Clicks And Bangs: The Lost Art Of Detecting Atomic Tests

NORTH KOREA'S ATOMIC TEST on Monday 9thradiation in your neighbourhood by using a cheap
October 2006 created two sets of shockwaves.Geiger-Mueller tube, 'the most reliable source of
The picture on the front cover of The Timesemergency information continues to be your local
(one of Britain's national daily newspapers) theCivl Defense office.' (Popular Electronics, 1962: 38)
following day, shows a seismograph recording withCuban missile crisis
the silhouette of a hand pointing at a denseIn October 1961 - a year before the Cuban Missile
concentration of spikes and waves. The headlinecrisis - a Popular Electronics front cover trailed a
above: 'The moment that shook the world.' Thepiece inside: 'You wouldn't want to be an
pun had been biding its time and newspaper subselectronics hobbyist in the U.S.S.R.'
must have been delighted for an opportunity toThe accompanying article is a show-case for the
use it.US intelligence effort: 'It was in the pages of Radio
The North Korean atomic test has deeply[a Soviet electronics magazine] that the Russians
aggravated the anxiety of the US and otherrevealed the first advanced details of Sputnik I.
states concerned about the foreign policySo that their radio amateurs would be prepared
ambitions of North Korea.to listen for Sputnik's signals, the Soviet
But US anxiety over some threat has never beengovernment published the exact frequencies,
far away.transmitting power and type of signal to be used
It faded shortly after the collapse of the Sovietby the satellite. All of this information appeared in
Union in 1991, only to reappear with thethe June, July and August 1957 issues - as much
catastrophic new era of flamboyant globalas four months before Sputnik caught the world
terrorism that began on the US mainland shortlyby surprise.' (Popular Electronics, October 1961:
afterwards.43-44)
In the 1950s to sixties, electronic componentsUSA, one, Soviet Union, nil.
became widely available to consumers in the USALess than a year later, another edition of the
and Great Britain. At the time, a significantmagazine tells readers how to listen to
number of people were around with thetransmissions from NASA satellites. (Popular
theoretical and technical understanding to useElectronics, June 1962) By building a receiver to
these components in circuits with a practicaltune into the 15-metre shortwave band, advanced
application.constructors could listen to transmissions from
Some had been radar engineers during thesatellites - invariably with alphanumeric names such
Second World War. Others had trained moreas Explorer XII, Telstar I, S-51, Injun SR-3 and
recently to apply their skills in industry. The veryTIROS IV.
skilled had the ability to build a television set forIT IS HARDLY SUPRISING THAT THE
home use out of components from disused radarMEASUREMENT OF DISTANT BANGS AND
circuitry.WHISTLES became a valid subject for electronics
An A5-sized monthly called Popular Electronicsmagazines during the Cold War. If you had the
carried designs for an array of circuits for thetechnical knowledge to probe the radio-frequency
home constructor. Some used the latestpart of the electromagnetic spectrum, you could
semiconductor components. Others usedfeel materially connected to the project of
vacuum-tube circuitry.defeating communism.
Amateur radio was thriving and many circuitsFrom your loft, via a simple aerial, you could
were for listening or transmitting equipment. Hi-Fireceive signals that were propagated tens of
was another popular theme.thousands of miles away. This is what I call
The magazine's pages also carried features on'electronic metonymy': the part (your aerial)
electronic ignition for cars, how to improve acontiguous with and connecting to the whole (a
commercial tape-recorder and how to build anational and international project.)
transistorised heart-monitor.In the same volume of Popular Electronics that
The Cold War was an ideological construction asdiscussed Russian jamming, a circuit was printed
well as a brute fact. American neurosis about itswhich showed readers how to detect missiles.
enemies emerged in many ways, including theThe article was accompanied by an oscilloscope
McCarthy witch-hunts. And even the humbletrace showing the electronic noise recorded during
electronics press became a propaganda toolthe firing of the lunar probe rocket 'Pioneer' on
against America's great enemy, the Soviet Union.October 11, 1958 at 3.42 a.m. EST. The circuit
For example, In April 1959, Popular Electronicsprinted is essentially a radio capable of tuning-in to
carried an article about the Russian jamming ofvery low frequency electro-magnetic radiation.
Russian language broadcasts from the United'The output of the unit may be plugged into... a
States.normal high-fidelity amplifier for further
Will Bohrs describes a concerted effort to blockamplification to display, recording or listening levels.'
transmissions of the Voice of America (VOA)(Popular Electronics, April 1959: 105)
with 2,500 jamming stations and satellites rangedIt's quite an image: a whole family of good
against the 85 transmitters of VOA. (PopularAmerican citizens tuned in to Dad's circuit for
Electronics, 1959:42) In his conclusion, Bohr notes:listening to missile launches.
'Careful screening of refugees pouring into BerlinBut the circuit doubles as a means of listening to
from the east confirms the value of every dollarnuclear tests, too, as the author, Charles H. Welch
spent in the electronic war. Clandestine listeningexplains: 'In the case of an atomic explosion, the
posts behind the Iron Curtain listen to the voicesradio waves produced are similarly due to the
of freedom and report reception. Also lettersviolent motion of particles in the actual blast, an to
smuggled out of the Soviet zones of influencethe column of ionised gases which rises afterward.
attest to the impact these broadcasts have upon[These signals] travel great distances with little
their audience. It is therefore well known theattenuation...' (Popular Electronics, April 1959:
[Voice of America] broadcasts... are successful in102-103)
combating the efforts to prevent the flow ofHOWEVER THE COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION OF
information and truth from reaching the citizens ofMISSILE-LAUNCH DETECTION KITS was never a
the Soviet Union.' (Popular Electronics, Aprilrealistic proposition. Welch's article explains that it
1959:44)takes effort and skill to discriminate background
Popular Electronics during the mid Cold Warnoise from the noises produced by columns of
showed readers how to gather evidence aboutionised gases. It's also handy to have access to
national vigilance and competitiveness in the spacean oscilloscope - an item not found in many
race (satellite activity and domestic rockethouseholds, ever.
launches.) It also prepared them for the mostElectronics magazines have virtually faded away
dreaded possibility - nuclear attack.now, but those of the cold war period are highly
In July, 1962, the the first page of a four-pagerevealing about the national psyche of America.
feature bears the headline: RADIATION FALLOUTIt's a shame that electronics is no longer widely
MONITOR in white letters dramatically standingpractised: now we just don't know how to build
out against a dark background of solid grey.the little black boxes that tell us about missile
Superimposed are downward-pointing invertedlaunches.
triangles that stand for radioactive fallout.But perhaps a handful of practitioners still know
Below the headline, the conventional radiationhow to light-up their oscilloscope screens with the
symbol appears, but with a red centre and threespikes and squiggles that follow rocket launches or
red segments instead of yellow.atomic blasts. The rest of us can just switch on
Underneath the radiation symbol, the author, R.Lour televisions.
Winklepleck , repeats a Federal Civil Defense© Alistair Siddons, 2006
Administration warning:References
'Most of us in this country...live within fallout rangeThe Times, Tuesday 10 October 2006: 1
of some target which it might be important forWelch, Charles H, 1959, 'VLF Radio Can Detect
the enemy to destroy.' (Popular Electronics, 1962:Nuclear and Rocket Tests,' Popular Electronics,
37)April 1959: 105
Winklepleck goes on to explain that fallout consistsHannah, Theodore M, 1961, 'Electronics Enthusiasts
of 'particles of radioactive debris which have beenin the U.S.S.R,' Popular Electronics, April
carried into the upper air by the force of the1959:102-103
blast.' (Popular Electronics, 1962: 37)Lamb, Tom, 1962, 'The Nasa-136,' Popular
Winklepleck concludes his introduction by sayingElectronics, October 1961:43-44
that although his circuit design will keep track ofWinklepleck, R.L.