I should have been a little more specific.
I should have been a little less dense.
Band 2 on the modified WE receiver now ends at 1200 kHz. Band 3 is listed as starting at 1500 kHz. So the modifications applied to the broadcast band (making it possible to receive 500 kHz) seems to have created a "hole" between 1200 kHz and 1500 kHz. Which is where 1320 kHz lies. Hence the head scratching.
Of course, we don't know for sure exactly what changes, if any, were made to the receiver. However, we do have a new historical document courtesy of Earhart researcher Les Kinney (see below). It appears to be a Western Electric press release dated February 17, 1937 written by E. J. Quimby of the Western Electric Information Department, describing the work done on Earhart's Electra during her visit. Quimby is the guy in the photo attached to my earlier post standing beside AE sitting on a step ladder. AE is holding a 20B remote. The reverse side of that photo (courtesy of TIGHAR member Larry Inman's "Remember Amelia" collection) is attached below. The photo probably accompanied the press release.
I find several things about the press release interesting.
• It's important to note that Quimby is a PR man, not a technician, which may account for some of the ambiguity in the wording.
• Quimby begins by saying, "When Amelia Earhart left Newark Airport shortly before 3 o'clock this afternoon, her Lockheed Electra plane carried a complete installation of the latest radio aids to aerial navigation." I find it interesting
he says "latest aids to aerial navigation," not "communication." When AE left Newark, the plane still had the Hooven Radio Compass. Western Electric had nothing to do with the Hooven installation, so why the puff about navigation? Three days earlier, as the telegram she sent to Mantz from New York confirms, she had decided to swap out the Hooven Radio Compass for a Bendix system. Was Western Electric aware of the impending change?
• Quimby says, " Her standard Western Electric type 13 transmitting equipment has been specially modified for the round-the-world flight so that she can communicate with ships at sea and shore marine stations on a crystal controlled frequency of 500 kilocycles." This is entirely in agreement with Tinus' later description of changes made to the transmitter. Does Quimby's word "communicate with ships at sea" imply two-way communication?
• Quimby "The type 20 [notice he does not say 20B] radio receiver may be employed for either telegraphy or telephony and covers the frequencies necessary to receive beacon signals, commercial broadcast stations, aircraft and police radio stations, amateurs, and various frequencies employed by foreign radio stations." That sounds like a standard 20B.
• Quimby then describes the "diminutive remote control unit mounted directly on the instrument panel." That's the 27A Remote AE is holding in the photo. I'm quite sure (but I'll double check) the plane has had a 27A Remote since shortly after it was delivered in 1936. If there has been no change to the receiver, why are they installing a new remote?
Getting back to the original question, if Earhart's receiver cannot tune to KGMB, how does that change our assessment of the post-loss radio signals?