Civil Defense Markings

[anden]

What years were the Civil Defense icons on AM dials mandated ? Are there any radio's which escaped marking their dials.

[Celt]

Mid 50's thru mid 60's as I recall. I think they were called "Conrad Stations", but don't think the markings were mandatory.

[mhardy6647]

Conelrad (for control of electromagnetic radiation, apparently)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CONELRAD

[Celt]

Thanks Mark. My memory isn't very reliable these days.

[mhardy6647]

Bill Cosby talked about his father, in alcohol-induced stupor, dozing in front of the "Philco console radio". Cos turned it off, jolting his father to consciousness.
"Why'd you turn that off?"
"Dad, it was Conelrad!"
"Leave it on! He's a hell of a detective!"

:-)

[Celt]

Haw!

[KentTeffeteller]

Hi,

CONELRAD (Control Of Electromagnetic Radiation) was mandatory from 1953-1963. CONELRAD was replaced by EBS (Emergency Broadcast System) and is now EAS (Emergency Alert System)/Amber Alert. All broadcasters must carry EBS/EAS by FCC ruling. Serious fines can entail if you don't.

[KOGO600]

Conelrad was the system instituted by the Federal Government in case of a nuclear attack. Because the Japanese had used the AM radio station in Hawaii to home in on Pearl Harbor, they were afarid that could happen on a nuclear scale. So once the signal was sent to all AM radio stations. Every transmitter would switch either to 640 or 1240 KC so that all of the stations doing that would scramble any homing beacons and cause the missles to misfire. Depending on where you were on the band is where you would switch to. 600 KOGO in San Diego would switch to KFI, and 136KGB would switch to 1240. Infact the KGB-AM transmitter (RCA BTA-5T) still has the switching and crystals in place for going to 1240 and it is marked on the front Conelrad!