Quindar Tones

[RAF]

So yesterday and today I'm watching the Hubble space walks and find that I'm bothered by something I couldn't quite put my finger on...something was "different".

Then it "hit" me...where were the Quindar Tones?

Have I simply missed this throughout the entire shuttle program, or is this "lack" a recent development?

[JayUtah]

Quindar tones are no longer necessary. They were meant to key downstream equipment, but now the comm infrastructure is digital, multi-channel, and simply doesn't require that mode of control. For a while Quindar tones were actually kept on in voice comm for the shuttle because so many astronauts were used to it. But it has been phased out.

[RAF]

Good to know I wasn't imagining the Tones were used on early Shuttle missions.

I believe the last shuttle mission I watched extensively was the very first Hubble "repair", so I simply hadn't noticed until now.

Thanks, Jay...I knew you would know the answer.

[dragonblaster]

May 15, 2009 12:04:04 GMT -4 RAF said:

Then it "hit" me...where were the Quindar Tones?

You don't believe they're real, do you? That was just the so-called astronauts saying "beep" every so often!

I can hear Charlie Duke now: "Sixty seconds... beep"

The "beep"was even said with a Carolina accent, goddammit!

You can tell the beeps are fake because John Young once said "boop" on Apollo 16, by mistake.

[tedward]

It was a whistle. There was chaos when one of them swallowed it and started beeping all over the place. NASA struggled to keep that out of the press.....


OK, made it up. Would have been a good hoax though......

[dragonblaster]

And don't forget when Jim Irwin did it at the Apollo 15 press conference. Five times. You can see Dave Scott kicking him under the table.

Well, of course, I wasn't there, and the NASA disinformationists have edited that out, but I know anyway.