, Publisher
>>Second Edition, Rings of Supersonic Steel
>>Air Defenses of the U.S. Army 1950-1979
>>An Introductory History & Site Guide
>>http://www.holeintheheadpress.com
>>

Christian Fandt,    Electronic/Electrical Historian
Jamestown, NY  USA      cfandt at netsync.net
         Member of Antique Wireless Association
         URL: http://www.antiquewireless.org/