Radio Rescue
Lynne Barasch
Hardcover
(Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR), Oct. 10, 2000)
2AZK saves the day!Back in 1923, a long-distance telephone call took hours to place, and overseas calls weren't possible at all. But a new invention, called wireless radio, permitted instant communication over long distances. A young boy, itching to get involved, buys a secondhand receiver and earphones, and studies hard to learn Morse code so that he can pass the test to qualify as an amateur radio operator and get his own station: 2AZK. Its fun talking with people all over the world just by tapping on his telegraph key (and readers can tap along - there's Morse code to follow in the pictures). Then one night he picks up a distress signal from Florida -- family stranded in flood -- and uses his skill for something more important. Based on the author's father's experiences as a young ham operator in the 1920s, Radio Rescue is an exciting story of a moment in technological history.
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