Somewhat off Topic

[W5EUQ]

Another HAM movie:
 wasn't the movie that John Travolta and Forrest Whittiker 
(spellings???) were in called something like "Phenomenon".  Forrest 
Whittiker was a ham and John was struck by a beam of light from space 
and became a "phenomenon" by being able to read a book in a few seconds 
and even learn things like languages in a few minutes.  One of the 
things he does is reads encrypted RTTY (secret coded messages) from a 
near by military base.  He listens to the RTTY from a receiver and 
speaker.  He can interpret it, break it down and understand the 
message... Phenomenal....  wow.
It was a good movie.  Bob  W5EUQ  Tampa

Glen Zook wrote:
> I posted the following on the Glowbugs reflector
> yesterday about the Nancy Drew movie.
>
> The 1938 movie entitled "Nancy Drew Detective" is on
> Turner Classic Movies right now (started at 0000Z). 
> This is the one where her boyfriend is an amateur
> radio operator and his station is featured in a couple
> of scenes.  The receiver appears to be a National
> NC-101X (I didn't see an "S" meter like on the HRO). 
> There is a VFO with a large National "Velvet Vernier"
> dial.  The transmitter itself is a large open rack
> mount.  His call, W8YZR, is on a large sign on the
> transmitter and he uses the call to identify in the
> movie.
>
> Also, he uses "local QRM" to describe Nancy's
> interruption of his QSO and "QRT" when he "throws the
> big switch" (also one of his "lines" in the movie).
>
> I have seen this movie before and the "boyfriend"
> saves the day when they are locked in the basement of
> a private "mental" hospital.  He "modifies" an old
> diathermy machine and sends Morse code to notify the
> authorities of "crooks" running the hospital.  Of
> course only wideband noise is received on broadcast
> radios but one of the radio station technicians
> finally recognizes the signal and tells the
> authorities.
>
>
> As for other movies showing amateur radio there have
> been several including the fairly "modern" movie
> Frequency.  Going back to the late 1930s there was a
> movie "short" which was exclusively about amateur
> radio.  It is sometimes shown on the Turner Classic
> Movie channel as a "one reel wonder".
>
> Glen, K9STH
>
>
> --- "Alan W. Fremmer" <AWFremmer at AOL.COM> wrote:
>
> The  first in the series is called Nancy Drew -
> Detective. Turns out that Nancy's boyfriend, Ted
> Nikkerson (sp?), is an amateur radio operator, W8YZR. 
> He's  shown for about two minutes operating his
> station and being advised by his  contact that he may
> be over modulating.  The rig appears to be  homebrew. 
> During the course of the communication, there are no
> howls or squeals coming from the speaker, just clean
> audio.  There's lots of ham jargon in an attempt to
> sound authentic but it winds up just sounding  forced.
> Still, it was an interesting couple of minutes
> watching a rather  dated but still fun movie.
>   
> I wonder how many other movies have shown ham
> equipment and their  operation.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Glen, K9STH
>
> Website:  http://k9sth.com
>
>
>        
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