FM Walkie-Talkie (Aug, 1950)
Filed under: Radio — @ 9:56 am
Source: Mechanix Illustrated ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Aug, 1950
| Buy on Ebay
Source: Mechanix Illustrated ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Aug, 1950
| Buy on Ebay
I thought that a walkie talkie implied something you could carry, not strap on your back and lug around.
FM Walkie-Talkie just announced by Motorola, Inc., of Chicago, 111., will be popular among law enforcement agencies, fire protection departments, forestry services, railroads, etc. It has 24 tubes and weighs 19 lbs. A tip-up loudspeaker broadcasts over the operator’s shoulder or to nearby listeners. It has a range of from five to seven miles, depending upon altitude and presence of physical obstructions.
Motorola developed the “walkie-talkie” for the Army in WWII. They then shrank it to a handset that was bigger than an 80-s era cellphone brick and called it a “handie-talkie”.
Most of the cb-band handhelds were called walkie-talkies when I was a kid. We amateur radio operators seem to prefer handie-talkie for the our version.
Interestingly, to my German cousins, a “handy” is a cellphone.
Comment by Tom — November 13, 2008 @ 11:18 am