Clicks and Bangs: The Lost Art Of Detecting Atomic Tests

NORTH KOREA'S ATOMIC TEST on Monday 9thof some target which it might be important for
October 2006 created two sets of shockwaves.the enemy to destroy.' (Popular Electronics, 1962:
The picture on the front cover of The Times37)
(one of Britain's national daily newspapers) theWinklepleck goes on to explain that fallout consists
following day shows a seismograph recording withof 'particles of radioactive debris which have been
the silhouette of a hand pointing at a densecarried into the upper air by the force of the
concentration of spikes and waves.blast.' (Popular Electronics, 1962: 37)
The headline above: 'The moment that shook theWinklepleck concludes his introduction by saying
world.' The pun had been biding its time andthat although his circuit design will keep track of
newspaper subs must have been delighted for anradiation in your neighbourhood by using a cheap
opportunity to use it.Geiger-Mueller tube, 'the most reliable source of
The North Korean atomic test has deeplyemergency information continues to be your local
aggravated the anxiety of the US and otherCivl Defense office.' (Popular Electronics, 1962: 38)
states concerned about the foreign policyCuban missile crisis
ambitions of North Korea.In October 1961 - a year before the Cuban Missile
But US anxiety over some threat has never beencrisis - a Popular Electronics front cover trailed a
far away.piece inside: 'You wouldn't want to be an
It faded shortly after the collapse of the Sovietelectronics hobbyist in the U.S.S.R.'
Union in 1991, only to reappear with theThe accompanying article is a show-case for the
catastrophic new era of flamboyant globalUS intelligence effort: 'It was in the pages of Radio
terrorism that began on the US mainland shortly[a Soviet electronics magazine] that the Russians
afterwards.revealed the first advanced details of Sputnik I.
'I'll make it myself': home electronics, Cold WarSo that their radio amateurs would be prepared
styleto listen for Sputnik's signals, the Soviet
In the 1950s to sixties, electronic componentsgovernment published the exact frequencies,
became widely available to consumers in the USAtransmitting power and type of signal to be used
and Great Britain. At the time, a significantby the satellite. All of this information appeared in
number of people were around with thethe June, July and August 1957 issues - as much
theoretical and technical understanding to useas four months before Sputnik caught the world
these components in circuits with a practicalby surprise.' (Popular Electronics, October 1961:
application.43-44)
Some had been radar engineers during theUSA, one, Soviet Union, nil.
Second World War. Others had trained moreLess than a year later, another edition of the
recently to apply their skills in industry. The verymagazine tells readers how to listen to
skilled had the ability to build a television set fortransmissions from NASA satellites. (Popular
home use out of components from disused radarElectronics, June 1962) By building a receiver to
circuitry.tune into the 15-metre shortwave band, advanced
Old-school electronicsconstructors could listen to transmissions from
An A5-sized monthly called Popular Electronicssatellites - invariably with alphanumeric names such
carried designs for an array of circuits for theas Explorer XII, Telstar I, S-51, Injun SR-3 and
home constructor. Some used the latestTIROS IV.
semiconductor components. Others usedIT IS HARDLY SUPRISING THAT THE
vacuum-tube circuitry.MEASUREMENT OF DISTANT BANGS AND
Amateur radio was thriving and many circuitsWHISTLES became a valid subject for electronics
were for listening or transmitting equipment. Hi-Fimagazines during the Cold War. If you had the
was another popular theme.technical knowledge to probe the radio-frequency
The magazine's pages also carried features onpart of the electromagnetic spectrum, you could
electronic ignition for cars, how to improve afeel materially connected to the project of
commercial tape-recorder and how to build adefeating communism.
transistorised heart-monitor.From your loft, via a simple aerial, you could
The Cold War was an ideological construction asreceive signals that were propagated tens of
well as a brute fact. American neurosis about itsthousands of miles away. This is what I call
enemies emerged in many ways, including the'electronic metonymy': the part (your aerial)
McCarthy witch-hunts. And even the humblecontiguous with and connecting to the whole (a
electronics press became a propaganda toolnational and international project.)
against America's great enemy, the Soviet Union.In the same volume of Popular Electronics that
'We're jamming, we're jamming'...1959 stylediscussed Russian jamming, a circuit was printed
For example, In April 1959, Popular Electronicswhich showed readers how to detect missiles.
carried an article about the Russian jamming ofThe article was accompanied by an oscilloscope
Russian language broadcasts from the Unitedtrace showing the electronic noise recorded during
States.the firing of the lunar probe rocket 'Pioneer' on
Will Bohrs describes a concerted effort to blockOctober 11, 1958 at 3.42 a.m. EST. The circuit
transmissions of the Voice of America (VOA)printed is essentially a radio capable of tuning-in to
with 2,500 jamming stations and satellites rangedvery low frequency electro-magnetic radiation.
against the 85 transmitters of VOA. (Popular'The output of the unit may be plugged into... a
Electronics, 1959:42) In his conclusion, Bohr notes:normal high-fidelity amplifier for further
'Careful screening of refugees pouring into Berlinamplification to display, recording or listening levels.'
from the east confirms the value of every dollar(Popular Electronics, April 1959: 105)
spent in the electronic war. Clandestine listeningIt's quite an image: a whole family of good
posts behind the Iron Curtain listen to the voicesAmerican citizens tuned in to Dad's circuit for
of freedom and report reception. Also letterslistening to missile launches.
smuggled out of the Soviet zones of influenceBut the circuit doubles as a means of listening to
attest to the impact these broadcasts have uponnuclear tests, too, as the author, Charles H. Welch
their audience.explains: 'In the case of an atomic explosion, the
It is therefore well known the [Voice of America]radio waves produced are similarly due to the
broadcasts... are successful in combating theviolent motion of particles in the actual blast, an to
efforts to prevent the flow of information andthe column of ionised gases which rises afterward.
truth from reaching the citizens of the Soviet[These signals] travel great distances with little
Union.' (Popular Electronics, April 1959:44)attenuation...' (Popular Electronics, April 1959:
Probing in the dark: gathering evidence in a climate102-103)
of fearHOWEVER THE COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION OF
Popular Electronics during the mid Cold WarMISSILE-LAUNCH DETECTION KITS was never a
showed readers how to gather evidence aboutrealistic proposition. Welch's article explains that it
national vigilance and competitiveness in the spacetakes effort and skill to discriminate background
race (satellite activity and domestic rocketnoise from the noises produced by columns of
launches.) It also prepared them for the mostionised gases. It's also handy to have access to
dreaded possibility - nuclear attack.an oscilloscope - an item not found in many
Fallout monitorhouseholds, ever.
In July, 1962, the the first page of a four-pageElectronics magazines have virtually faded away
feature bears the headline: RADIATION FALLOUTnow, but those of the cold war period are highly
MONITOR in white letters dramatically standingrevealing about the national psyche of America.
out against a dark background of solid grey.It's a shame that electronics is no longer widely
Superimposed are downward-pointing invertedpractised: now we just don't know how to build
triangles that stand for radioactive fallout.the little black boxes that tell us about missile
Below the headline, the conventional radiationlaunches.
symbol appears, but with a red centre and threeBut perhaps a handful of practitioners still know
red segments instead of yellow.how to light-up their oscilloscope screens with the
Underneath the radiation symbol, the author, R.Lspikes and squiggles that follow rocket launches or
Winklepleck , repeats a Federal Civil Defenseatomic blasts. The rest of us can just switch on
Administration warning:our televisions.
'Most of us in this country...live within fallout range