We’ve been watching the re-boot of the Lost in Space series on Netflix, and one or two episodes near the end of the first season, little Will shows up with a radio that looks a lot like a mobile digital radio (can’t place the manufacturer which I think was blanked out) with a nice amber digital display and a rubber ducky antenna, in a shoulder-strap black canvas pack.
Will was annoying folks with a nearly constant ‘beep beep beep’ electronic sound, supposedly made by the radio as a beacon signal looking to make contact with his father.
When contact is made, WIll and his father communicated using Morse Code. It was pretty slow (7-10 WPM?) but accurate, so we could all “follow along”. Lots of fun, and one of the best examples I’ve seen recently of adding amateur radio references to a TV show.
Will’s father was in orbit and Will was on the ground, so the contact was being made from space-to-ground, and only occurred when the Will’s father’s space location was in visual range of Will’s ground location. All in all, pretty good. Someone even said something like, “I used to have a radio like that when I was a kid.”
Dave New, N8SBE says
We’ve been watching the re-boot of the Lost in Space series on Netflix, and one or two episodes near the end of the first season, little Will shows up with a radio that looks a lot like a mobile digital radio (can’t place the manufacturer which I think was blanked out) with a nice amber digital display and a rubber ducky antenna, in a shoulder-strap black canvas pack.
Will was annoying folks with a nearly constant ‘beep beep beep’ electronic sound, supposedly made by the radio as a beacon signal looking to make contact with his father.
When contact is made, WIll and his father communicated using Morse Code. It was pretty slow (7-10 WPM?) but accurate, so we could all “follow along”. Lots of fun, and one of the best examples I’ve seen recently of adding amateur radio references to a TV show.
Will’s father was in orbit and Will was on the ground, so the contact was being made from space-to-ground, and only occurred when the Will’s father’s space location was in visual range of Will’s ground location. All in all, pretty good. Someone even said something like, “I used to have a radio like that when I was a kid.”
73,
— Dave, N8SBE