On Sat, 08 Jan 2005 01:54:10 GMT, Don Tuite
wrote:

Mantz also indicated, that at Putnum's instance AE left the long wire
antenna in Florida to lighten the load ...

RIght. The 250' trailing antenna was exclusively for 500 Hz (aka
as "kcs" in the old sources), which, in turn, was exclusively
for Morse Code (aka as "CW", continuous wave).

Since neither AE nor FN knew CW, there was no point in
carrying an antenna dedicated to an all-CW frequency.

I'm coming in late; maybe this was already covered.

Nope.

Until a few years ago, 500 kHz was the one frequency marine radio
operators were REQUIRED to monitor continually, day and night, for
emergency traffic.

That is correct. I think that rule came in after the Titanic sank
(1912).

Um, thanks for quietly correcting my mistake: kHz vs Hz.

Also, If I remember _North to the Orient_ CW was one of the things
Anne Morrow Lindbergh made it a point to master before that flight,
and that was six years before AE and FN disappeared.

I think both she and Charles could do celestial navigation, too.
I don't know whether they checked each other's calculations,
but "two heads are better than one."

I'm surprised they'd throw away a lifeline like that.

Yes. I think (especially in 1937) that long wave is better for
DF than shorter waves. Even if she couldn't do anything but
tap out "A" on 500 kHz, it might have helped the Coast Guard
and Navy to search more intelligently for the downed aircraft.

Marty