Walkie Talkies
Walkie Talkies are portable, hand-held communication devices. Their history can be traced back to the Second World War. It is believed there were many variations made for different armed forces, and it wasn’t until after the war that the walkie talkie found its way into the public and commercial sectors.
Features of Walkie Talkies
Walkie talkies are unique in that the half-duplex channel they operate on will only allow one radio to transmit at any time, though there are no limits to the amount that can listen. Rather than have an earpiece similar to a telephone, a walkie talkie has a built in speaker so the unit does not have to be held to the ear. Walkie talkies are used to connect to both other handheld units and to radio stations which are in a fixed location. The typical shape of a walkie talkie is of a large telephone handset, with a fixed antenna poking out of the top of the unit.
History of the Walkie Talkie
The fist radio audio transmiter and receiver that was coined the ‘walkie talkie’ was created by Motorola. The group involved created the Motorola SCR-300 using frequency modulation. This first walkie talkie was actually backpack mounted. Not long afterward, during World War 2, Motorola produced the ‘Handie Talkie’ which rather confusingly is what we would now recognise as a ‘Walkie Talkie’. It had massively reduced performance, but was the first completely self contained handheld device.
Walkie Talkies Nowadays
Walkie talkies are widely used nowadays in both consumer and commercial environments, for example outdoor recreations, business use, military and public safety. As a result of this the prices and quality of the units vary greatly, from kids walkie talkies to rugged digital units for heavy industry use. As technology has improved, and reduce in size, so have the walkie talkie housings. Normally, you’l find the commercial walkie talkies are tougher, in protective cases and limited to a select few frequencies. Consumer walkie talkies on the other hand tend to be smaller, more lightweight and capable of scanning across far more channels within the band. Kids walkie talkies are generally low power units, and as a result are exempt from licence requirements. Though they often look the same as fully featured walkie talkies, they are normally releatively low-tech in comparison.
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