Our younger readers might find this hard to believe, but there was a time when you didn’t have a phone with you while driving. If you were in your car, you were cut off from the rest of the world. Nobody could call you, and you couldn’t call anyone else. As alien as the concept might seem, you might need to wait to talk to someone!
Believe it or not, being incommunicado in this way has its advantages. It gives you the opportunity to relax, without being bothered by someone else’s trifling concerns. Of course, on rare occasions, there are legitimate emergencies. If you car broke down, you would either have to hike to the closest payphone, or wait until a good Samaritan stops to help. Believe it or not, good Samaritans were more common then, because they realized you didn’t have a phone. Today, when people see a stranded motorist, they assume (usually, but not always, correctly) that the person has a phone. But back in the day, when you saw someone by the side of the road in trouble, you knew that unless someone stopped, they wouldn’t get any help. Armed with that information, it wasn’t uncommon to be the someone, and stop to help.
Of course, most good Samaritans are good, but there are also bad people who might take advantage of someone, especially a woman, helplessly stranded by the road. Therefore, having some mechanism to communicate, especially if you were a woman, wasn’t a bad idea. The billboard above highlights this fact, and it was seen on American highways fifty years ago, as shown here in the April 1973 issue of Popular Electronics.
The magazine highlighted the efforts of REACT and other CB clubs and organizations to provide someone to respond to such emergencies. Since 1970, channel 9 had been designated as a channel for emergencies and motorist assistance. In most areas of the country, REACT and other groups did an admirable job of monitoring channel 9, and the magazine provided a summary of those efforts, and pointers on using your CB in case of emergency. It noted that in addition to routine monitoring of channel 9, many groups assisted with civil defense and emergency communications. It encouraged CB’ers to monitor channel 9 whenever possible as a backup, but it did encourage waiting for organized groups to help before jumping in, since this encouraged people to join the organized groups. One popular activity by such groups was providing coffee to motorists on holiday weekends, as shown here.
The billboard shown above was provided by the Electronic Industries Association as a public service. The magazine provided details on how local CB clubs could contact outdoor advertisers to obtain the materials for the sign.
Eighty years ago this month, the March 1943 issue of Popular Mechanics showed this preparedness tip. During an air raid, the first thing you would of course grab would be the radio. This cloth cover fits over the set and contains other items needed during a blackout. As an added bonus, it covered the front and back of the set to keep any light from leaking out.
The cover of the March 1953 issue of Radio News showed the new mobile communications unit for Philadelphia’s Civil Defense. According to the magazine, the unit featured complete and flexible facilities for all type of two-way communications, as well as a public adress system. It featured its own 15,000 watt power plant, along with both heating and air conditioning. In addition to police and fire frequencies, the 2, 10, and 75 meter amateur bands could be covered, permitting communications with other cities throughout the United States. And thanks to the Bell System, it included mobile telephone equipment as well as capability of up to 16 phone lines.
We’ve previously discussed the War Emergency Radio Service (WERS), a wartime civil defense service set up to harness the talents of amateur radio operators who were otherwise off the air for the duration of World War II.
Eighty years ago this month, the February 1943 issue of Radio Retailing takes a look at how the local radio dealer might fill part of the need in supplying equipment and expertise. The illustration shown above is a mobile repair facility, and undoubtedly some of the personnel shown here service radios as their civilian job as well.
In addition to radio operators, a role likely filled by hams, the dealers might fit into one of five other categories: Maintenance, procurement, construction, repair, and training.
Eighty years ago this month, the February 1943 issue of QST showed this emergency generator. Hams might have been off the air for the duration, but they still had an interest in emergency needs, including WERS operations.
It was powered by a Briggs & Stratton gasoline engine normally rated at 1-3/4 HP, but the accompanying article noted that it was capable of up to 2-1/2 HP maximum as shown here. It was capable of putting out 120 volts thanks to a salvaged Dodge 12-volt generator, rewound, and was capable of putting out over 1400 watts. The field coils needed power, and that was provided by a second six-volt generator also driven by the engine.
The estimated cost of the whole unit was said to be $7.50, although the author admitted that this figure might have been somewhat “under-exaggerated.” The set shown here was the second one constructed, and a third was underway.
One of the gentlemen shown on the cover, although they’re not identified, was apparently Warren Copp, W8ZQ. The article mentioned that he was the father of then-eight-year-old actress Carolyn Lee. We’re not sure exactly why that’s relevant, but like the author of the QST article, we believe that’s the kind of thing our readers would want to know.
This woman is providing civilian defense communications as part of the War Emergency Radio Service, using a 112 MHz transmitter-receiver shown in the December 1942 issue of Radio News.
The set was completely self-contained. It’s transmitter section put out a hefty ten watts, and the batteries and dynamotor were built in to the cabinet. Both the transmitter and receiver could tune the entire 112-120 MHz band.
Eighty years ago this month, this unnamed Scout performing his civil defense duties is shown on the cover of Boys’ Life magazine, October 1942. His armband is the insignia of a civilian defense messenger, but all we know about him comes from his uniform, that he is that he’s a Patrol Leader of Troop 3 in Mt. Vernon. Unfortunately, there are dozens of towns named Mt. Vernon in the U.S., but his uniform doesn’t indicate the state.
This issue of the magazine talks about other Scouts engaged in defense related activities, but doesn’t specifically talk about the Scout on the cover. But the magazine gives an important clue, namely, the identity of the photgrapher, Emil Brodbeck, whose Amazon author page reveals that he was obviously an accomplished photographer.
According to Brodbeck’s 2003 obituary, he was born in Mt. Vernon, New York, and resided there until 1987. And according to this newspaper article, there was a Troop 3 in Mt. Vernon, NY, in 1955. So it seems very likely that this Scout was doing his part to serve the citizens of that New York community.
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The spring of 1952 brought record floods to Omaha, Nebraska, and Council Bluffs, Iowa. One of the critical needs was patrolling the dikes, and local hams were pressed into action for the job. For ten days and nights, volunteers manned the dikes constantly, reporting any leaks or signs of weakness back to city hall. From there, emergency crews were dispatched to shore up any weak spots.
The equipment used here consisted of Motorola Walkie-Talkies. The equipment was supplied by the Union Pacific Railroad, and operated on the railroad’s frequency of 160.29 MHz.
This report appeared in the July 1952 issue of Radio News, July 1952,
We’ve previously reported that in the late 1950s, the Soviets led the free world not only in space, but also in kerosene powered radios. They produced a 7-tube set powered by kerosene, a thermocouple, and vibrator power supply.
But it turns out that the Americans were close on their heels, and were producing a superior product just a few years later, as shown here. This battery, dubbed the Aztec, was produced by Minnesota’s iconic 3M, and could power a transistor radio (apparently sold separately) for up to 24 hours with a pint of kerosene.
You can see a pristine example, apparently for sale, at this link, which also includes a link (currently broken) to one in a Canadian museum.
The American model produced a low voltage, which was stepped up to 6 volts with a transistorized power supply mounted in the base. In addition to use in off-grid locales during peacetime, the set was billed as having a Civil Defense purpose for powering the important radio in the fallout shelter.
On my way to looking up something else, I was shocked to discover that this book, of over a hundred pages, existed. It was published 50 years ago by the Defense Civil Preparedness Agency, as the federal Civil Defense agency was known at the time. I was the target audience of this book, I would have loved it, but I didn’t know it existed.
One day as a youth, I discovered in our basement a Civil Defense pamphlet (specificaly, “In Time Of Emergency,” and I found it absolutely fascinating. The second half of the book, entitled “Natural Disasters,” covered things I was more or less familiar with, namely, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, winter storms, and earthquakes. But the first half of the book was something entirely new, namely, something called a Nuclear Attack.
I was aware of the concept of war, and I was even aware that the bad guys might drop bombs during a war. But the bombs described in this book did more, namely, unleash radioactive fallout. And to survive a nuclear attack, you had to have a fallout shelter. For some reason, my parents were unwilling to construct a fallout shelter, but based upon the material in the book, I knew that we could eek by either with an improvised fallout shelter, or by going to the public fallout shelter across the street at the school I attended (although I had some doubts as to whether someone would come around to unlock the building if the nuclear attack took place other than during school hours).
In general, I became an advocate for everything I learned from the little book, and I though everyone should begin making some minimal preparations for, or at least having some awareness of the risk of, one of these nuclear attacks, as well as the other disasters described in the booklet.
Much to my surprise, most people seemed to dismiss my concerns, and some of them even seemed to actively avoid making even the most minimal of preparations. I couldn’t quite understand this attitude (in fact, I still don’t understand it). But I did do my best to promote civil defense. And since I was in school, the school provided me with my principal forum for my efforts. Of course, my poor sainted sixth grade teacher took the brunt of this, since she got to listen to me talk about civil defense whenever I could possibly work it into the conversation.
I learned all I could about civil defense, including getting every last piece of literature available from the local civil defense office. I also went to the public library, where I found what were possibly the only two books on the subject, namely, the novel Alas Babylon by Pat Frank, and his non-fiction work, How To Survive the H-Bomb and Why.
Frankly, I thought having a fallout shelter would be pretty cool. But it seemed that I was the only kid thinking this, and I eventually figured out that I was the only person–child or adult–with any interest in civil defense and fallout shelters.
It wasn’t until many years later that I discovered that there were other kids like me. It turns out that Alas Babylon is still in print and became something of a cult classic, and copies of How to Survive the H-Bomb and Why now go for hundreds of dollars, if you can find them.
And unbeknownst to me, somewhere in the Pentagon, someone was trying to help me in my quest to educate American students about the importance of civil defense. The book depicted above, “Your Chance to Live” was in production by the Defense Civil Preparedness Agency, and it was intended as a textbook for students on the subject of civil defense. Had I been aware of such a book at the time, I’m sure I would have pleaded with my teacher to get some copies, and if she balked, I probably would have appealed to the principal and then to the Board of Education. In fact, I would have gladly taken over the teaching duties as my classmates learned the lessons from this book.
The activities are particularly interesting. One of them, shown at left, is an ALERT-O card, similar to BINGO. In this fun activity, suitable for grades 5-12, each student would be given an ALERT-O card, and the teacher would call out items from the card, such as “Intercontinental Ballistic Missile.” Students would mark the appropriate spot on their card, and the first student with four in a row would be the winner.
The telephone was the response to “do not use this to obtain further information and advice about an emergency,” and there were two True-False questions. The guide noted that after the game was played, students would probably have questions, which could lead to further research on topics of interest. For example, one student or a group might be assigned to do a research report on NORAD.
The book was full of other games and activities about civil defense. For example, in one activity, a group of students would bring together items necessary to stock the fallout shelter, and then discussing the relative merit of the selected items. There were even crossword puzzles (for grades 7-12) with words such as “nuclear” and “bomb.”
Even younger students could join in on the fun activities, such as the color-by-number puzzle at the right. In addition to familiarizing students with the CD emblem, it would help them brush up on their math facts.
The textbook itself is fascinating. There are a few blanks that the student is directed to fill in with local information, such as the location of the closest shelter, so presumably, the idea was that students would get to keep their copy of the book as a future reference.
The preface notes that disasters are a part of life, and that “even a nodding acquaintance with some of the dangers of everyday life and what to do about them can help.”
The actual text starts with this promising language:
A federal agency has issued this book as part of its responsibility for your safety, and for overall national preparedness and security.
The text, format, and illustrations of the book do not conform to the stereotyped image of a government publication.
You may even enjoy reading it!
I certainly would have enjoyed reading it. First of all, it was full of thought-provoking illustrations such as the one shown here while discussing stockpiling food for an emergency, and the one shown above, depicting an idealized well-stocked shelter.
The booklet didn’t have quite as many details as most civil defense publications, but it did cover the basics, to teach kids the fundamental information they needed to know to survive a disaster.
There were chapters on forest fires, heat waves, tornadoes and thunderstorms, hurricanes, floods, winter storms, earthquakes and tidal waves, technological failures and emergencies, as well as environmental pollution. Of course, it culminated with chapters on nuclear disasters, warning systems, and home shelters, all information focused on preparation for a nuclear attack.
The book concluded with a chapter on psychological preparation, stressing the need to avoid panic, and the perils of inaction. For example, it explained how one resident of Pompeii survived by quickly taking action and leaving town when Vesuvius erupted, whereas those who didn’t act lost their lives to the disaster.
Even though written for kids, the book was candid in its description of the effects of nuclear weapons. For example, “if a 5-megaton bomb (5 million tons of TNT equivalent) were exploded in your living room, everything except specially designed structures in an area extending outward for 3 miles would be totally devastated. Look out your window and think what that means.”
The chapter on home shelters doesn’t go into any detail about construction details. Apparently, that will be left for Mom and Dad to figure out. But it does include this interesting vignette about one student’s experience with a home fallout shelter:
Dan’s eyes were open now. It should be morning, he thought. But it was still pitch black, and stuffy. If it was night, where was his window? The street lamp outside ? And if it was morning, why wasn’t it light ? He sat up on one elbow.
Dan remembered now. He was in the top bunk of the fallout shelter. Jerry was in the bunk below. Their parents had built and stocked the shelter in a corner of their basement; and then they decided to try it out.
What if this were a real attack, Dan wondered. That would be something else. Radiation caused by nuclear explosions would be scary—and could be a danger everywhere for people who survived the blast and heat of the explosion. At least you could protect yourself from radiation and the danger would fade with time. The radiation would decrease rapidly in the first 24 hours, and then start leveling off. Crash ! There was a shattering of glass. The peanut butter jar had fallen off a shelf onto the glass water jug. Both had shattered.
Dan watched his father carefully sweep the glass into the “dry garbage” sack.
“Obviously, no more glass in the shelter,” Dad said. “Plastic bottles for water; and stuff like jelly, and peanut butter, in plastic containers. And it needn’t be beans for breakfast every morning, either. A little planning could provide variety, as well as nourishment. Corned beef hash, canned spaghetti, peaches, and dry cereal . No problem there.”
By ten-thirty, the boys were bored to the teeth . This was the big problem with feeling cramped a close second. His parents were reading. He and Jerry worked awhile on a model jet fighter. But there was no glue. No heater either. No television, no fresh milk, no candles, no kerosene lamps. The radio was on now. This helped relieve the monotony. And he reflected that in a real emergency, the radio would be their link with the outside world. Through radio, they would receive official information and instructions–and they would learn when it would be safe to come out of shelter.
Dan felt sleepy. The air in the shelter was becoming warm and sticky. He longed for the outdoors and sunshine. Kids playing outside the shelter were yelling, having a good time. That made it very hard to wait until evening, when they would be leaving the shelter.
Despite this, he knew that in a real attack situation he would be grateful for the protection from radiation provided by the thick walls and roof of this shelter. He remembered that if there really had been a nuclear explosion, they probably would have to stay in the shelter for at least 24 to 48 hours–or even longer, depending on the outside level of radiation. And, they might even have to dig themselves out. That’s why they needed shovels, axes, and ropes. Dan was glad this was only a trial run. But he was also glad they’d done it.
It would make it easier to cope, if it ever came to the real thing.
Suddenly, it felt good to be alive !
Interestingly, the Civil Defense office also made a series of films designed to accompany the book. The one covering nuclear attack is quite interesting, and I’m sure would have been appreciated by older students. It begins as a “making of” movie about the production of a civil defense film, but has an ironic twist at the end:
Our younger readers might find this hard to believe, but there was a time when you didn’t have a phone with you while driving. If you were in your car, you were cut off from the rest of the world. Nobody could call you, and you couldn’t call anyone else. As alien as the concept might seem, you might need to wait to talk to someone!
The magazine highlighted the efforts of REACT and other CB clubs and organizations to provide someone to respond to such emergencies. Since 1970, channel 9 had been designated as a channel for emergencies and motorist assistance. In most areas of the country, REACT and other groups did an admirable job of monitoring channel 9, and the magazine provided a summary of those efforts, and pointers on using your CB in case of emergency. It noted that in addition to routine monitoring of channel 9, many groups assisted with civil defense and emergency communications. It encouraged CB’ers to monitor channel 9 whenever possible as a backup, but it did encourage waiting for organized groups to help before jumping in, since this encouraged people to join the organized groups. One popular activity by such groups was providing coffee to motorists on holiday weekends, as shown here.
