It's 1994. The telephone lines have been cut. The towers for cell phones have been destroyed (I believe there were cell phones in 1994, but if I'm wrong, let me know). Even some of the satellites are gone - because sat phones are not working.

Okay, how do you communicate? C.B.s - but those, I believe, have a pretty limited range. So what I need is (unless someone can think of another way of communicating) the name of the machine used to send Morris Code.

Any ideas?

ML

Telegraphs - olden days. They went over telegraph wires - I imagine there would have still been some in existence.

Jill

That would be Morse code, just for accuracy's sake. And if this is a fanfic, this sounds fascinating.

Nan

Thanks, Jill and Nan.

Telegraph. Funny. I could see the machine. I couldn't think of the name. I hate when that happens.

And, Nan, thanks for the spelling correction. I have a real problem with my spelling.

And, yes, this is for a fanfic.

Now, one more question. Does anyone know if there were digital cameras in 1994?

ML

Don't forget Ham Radios. I knew someone in college (this is the late 70s) who had a Ham Radio and talked to people very long distances away. He also used Morse code over the radio. I think his call letters were something like Whiskey Alpha Bravo.

When I was small we had a short wave radio that picked up Ham operators from all over the world. Ham operators (they tend to own generators, I guess) have been instrumental in emergency relief efforts after hurricanes and earthquakes and the like have disrupted normal communication methods.

According to about.com: "The first digital cameras for the consumer-level market that worked with a home computer via a serial cable were the Apple QuickTake 100 camera (February 17 , 1994), the Kodak DC40 camera (March 28, 1995), the Casio QV-11 (with LCD monitor, late 1995), and Sony's Cyber-Shot Digital Still Camera (1996)." Kodak had so-called professional digital cameras available earlier (1991)

AmyN

Ham Radios would be good. My brother built one and I know that you have to pass different tests for the licenses. The first license you could get you couldn't talk you had to use Morse Code. I remember this very well because I helped him learn Morse Code. The next license was when you could talk. Don't remember the details this was back in the 1960's and I'm younger than him. I just know that you had to take tests to get your license which gave you your call sign. So Ham Radios would be best because you can use either Morse Code or talking and they don't require wires just that each radio be attached to an antenna.

If you want an idea about it I believe the movie is called Frequency. I haven't seen it but the plot of the story is that a young man on a Ham radio some how talks back in time to his father before he died.

Ham Radio. Hey, that's a good idea. I like it. Thanks, guys.

ML

In case it helps, I thought I'd remind you that Perry is a short wave radio hobbiest. That's how he stays in touch with his contact, "Stormin' Norman."

I'm a ham.

In 1994, there was one license that did not require knowledge of Morse Code. (I know. I got my No-Code Tech in 1994.) The tests are very simple, so there's no reason someone (Jimmy, Clark, Perry -- even Lois!) couldn't be a ham and it not have come up before.

Call signs are letters and numbers (mine is KE6MUV, for example). Whiskey Alpha Bravo means WAB, and would have to be the end of someone's call sign. Call signs begin with one or two letters, then the number, then 1, 2, or 3 numbers. The letters and numbers also indicate the area the license was obtained in. (My 6 is because I got my license in California; I'd guess New Troy would share the 2 with New York and New Jersey.)

Call Signs

I had a QV-11, it wasn't very good even by the standards of the time. The Cyber-Shot was reckoned to be about as good as they got at that point, but I'm pretty sure that it was still only 640x480, a couple of dozen pictures at most in memory, and twenty to thirty minutes of power total before you had to change the batteries. Things have come a LONG way since then.

There are or were several private communications networks that would have certainly existed then - still do as far as I know.

Power companies generally have a system for running telephone messages along their lines - used by maintainance crews etc. since a lot of rural power lines are outside cellphone areas.

Reuters and other Telex systems were a lot more common then than they are now, and some of them have dedicated lines.

Railways and especially subways usually have a phone line running along the track, for use if radio etc. fails or isn't going to work anyway, e.g. in tunnels. In London, for example, you can see lines alongside the train windows - if the train breaks down the driver can open the window, clip on a couple of wires, and phone for help.

Cable TV networks also carry phone traffic, and sometimes their networks duplicate the main phone sysyem - you might be able to reach some numbers even when the main phone lines are out.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for all the information, guys. If I ever find myself in a city without power or communications, I'm definitely going to rely on you to figure out how to let me communicate.

The one piece of not-so-happy news is that Perry is a short wave radio hobbiest. I was planning on having Andy Tucker come in and set things up (the guy who knew how to use the old printing presses in Operation Blackout). I figured it was the type of thing he would know about - even though he was half-deaf. Maybe I can still find a way to fit him in.

ML