page_title: Survival radio
section_title: The Gibson Girl
hierarchical_section_title: Survival radio / History / The Gibson Girl
caption_attribution_description: English: "Gibson Girl" w:survival radio BC-778. Français&#160;: émetteur récepteur de naufrage type BC-778 employé dans les radeaux des navires, des avions. Le signal sur 500 kilohertz (2 W) peut être entendu jusqu'à plusieurs dizaines de kilomètres par les avions et les bateaux. La fréquence de 500 kilohertz a besoin d'une longue antenne érigée par un cerf-volant ou un ballon. La puissance de 4,8 watts était fournie par un générateur à manivelle. La manipulation SOS peut être automatique, ou manuelle. (Depuis 1942 à 1999)
context_page_description: Survival radios are carried by ships and aircraft to facilitate rescue in an emergency. They are generally designed to transmit on international distress frequencies. Maritime systems have been standardized under the Global Maritime Distress Safety System.
context_section_description: During World War II, Germany developed a hand-crank 500 kHz rescue radio, the "Notsender" (emergency transmitter) NS2. It used two vacuum tubes and was crystal-controlled. The radio case curved inward in the middle so that a user seated in an inflatable life boat could hold it stationary, between the thighs, while the generator handle was turned.  The distress signal, in Morse code, was produced automatically as the crank handle was turned. An NS2 unit was captured by the British in 1941, who produced a copy, the Dinghy Transmitter T-1333. Britain gave a second captured unit to the United States, which produced its own copy, the SCR-578. United States Army Air Forces aircraft carried the SCR-578 on over-water operations. Nicknamed the Gibson Girl because of its hourglass shape, it was supplied with a fold-up metal frame box kite, and a balloon with a small hydrogen generator, for which the flying line was the aerial wire. Power was provided by a hand cranked generator. The transmitter component was the BC-778. The frequency was 500 kHz at 4.8 watts, giving it a range of 200 miles (300 km; 200 nmi). Keying could be automatic SOS, or manual. Crystals for frequency control were a scarce item for the U.S. during the war and the SCR-578 was not crystal-controlled.
  A post-World War II version, the AN/CRT-3, which added a frequency in the 8 MHz range, was in use by ships and civil aircraft until the mid 1970s.
caption: BC-778 "Gibson Girl" radio transmitter.
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