The radio museum: how walkie-talkies and two-way radio began

Before the walkie-talkie: police and early mobile radio

Two-way radio began in cars, not in hands. Around 1923, a Melbourne police car carried a set that could receive Morse code but not send it.12 Detroit began regular one-way radio calls to patrol cars in April 1928.3 In March 1933, a Bayonne, New Jersey patrol car got the first two-way set. Officers could now answer headquarters and talk to other cars.3

Makers followed. Galvin Manufacturing, later Motorola, sold a one-way Police Cruiser receiver in 1936 and a line of two-way AM radios in 1939.4 Portable sets were also on the way. Japan's Army had a chest-worn radio in 1935.5 Donald Hings used a 12-pound pack radio in Canada by 1937.6 Al Gross began a handheld design in 1936.7

Radios of the Second World War

Soldiers needed radios they could carry, and many countries built them. The sets shrank as the war went on.

In the United States, Galvin Manufacturing, later Motorola, began the handheld SCR-536 and the backpack SCR-300 in 1940.89 The SCR-300 was the first FM portable two-way radio. It first saw action in the Pacific in August 1943.49 Britain developed the No. 18 in 1940 and the No. 38 in 1942.1011 Germany used the Telefunken Torn.Fu.d2, and the Soviet Union built the A-7 for artillery.1213 Canada's C-58, designed by Hings, ran to about 18,000 sets.6

So who made the first walkie-talkie? Sources name Hings in Canada, Al Gross and the Galvin team in the United States.147 Each has a claim, and credit is still disputed.6

Radio goes to work and to the public

After 1945, radio went to work in cities. Motorola ran the first commercial FM taxi system in Cleveland in 1944 and added portable business radios in 1947.4 Pye in Britain sold the chest-worn Walkie-Phone from 1951 and the pocket-size Pocketfone for police in the 1960s.15 Armies kept improving too: France's TR-PP-8 had six channels, and the Soviet R-105 family entered service in the early 1950s.1617

The public got radio next. The FCC opened the Citizens Radio Service in 1947, on 460 to 470 MHz.18 Gross's company made the first gear the FCC approved for the service, in 1948, and sold about 100,000 radios.7 In 1958 a new Class D service began on 27 MHz. That service became CB.1819 Canada added its General Radio Service in 1962.19 Remco's first toys were walkie-talkies.20 Motorola's 1962 HT 200 earned the nickname brick.4

The CB boom

In the 1970s, CB radio spread fast. A gas shortage in 1972 helped sales, and one peak year saw seven million units sold in the US.18 In 1977 the FCC raised the band from 23 to 40 channels.18

Other countries opened their own CB bands. West Germany allowed 12 AM channels on July 1, 1975.21 Canada moved to 40 channels in April 1977.19 Australia legalized 27 MHz CB in late 1977.19 Later that decade it chose UHF, and Philips showed its FM320 at a conference in Canberra.22 The UK legalized CB on November 2, 1981.23 Its 40 FM channels did not match imported American sets.23

License-free radios for everyone

By the 1990s, families wanted radios that needed no license. The US created the Family Radio Service in 1996, with 14 channels and half a watt.24 Motorola was reportedly first to market in 1997.24 Europe followed. Ireland opened PMR446 on April 1, 1998, and the UK did so in April 1999.25 PMR446 had eight channels.2526

LPD433 gave Europe a short-range band of 69 channels at 10 mW.27 Japan's specified low-power radios also run at 10 mW and need no license.28 Their rules go back to a 1989 notice.29 The cards show radios for each of these bands.

Digital radio

Public safety agencies wanted digital voice that worked across brands. In September 1989, APCO and its partners signed the agreement that started Project 25 (P25).30 Motorola launched its ASTRO digital system in 1991.4 The ASTRO Digital Saber followed around 1995, and the XTS 3000 came in 1996.3132 Europe built TETRA. Its first standard appeared in 1995, and Belgium's network ran from 1998.33 In France, Tetrapol served the Gendarmerie from 1988.34

ETSI published the first DMR standard in April 2005.35 Suppliers including Motorola and Hytera signed a DMR agreement that year.36 Motorola's MOTOTRBO brought digital radio to business users in 2006.4 NXDN, from Icom and Kenwood, shipped its first products that year.37 A dPMR industry group formed in 2007.38

Radio over the internet and phones

Radio also moved onto the internet and phones. Around 2001, eQSO let a PC link a walkie-talkie to others across the world.563940 The full story is in eQSO and the Free Radio Network. Nextel launched its iDEN network in September 1996, with a push-to-talk button called Direct Connect.41 By 2002, Nextel counted 150 million Direct Connect calls a day.42 NTT DoCoMo launched PushTalk in 2005, and Telstra in Australia launched Talk Now in 2008.4344 Zello's Android app arrived in 2011.45

Public safety wanted a standard of its own. 3GPP finished mission-critical push-to-talk (MCPTT) in March 2016.46 Motorola's LEX 700 of 2012 was the first handheld LTE device for public safety.4

Questions

Sources

1. When police cars first got radios · The Melburnian
2. Frederick William Downie, Victoria Police Wireless Patrol · downieabz.net
3. Milestones: Two-Way Police Radio Communication, 1933 · ETHW (IEEE History Center)
4. Motorola Solutions history timeline · Motorola Solutions
5. Model 94 Mark 6 (94-6) · Crypto Museum
6. Inventing the Walkie Talkie · Rossland Museum
7. Al Gross · Lemelson-MIT Program
8. SCR-536 · Wikipedia
9. SCR-300 · Wikipedia
10. Wireless Set No. 18 · Wireless for the Warrior (Louis Meulstee)