Saturday, Nov. 10, 2012 — My wife tells me from time to time that my son is “my guts” — in the sense that he’s a mini-KY4Z when it comes to being a geek. And its funny once she pointed out the parallels; I messed with vacuum tubes, he messes with software, virtual machines and exploring the unexplored reaches of the Nintendo 3DSi. We’re multi-generational nerds, hi hi.
As you might have learned by scanning my various and sundry posts, I enjoy spotting ham gear, telegraph keys and newspapers in old movies. Thanks to my monthly donation to Netflix, I get a chance to see old movies that rarely appear on cable … well, sure, there’s a reason why many of these films seldom see broadcast or cable. In many ways, searching Netflix is much like scouring the Dayton bone yard — you just never know what you’re going to find.
RED PLANET MARS. This is a Cold War-era sci-fi movie I have never, EVER seen — and that’s going some. My brother (N4SQA) and I never knowingly missed a good sci-fi moving on TV — and we seldom missed the bad ones, either. “Red Planet Mars” is about a scientist (Peter Graves) who is working to make radio contact with Mars (duh!).
Graves explains that he’s using some rather wacky “hydrogen valve” tube that when pressurized with hydrogen (and cooled to lower than -400 degrees F), it can produce signals no human can detect. Why they think the Martians will find that frequency is never explained. But there’s big news on Mars — an observatory has photo evidence the Martians are melting their ice caps and using them to irrigate the planet. Graves takes one look and pronounces this as fact — “Why else would they do it if it wasn’t to irrigate crops?” The excitement from the photos prompt Graves to rush home to his lab, fire up his Hallicrafters HT-4 and give the Martians a call.
Actually, he’s not using an HT-4, he’s using an HT-17 crystal-controlled transmitter that is sitting in with a rather large conglomeration of gear with dials, knobs and switches …. like a poorly laid-out homebrew job, and yes, his hydrogen “pressurized” tube. At right, you can see that Graves is using a nice key, a post-World War II Vibroplex Original DeLuxe. The key has rounded post-war upper parts, and has the old style “open” terminal screws. Note there’s no “jewel”, just the usual style upper trunion that in this case, was jeweled. Also note that in post-War America, you could key your Mars transmitter without attaching your Vibroplex bug to the transmitter. Hmmm …. wonder what movie producer decided to nix the keying cable?? Hell, they’re talking to Mars, why can’t they key the rig without a wired connection?? After all, this is 1952!
If you watch the movie, you’ll note that Graves operates the key without a sidetone; all you hear is the clacking of the damper. He’s obviously NOT sending any sort of Morse code, just batting the finger and thumb piece around like he’s handling a jack handle.
THE GEAR. There are three radio setups in the movie … the one Graves is using; a second one operated by German who was captured by the Soviets and is being forced to use his technology (he designed the hydrogen tube) to monitor the U.S. contacts with Mars. The Soviet high command has a complete lineup of radio gear, and a mean-ass female radio chief who looks like she would rather pound you into the ground that listen to another stupid tech support question. (See her at right).
In this photo, the guy seated is the German scientist’s liaison officer (wearing the dark coat). The photo shows him using an Astatic DN dynamic mic head. Check out the Hallicrafters SX-62 in front of the guy (top right), and the matching speaker to the left of the SX-62. I have been unable to identify the gear on which the SX-62 is sitting. The speaker appears to be sitting on some war surplus piece; the stern looking radio officer looks angry that her party comrade dares touch her Astatic mic. I still wonder where they found her, she reminds me of several nuns I had in Catholic school …
The picture (third from top) is Graves’ operating position … or as much of it that will fit in the frame. His gear also includes some whirly-gig thingie that spins; what looks like a big generator that does nothing; a couple tanks of what is supposed to be hydrogen; and the damnedest Az/El controls you’ve EVER seen — think of two backlit dials the size of paper plates, each with a very large arrow.
The Russians — pardon me, Soviets — must have had a secret lend-lease deal with Ed Halligan after the war (or perhaps the movie producers did). In addition to the gear shown at the operating position, no fewer than four more Hallicrafter receivers are visible in the Soviet’s radio room.
At lower left, is the venerable SX-42, the company’s first “new” postwar receiver. It included FM and coverage above 30 MHz. Coolness! Top left (on top the SX-42) is an S-40 receiver. The two receivers stacked on the right are SX-43 receivers. One thing that jumped out at me were how bright the dial lights are — they must have replaced the bulbs with lower voltage ones to get them to glow that brightly. The Soviets were unable to monitor the Martian transmission from this station, but they were relayed from the German scientist. The Soviet spy and his comrades at party headquarters used the same sort of gobbledy-gook callsigns that Peter Graves used. No prefix, just a single number and random letters.
The messages from Mars? Well, the Martians’ suggestions sounded oddly like paraphrased Bible verses. The Martians said we could conquer disease, famine, pestilence and other maladies if we would just straighten up and fly right (That last part is very quick paraphrasing of the “moral’ of the movie, by the way). It was the last thing I expected in a Mars movie, though the juxtaposition of U.S. vs. Soviet Union values in light of the Martians’ messages made it clear the Martians thought the Soviets were idiots (paraphrasing again). I have to give the filmmakers kudos for great equipment choices, however. I never saw what kind of key the Soviets or their German spy used. I’m assuming the Soviet high command didn’t learn CW, so those comms were always on phone. Hmm …
It’s on Netflix if you want to see it … an unusual film with an interesting twist at the end. The film has it all — patriotism, religion, self-sacrifice, and the battle between the forces of “good” and “evil,” with the good guys winning one.
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