Communicator Items

Here is a list of all the items used in ET's communicator:-


-Rope
-Small hook
-Safety pins
-Rubber bands
-Knife and fork
-Numerous nuts and bolts
-Numerous wires
-Record player
-Coat hanger
-Circular sawblade with patterned holes
-Blue paint
-Metal contacts
-Bobby Pins
-Speak and Spell
-Lantern battery
-Walkie Talkie
-UHF (Ultra High Frequency) Tuner and RF (Radio Frequency) Antenna Coaxial cable
-Coffee can
-Circuit board from transistorized radio
-Fuzzbuster
-Metal funnel
-Metal rod
-Umbrella
-Aluminum foil aka Reynolds Wrap


Below is a list of how all the items work together in sections in ET's communicator:-


Section 1 - The Message Scratcher

-A blue painted circular sawblade rests on the turntable of a record player with a coat hanger bolted through the centre of the circular sawblade into the centre of the record player.

-A knife and fork is bolted together with the bolted joint secured by a rubber band. The knife is also bolted to the coat hanger with the fork resting in between the teeth of the circular sawblade. The knife is also attached to the coat hanger by a rubber band to keep the knife steady.

-A rope is attached to holes in the knife and fork and a small hook on the coat hanger. In order to keep the rope taut safety pins are put through rope on either of its hook joint on the coat hanger. The other end of the rope is tied to a tree branch.

-When the wind blows the tree branch, it pulls the rope which in turn pulls the knife and fork which in turn spins the circular sawblade.

-When the circular sawblade spins it moves under metal Bobby Pins which are mounted on the coat hanger. The Bobby Pins are also wired to the Message Maker Section of ET's communicator.

-To create the Message Scratcher Section and the "driving force" of his communicator ET has made the circular sawblade spin under the wired Bobby Pins in such a way that it scratches a help message to his friends in space as the wired Bobby Pins make contact with the circular sawblade via metal contacts attached to patterned holes in the blade surface like a Player Piano.


Section 2 - The Message Maker

-The Bobby Pins are linked by numerous wires to a Speak and Spell teaching computer. The Speak and Spell which has had its back cover and speaker/display cover removed is the Message Maker Section of ET's communicator since it generates the help message and signal that ET had the wired Bobby Pins scratch from the circular sawblade. The Speak and Spell displays ET's help message on its small display screen.

-The Speak and Spell is powered by a lantern battery in the ET film however in the ET novel the Speak and Spell is powered by hundreds of wires that ET has inserted into the veins of leaves in the forest to tap the electricity of life.


Section 3 - The Transmitter

-ET has fixed the Mic of a walkie talkie set onto the Speak and Spell's speaker.

-ET's help message is relayed as a radio signal through the walkie talkie's Mic, through the walkie talkie set, down a Television's RF (Radio Frequency) Antenna Coaxial cable and into a Television's UHF (Ultra High Frequency) Tuner. This unusual signal relay rig was created after first removing the walkie talkie's own antenna, ET then spliced the TV/Video set end of the RF Coaxial cable into the antenna module and circuitry in the walkie talkie whilst the antenna end of the RF Coaxial cable was connected to its usual adapter on the UHF Tuner. The UHF Tuner is mounted on the side of a coffee can which in turn is mounted upside down on the handle of an opened umbrella. The UHF Tuner multiples the relatively weak radio signal from the walkie talkie set into the Microwave Frequency.

-A circuit board from a transistorized radio is attached to the bottom end of the upside down coffee can and is wired to the UHF Tuner.

-A Fuzzbuster which has had its chassis removed is mounted inside the upside down coffee can and is connected to a metal funnel. The narrow part of the metal funnel also passes through the centre of the radio circuit board and the wide part points downwards out of the bottom end of the upside down coffee can. A metal rod which doubles as a metal probe points downwards out of the wide part of the metal funnel. The Fuzzbuster is also wired to the radio circuit board. The radio circuit board, Fuzzbuster and metal funnel and metal rod probe allows ET's help message to be broadcasted outwards from the UHF Tuner. The radio circuit board, Fuzzbuster and metal funnel and metal rod probe broadcasts the message downwards onto reflective aluminum foil aka Reynolds Wrap which covers the inside of the material of the opened umbrella. The combination of the UHF Tuner, coffee can, radio circuit board, Fuzzbuster and metal funnel and metal rod probe forms a transmitter/radar hybrid device while the foil covered umbrella acts as a Parabolic Reflector that reflects ET's help message into outer space. This combination of the walkie talkie, UHF Tuner, coffee can, radio circuit board, Fuzzbuster, metal funnel and metal rod probe and foil covered umbrella forms the beacon Transmitter Section of ET's communicator.

(Source 1 The ET Film Written by Melissa Mathison and Produced by Stephen Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy)
(Source 2 The ET Novel Written by William Kotzwinkle)