Question? About the Old CONELRAD Radio Frequecies: 640 & 1240 On The AM Dial

[colonelparker]

For those who may know about or even heard of CONELRAD,
in which it had taken place during the cold war era,
of the 1950s throughout the 1970s.

In otherwords, it was really known as Civil Defense,
or as in EBS (Emergancy Broadcsting System).


Years ago, local radio stations would tell you to tune in the
CONELRAD frequecies, which were: 640 or 1240 on the AM dial,
to here instuctions in case of an real life threating emergancy.

My question is, Are these Fequencies; 640 & 1240 are still active today,
as they were active years ago???

Does anyone knows the answere???...

Thank you very much
Colonel Parker

 

[davideduardo]

>
> My question is, Are these Fequencies; 640 & 1240 are still
> active today,
> as they were active years ago???

Active in what way? There are mor3e stations on them, for sure.

I thought CONELRAD died in the 60's. When I was GM and Cheif Operator for the first time in the USA in 1970, we had no CONELRAD requirement.

The last CONELRAD test I remember was about 1962. All US stations went off at 11:30 AM till noon, and the ones that were part of CONELRAD cycled on and off at low powers on either 640 or 1240. No transmitter stayed ont he air for more than a few minutes, to avoid RDF targeting.

Occasionally you still see an old transmitter from the 50´s with the CONELRAD controls... and radios with the 640 and 1240 markings on them.

640 is a clear, used by KFI in LA and, at the time, there were a couple more, like WHLO in Akron and WOI in Ames, IA.

1240 is what was then a class IV frequency, with 250 watts day and night. In 1960, there were probably 125 to 130 stations on 1240... today there are about 160.

 

[JeremyAndrews]

> For those who may know about or even heard of CONELRAD,
> in which it had taken place during the cold war era,
> of the 1950s throughout the 1970s.
>
> In otherwords, it was really known as Civil Defense,
> or as in EBS (Emergancy Broadcsting System).
>
>
> Years ago, local radio stations would tell you to tune in
> the
> CONELRAD frequecies, which were: 640 or 1240 on the AM dial,
>
> to here instuctions in case of an real life threating
> emergancy.
>
> My question is, Are these Fequencies; 640 & 1240 are still
> active today,
> as they were active years ago???
>
> Does anyone knows the answere???...
>
> Thank you very much
> Colonel Parker
>

EBS (or as we know it today EAS) replaced CONELRAD in 1963.<P ID="signature">______________

</P>

 

[localstar]

640 WPGU in the '60's

> >
> > My question is, Are these Fequencies; 640 & 1240 are still
>
> > active today,
> > as they were active years ago???
>
> Active in what way? There are mor3e stations on them, for
> sure.
>
> I thought CONELRAD died in the 60's. When I was GM and Cheif
> Operator for the first time in the USA in 1970, we had no
> CONELRAD requirement.
>
> The last CONELRAD test I remember was about 1962. All US
> stations went off at 11:30 AM till noon, and the ones that
> were part of CONELRAD cycled on and off at low powers on
> either 640 or 1240. No transmitter stayed ont he air for
> more than a few minutes, to avoid RDF targeting.
>
> Occasionally you still see an old transmitter from the 50´s
> with the CONELRAD controls... and radios with the 640 and
> 1240 markings on them.
>
> 640 is a clear, used by KFI in LA and, at the time, there
> were a couple more, like WHLO in Akron and WOI in Ames, IA.
>
>
> 1240 is what was then a class IV frequency, with 250 watts
> day and night. In 1960, there were probably 125 to 130
> stations on 1240... today there are about 160.
>
Not a response to the original question, but an aside about 640.....
Throughout the 1960's, anyone living in the student residence halls and several other buildings on the Champaign-Urbana campus of the University of Illinois, could listen to student-run WPGU on 640 kc, even before eventually getting its FM license (107.1). Roger Ebert is one of the more well known alumni of the AM station. The transmission was 'carrier current' through the telephone lines. It didn't interfere with any broadcast station in the area.
Memories are a little foggy, but I recall in the late sixties (the post-Conelrad years), the FM station had to have a receiver tuned to WGN in Chicago - and whenever they broadcast their EBS alert test, we had to log the time we heard it. If it was the real thing, we had a prerecorded cartridge to broadcast (I think it said to tune in to a specific station).
---Local Star---

 

[colonelparker]

Thank You Dave for clearing this up for me!
I really appreciate for all the help and
the information that you gave me.

 

[DoctorWu]

www.conelrad.com

Check out this site - it's a very well-done tribute to CONELRAD, complete with vintage sounders, photographs and a detailed history.

www.conelrad.com

- Nuclear Doc

 

[KMRichards]

Re: 640 WPGU in the '60's

> Not a response to the original question, but an aside about
> 640.....
> Throughout the 1960's, anyone living in the student
> residence halls and several other buildings on the
> Champaign-Urbana campus of the University of Illinois, could
> listen to student-run WPGU on 640 kc, even before eventually
> getting its FM license (107.1). Roger Ebert is one of the
> more well known alumni of the AM station. The transmission
> was 'carrier current' through the telephone lines. It
> didn't interfere with any broadcast station in the area.

That was pretty common on college campuses, even into the 1970s.

I am aware of carrier current stations that existed at Loyola Marymount University, and at the University of California campus in Santa Barbara. Both of those operated in addition to their licensed broadcast facilities (KXLU and KCSB). At Loyola Marymount, the AM was used as a training ground for the FM.

> Memories are a little foggy, but I recall in the late
> sixties (the post-Conelrad years), the FM station had to
> have a receiver tuned to WGN in Chicago - and whenever they
> broadcast their EBS alert test, we had to log the time we
> heard it. If it was the real thing, we had a prerecorded
> cartridge to broadcast (I think it said to tune in to a
> specific station).

That was a requirement for all licensed stations. (Today, the EAS is pretty much an automated system with its own logging system.) I recall that Class D non-commercial FMs were exempt from having to do the weekly test broadcast on their own stations, although the monitoring and logging of the CPCS (common program control station) for the operational area was still required.

At most stations I programmed when the old EBS was in effect, I had prerecorded the "actual emergency" script and put it in an empty cart box with tape across the end. My logic was (a) you didn't want that cart to play accidentally; (b) if there was an actual EBS activation, no one is ever going to be able to read that script live. I also remember I needed to be dead tired before I recorded the script, or I couldn't get through it without realizing that the only time this would air would be if the missiles were coming.<P ID="signature">______________


</P>

 

[RockManAC]

Re: 640 WPGU in the '60's

> That was pretty common on college campuses, even into the
> 1970s.
>
> I am aware of carrier current stations that existed at
> Loyola Marymount University, and at the University of
> California campus in Santa Barbara. Both of those operated
> in addition to their licensed broadcast facilities (KXLU and
> KCSB). At Loyola Marymount, the AM was used as a training
> ground for the FM.
>

Add Marquette University to the list.. "WMUR" 750 was the pre-cursor to what is now the online/campus-cable station Marquette Radio. I believe it signed on in the late 60's.

-A<P ID="signature">______________

</P>