By Gil McElroy, VE3PKD A Short History of the Handheld Transceiver CARTOON BY PHIL GILDERSLEEVE, W1CJD [FROM NOVEMBER 1948] Although today you could say “They’re everywhere, they’re everywhere!” it wasn’t always so. rom its very beginning, Amateur that could be easily carried in the hand. Wartime Spawns Designs for Radio has been an invaluable part The fantasy may have been the two-way Portable Radio Fof both emergency and civil defense radio comic book hero Dick Tracy wore In an ironic twist, it was the suspen- communications. Fifty Years of A.R.R.L. on his wrist, but the reality would be a sion of Amateur Radio during World War notes that as early as 1913, amateurs were handheld device: the handie-talkie, or II that gave what might have been the first involved in providing emergency commu- “handheld transceiver.” Easy to carry and big boost toward ham interest in and de- nications following a severe windstorm easy to use, the handie-talkie would make velopment of a truly handheld transceiver. in the Midwest. And the idea of all hams its way to every corner of the world, and WERS—the War Emergency Radio Ser- being equipped with portable rigs for even into space when Owen Garriott, vice—focused on communications strictly national defense purposes had first been W5LFL, made history when he fired up for national defense purposes, and as more proposed in the pages of QST in a letter a 2 meter handheld aboard the space and more hams became involved, the pages to the editor in the August 1916 issue. shuttle Columbia in November and of QST filled with articles on WERS ac- The editorial response noted that as hams, December 1983. It’s a story that starts tivities, especially those related to mobile we “owe the country something and it more than 40 years earlier. and portable construction and operation. should be a part of national preparedness FEBRUARY 1942 In what was the first article on civilian for each one to consider how he might defense published in QST as the United aid with his set.”1 States entered the war, a homebrew 1 handheld 2 /2 meter transceiver built by the Bicycle Mobile Westchester Amateur Radio Association At the time, that “set” was almost al- was shown in action in the February 1942 ways fixed in location. Spark gap equip- issue, ideal for “when the operator might ment and the wavelengths used didn’t find it necessary to get…right into the lend themselves easily to mobile and por- scene of a disaster.”2 While the work of table operation. It didn’t stop hams from the Westchester hams predated the start of trying, however. In the July 1916 QST, WERS (which was officially activated in for example, the article “Portable Station June of that year), the article was the first SK” told of the trials and tribulations of in QST to depict a handheld rig in action. operating a portable spark gap rig that The cover of the April 1942 issue of was moved about (though not operated) QST showed a WERS participant scanning on a bicycle. But the advent of vacuum the skies with binoculars for enemy air- tube technology and shorter wavelengths craft. Headphones cover his ears, and on meant that, by the 1930s, portable rigs his back is a pack from which an antenna were becoming almost commonplace in protrudes. Inside the issue was a compan- QST. The October 1935 issue, for in- ion article with instructions on how to 1 stance, showed a young George H. Nibbe, build a 2 /2 meter “walkie-talkie” for W9NUF, with his bicycle-mounted (and WERS use. Though the terms were some- operated) 5 meter rig. times used interchangeably, “walkie- The ultimate in portable communica- talkies” (also known as “talkie-walkies” Figure 1—This wartime photo shows a tions, however, would be a transceiver 1 and even “talky-walkys”) were pack- ham operating a 2 /2 meter handheld transceiver used for emergency carried radios, while “handie-talkies” (or 1Notes appear on page 50. communications. “handy-talkys”) were true handheld units From January 2005 QST © ARRL NOVEMBER 1942 OCTOBER 1943 FEBRUARY 1944 Figure 2—Cover photo of W9JGL (in Figure 3—Cover image of a War Figure 4—Advertisement by Harvey- uniform) operating “one of the Army’s Emergency Radio Service handie-talkie in Wells Communications showing their latest gadgets, the ‘handie-talkie,” little use for civil defense—the “Handy Andy.” idea of postwar communications: a brother of the walkie-talkie. hunter using a handheld radio to call for emergency assistance. SEPTEMBER 1944 of a more limited power and range than their larger cousins. After that, numerous articles on walkie- talkies began to appear regularly in the pages of QST. The September 1944 issue carried an article profiling the Signal Corps and detailing the story of how the walkie-talkie was actually developed. Not surprisingly, an unnamed ham serving in the artillery was accorded full credit. Ac- cording to the story, in 1932 he read VHF pioneer Ross Hull’s articles in QST on a midget 5 meter transceiver,3 and proceeded to develop his own for military applica- tion. His work eventually caught the eye of Signal Corps engineers, and the first military walkie-talkie—the SCR-194— was eventually developed for field use. The handie-talkie itself made its first cover appearance in November 1942, and in December of that same year, was fea- Figure 5—From an article on the Signal Corps, a photo of a sergeant using the tured as part of an article on the Signal Motorola SCR-536 Handie-Talkie in field conditions during a military training exercise. Corps. “Smallest field unit of the Signal Corps,” a photo caption read, “it is not much larger or heavier than a conven- the teenage invention of a Cleveland ham, war’s end, 130,000 of them had been tional handset.” The SCR-536 was a wa- Al Gross, W8PAL (now a SK). In 1938, manufactured. terproof 5 pound, 5 tube AM rig operating only four years after getting his amateur The SCR-536 got a lot of coverage in between 3.5 and 6 MHz that packed a ticket, Gross developed a small handheld QST. While it made the cover of the mighty 20 mW of power and had a range transceiver that caught the attention of the November 1942 issue and was promi- of between 100 feet and a mile. It was OSS (the forerunner of today’s CIA). But nently featured in a Signal Corps adver- the brainchild of Galvin Manufacturing, Galvin/Motorola was the company that tisement therein, by early the following a company still around today. We know made the handheld transceiver (Motorola year it was being used to herald things to it now, however, as Motorola. would eventually copyright “Handie- come. In an April 1943 advertisement for Talkie”) a reality. The SCR-536 was de- Tung-Sol radio tubes in QST, the short Motorola Announces the veloped in 1940 by a team led by Don range handie-talkie was re-imagined for Handie-Talkie Mitchell, Galvin’s chief engineer. By July everyday non-military use. “Portable, The handie-talkie is often credited as 1941 it was in mass production, and at personal two-way radio phones may From January 2005 QST © ARRL DECEMBER 1946 MAY 1953 MARCH 1958 Figure 6—Postwar advertisement showing 2 meter handheld receiver: “A 1947 engineered transceiver for the Figure 8—Photograph accompanying 2 meter band.” first article on constructing transistorized handie-talkie. become a reality,” the advertisement read. “Where electronics will take us no one can tell.” was in the January and February 1953 is- The Amateur Radio community had a sues of QST that hams showed how it could pretty good idea. In October 1943, QST be done. Two articles profiled the work of featured the “Handy Andy” 112 MHz Detroit area amateurs as they pooled their handie-talkie for WERS use based on cir- Figure 7—Photo talents and efforts to mass-produce crystal cuit designs featured in previous issues. At accompanying an article on controlled handie-talkies for all their mem- 1 the construction of a 220 4 /2 pounds, it was slightly lighter than the bers. “Despite obvious range limitations,” MHz handheld radio for civil SCR-536, but its batteries had to be car- defense use. the article stated, “it was decided that com- ried separately (“maybe the YL’s or XYL’s pact stations carried by hand have a handbag would fill the need,” the article definite role to play in a well-rounded suggested). The February 1944 issue emergency communications program.”4 featured “A WERS Handie-Talkie for $1538.77” with a promised range of 10 to The Transistor 12 miles (the astronomical price tag was a But the demands and limitations of tongue-in-cheek estimate based on the ued to appear sporadically in QST, like a vacuum tube technology hadn’t changed, man-hours of a “skilled worker without 10 meter rig described in the July 1949 and wouldn’t until the transistor made its union card”—the actual rig could be built issue, but again the technological limita- appearance as an affordable piece of tech- for less than $25), and in the same issue tions of vacuum tubes and the power sup- nology in the mid-1950s. The first article an advertisement by Harvey-Wells Com- plies they needed had an inevitable effect for a transistorized “handitalky” pub- munications showed how it envisaged the on amateur development of handheld lished in QST appeared in the March 1958 future of handheld communications, de- communications.