Michael Black wrote:
starman ) writes:

wrote:

Richard Larson wrote:

I've been watching Hogan's Heroes reruns and in the beginning they

show

Kinch operating some sort of radio. He's shown turning a crank looks

like.

What sort of radio could that be?

Navy survival kits used to (maybe still do) include a handcrank radio,
plus a key, so shipwrecked sailors could send out SOS messages. I
wouldn't be surprised in B17 crews had similar things.

Hudley Pearse

Hand cranked generators were common during WWII for powering portable
transmitters/receivers. They were similar to an aircraft magneto
generator.


I gather a lot of spy equipment was battery operated, or ran off the
AC line.

The real puzzle about the equipment in Hogan's POW camp should be
how they weren't tracked down every time they transmitted. Since it
was a fixed location, it would be much easier to direction find them than
if they moved each time they transmitted. If the germans didn't catch
them one time, they'd have the generally area and each subsequent
transmission would help to pin down the location.

Michael



Absolutely right - but then you wouldn't have had a hit TV show.
Televison/movie/theatre require that you "suspend you belief" as a basic
premise most of the itme. Like Gilligan's Island - as the old joke
runs: If the professor was smart enough to make a radio out of a
coconut, why couldn't he fix a hole in a boat? :)

Tony

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