A walkie talkie, more officially called a handheld transceivers, is a two-way, hand-held radio transceiver. Its emergence during the Second World War was variously attributed to Donald Hings, a young radio operator from Kansas City, Missouri who was based in England. The German military, believing that the United States was preparing a radio attack on their positions, set out to test the radios and transmitters used by the Americans to ascertain the level of American knowledge and resolve any discrepancies they might discover.
One of the many uses for the walkie talkie is that it allows one person to communicate to another over great distances. In fact during the Gulf War one of the biggest developments was the invention of the pinhole receiver. These devices allowed one person to listen to radio communications from an army post in the Middle East while the other could continuously listen to transmissions coming from the United States Seventh Fleet in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
Walkie Talkies has developed vastly since the early days of their conception. Today’s Walkie Talkies, which is manufactured for general use rather than specific purposes, include both microwave and infrared frequencies. Microwave frequencies are of much interest to hobbyist radio operators because the range is much greater and the signal is more consistent. Of the infrared types, the best ones are those which operate on the same frequency band as the human body.
The two primary types of walkie talkie transmitters are the so-called single frequency band (SFS) and multi-frequency bands (MFC). Both utilize the same basic technology: a transmission travels between two or more points using radio waves. In a system, the transmission takes place within a single frequency band. When an MFC system is in operation, however, it can utilize any of the various frequency bands within that single band.
The basic function of a walkie talkie is to allow two or more users to share the same radio signal. The users can then select either active or passive modes. In an active mode, the two users select one another and then touch the heads together at the other end of the line. The transmitted signals then travel through the line until they meet again with the transmitting end. When this line becomes overloaded, however, the whole communication process breaks down.
This is why it is sometimes necessary to select different frequencies for different purposes. For instance, you might want to talk with someone on a rural carrier but you are on the East Coast. You would not be able to use the same single frequency as they do because it wouldn’t be able to pick up their transmission. Therefore, they would talk on a different frequency from where you are. The walkie talkie is very useful in such situations, especially when two people want to talk at the same time, but are separated by long distances. It also helps to be aware that when the two-way radio waves become too saturated, the signal is dropped.