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This week, discover what homeland security was all about in the 1950s at least radio-wise.

When I was a kid, the AM radio in my old man's Buick had two tiny triangles painted between the numbers on the frequency dial. The triangles were there so that whenever the Russians decided to invade, we could quickly tune to our local CONELRAD station at 640 or 1240 kHz (which was known as "kc" or "kilocycles" back then).

Triangles on the AM radio dial signified CONELRAD stations back in the 1950s.

According to Wikipedia, "CONELRAD (Control of Electromagnetic Radiation) was a planned method of emergency broadcasting to the public of the United States in the event of World War III. It served two purposes; to prevent Soviet bombers from homing-in on American cities by using broadcast stations as beacons, and to provide essential civil defense information. US President Harry S. Truman established CONELRAD in 1951."

Wikipedia adds that "Beginning in 1957, operating US amateur radio stations were required to verify at least once every 10 minutes that a normal broadcast station was on the air. If not, the amateurs were required to stop transmitting." The Emergency Broadcast System replaced CONLRAD in 1963.

There are Web pages that relate the CONELRAD story in more detail. One of the best is the Cold War Civil Defense -- CONELRAD Web page put together by Dave Word, N4DYR. In addition to a history of this emergency radio system, it has a list of pertinent links that provide additional information. Particularly interesting are "What was CONELRAD? EBS? EAS?" by Barry Mishkind, "The Story of CONELRAD" by Dan Roach, and the Heathkit CA-1 CONELRAD Alarm.

Until next week, keep on surfin'.

Editor's note: Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU, fondly recalls the designated air raid shelter at Hopeville Grammar School: a storage area next to the home economics classroom that was full of boxes of emergency food and water. You can discuss your school's air raid shelter or anything else by sending e-mail to Stan, or by visiting his Web site where you can leave him a note.

Previous: The Amateur Amateur: Doughnuts Will Be Served

Next: The K7RA Solar Update