According to an old woman interviewed on National Public Radio over the weekend, when she was 15 she received an SOS radio transmission from a woman claiming to be Amelia Earhart and pleading into the airwaves indiscriminately for help. The woman wrote down everything that the alleged Amelia was saying, and her father drove the intel to the nearest Coast Guard post. The Coast Guard blew off the information for whatever reason (allegedly). However, I had seen one TV special about this same story, and one of the interviewers was dismissing the case as impossible due to the distance between the transmission and the receiver, given the frequency that was being used.

Jamie and Adam: given the radio frequency and the distance from where Amelia crashed to the site of the old lady's radio, is it possible to receive an audible radio transmission. I'm sure there are all other kinds of weird things that come into play, like winds, temperatures, air humidity...so this could be very difficult to prove/disprove. But, Jamie and Adam always seem to find a way to get to the bottom of it.

Thanks,
Brett Lyon

It would be impossible to "DISPROVE". Her signals were on the 80 meter band at very low power (with a possible antenna that was either defective or not rolled out according to pictorial and verbal) evidence. Even given that, under the right conditions a radio signal can propogate thousands of miles. The claim is doubtful, but not disprovable.

The NPR broadcast is most like a re-broadcast of a two-year-old program.

Betty’s claim is about hearing an SOS after the disappearance.

She is not clear on what day after the occurrence, that the call took place.

It is highly unlikely that the tubes of a 1937 radio would have survived a crash landing.

A fifteen year old in Florida is the only one to hear this supposed transmission from somewhere in the Pacific, almost halfway around the world.

It is highly improbable.

Improbable , but it is a fun myth, although with all of the implications and factors it would be very expensive to duplicate :

1. A radio in Florida can pick up signals form well out into the pacific.

2. Earhart's plane somehow over shot her destination and had enough fuel to cause her to crash closer to the America's , we know she modified the fuselage to carry extra fuel tanks , how far could it have flown?

3. They crashed someplace near land or floated for 24 hrs ( very unlikely ) long enough to send a transmission on a radio that survived the wreck .

Her plane is an extremely rare plane , there is only one left if I am not mistaken . Building a replica plane that flies would be difficult and scaling down might be impossible .

You could easily select one channel and have several stations on different Islands attempt to reply ,but like SR Racing stated , her radio may not have been in ideal condition to transmit over long distances so you would have to cover that as well.

I googled this link, hope it works :

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/.../amelia-earhart.html

Was the signal AM? Almost all planes back then only used morse code. Did the 15 year old know morse code?

Richard Gillespie has been promoting his Nikumaroro island idea for years. There is nothing new in his latest release.

For the other side of the story, try reading “Amelia Earhart: The Mystery Solved,” by Elgen Long. His fuel consumption analysis indicates she ran out of fuel short of Howland. Headwinds stronger than she anticipated and climbing high to avoid weather near Rabaul, consumed it faster than planned.

The other strong point he makes is that if you believe she was anywhere near Howland, and you believe her radio transmission that she only had half an hour of fuel left, there is no way that she flew the 2-3 hours to Nikumaroro.

quote:

Originally posted by rigil101:
Was the signal AM? Almost all planes back then only used morse code. Did the 15 year old know morse code?

.. - .. ... . .- ... -.-- .-- .. - .... - .... . -.-. --- -.. . -... --- --- -.- .. -. -.-- --- ..- .-. ..-. .-.. .- .--. .-.-.-


It is easy with the code book in your lap.

The signals are all voice. Neither Earhart or Noonan were competent at Morse. (Some say totally incompetent and unable to read it.) The Morse code key was removed from the plane as excess weight in Miami.

Depending on the source, the 250 foot trailing wire antenna was either removed from the plane during the re-build after the crash in her first attempt, or removed in Miami.

I’m a ham radio operator. To get a signal out more than line of sight is going to take ¼ wave antenna and at least 100 watts on AM (AM takes a lot more power than Morse). If she was on 80 meters wavelength, she would need an antenna 20 meters long. I seriously doubt she had this kind of equipment.

Here's a classic message.

-... ..- -.-- .- -.. . ... --- - ---

See if you can decode it.

I can't , I will get hit in the head by a duck with a cigar in its mouth and my homeowner's won't cover that .

-... ..- -.-- .- -.. . ... --- - ---


buy a desoto?

I am still yet to learn CW, but I want to. I got my Tech back in April, and working for my General now.

rigil101 -- what is your call? And are there any more HAMs -- BTW where is a good place to learn CW.

KD0HMI

quote:

Originally posted by rigil101:
I’m a ham radio operator. To get a signal out more than line of sight is going to take ¼ wave antenna and at least 100 watts on AM (AM takes a lot more power than Morse). If she was on 80 meters wavelength, she would need an antenna 20 meters long. I seriously doubt she had this kind of equipment.

My guess is that her operating power was in the 50W range. And the plane was originally equipped with a 1/4 wave roll out antenna wire. There is was some discrepancy about whether this wire was being used or not.

As far as propogation goes, there is no way to determine how far the signal could have been picked up. However people have operated half way around the globe with less power when conditions are right.

I was once talking to a ham on 20M with a 5x9 signal and he advised me he was using 50W with a 12 foot loop antenna in North Africa. I told him I was quite surprised. He then advised me that he had the antenna mounted at 20,000 feet. He was a Quantas pilot.

quote:

Originally posted by KMCCLA: And are there any more HAMs

Yes, I am.

quote:

-- BTW where is a good place to learn CW.

Getting to 5 wpm is pretty easy on your own. When you get on the air you will get to 13+ very quickly.

quote:

If she was on 80 meters wavelength, she would need an antenna 20 meters long. I seriously doubt she had this kind of equipment.

While I'm not arguing for or against this myth (honestly I'm tired of hearing about it) it would be possible to tie her radio into the aircraft. This would make a very large antenna, I used to do the same thing in my 78 buick. The antenna broke off so I pulled the antenna wire off the broken piece that was left and attached it to the frame of the car, it went immediately from nothing but static to a clear radio signal.

Sorry. While that might be somewhat effective on a receiver in the car, a transmitter shorted to ground on 80M would simply be a short and cause no output with probable damage to the unit. In fact, her aircraft was designed with a crank out long wire antenna.

quote:

And are there any more HAMs -- BTW where is a good place to learn CW.

KD0HMI

Download the Koch CW trainer from here:
http://www.g4fon.net/

Ex G4GRH / ZL1CO

quote:

Originally posted by Rikmep:

quote:

If she was on 80 meters wavelength, she would need an antenna 20 meters long. I seriously doubt she had this kind of equipment.

While I'm not arguing for or against this myth (honestly I'm tired of hearing about it) it would be possible to tie her radio into the aircraft. This would make a very large antenna, I used to do the same thing in my 78 buick. The antenna broke off so I pulled the antenna wire off the broken piece that was left and attached it to the frame of the car, it went immediately from nothing but static to a clear radio signal.

My interest in this myth is sort of beyond Mythbusters territory . Here you have an extremely important aviator that disappeared off the map and more people are interested in spending money to make a movie about it , than are interested researching what happened .

I think a moron with a power source and a wrecked plane could rig up an antenna if you think about it . The plane has plenty of wire running back and forth through the fuselage and plenty of nice flexible bits of aluminum. the radio does not have to remain in the plane to function either , I would not consider this a limiting factor.

I can't say it actually occurred , I do not know for sure if there were " 200 " radio messages received , like that article claimed , but I am sure you could set up a home made antenna if you are still physically able and had enough supplies.

Unrelated to Mythbusters , you would think finding remains or the wreckage would make some headlines and get some ratings .

In fact ( missed the timer ) I am sure the hams here probably thought the link I put on here was questionable from the beginning .

If there were anything like 200 s.o.s. signals received pinpointing the original site of the wreck would be a snap .