Walkie-talkie
A walkie-talkie (more formally known as a handheld transceiver) is a hand-held, portable, two-way radio transceiver. Developed during World War II, similar designs were created for other armed forces, and after the war, walkie-talkies spread to public safety and eventually commercial and job site work. Typical walkie-talkies resemble a telephone handset, possibly slightly larger but still a single unit, with an antenna mounted on the top of the unit. Where a phone's earpiece is only loud enough to be heard by the user, a walkie-talkie's built-in speaker can be heard by the user and those in the user's immediate vicinity. Hand-held transceivers may be used to communicate between each other, or to vehicle-mounted or base stations.
In simple terms a Walkie Talkie is any small, handheld portable transceiver/two-way radio. These radios can operate on many different bands, including CB, FRS, GMRS, HAM, and more. They may be called by other names such as "handi-talkies" or "pack sets."
There are different Radio communication technologies and you should consider their advantages and limitations when you select a radio. Generally speaking the use of walkie talkies in a survival situation will require the use of predetermined protocols.
The range varies from under 100 feet to global coverage based on exactly which radio you have, the conditions at the time of transmission and other factors. Though it should be noted that most consumer models that require no use of an amateur radio license (aka HAM Radio License) have very limited ranges. Packaging will often claim ranges of 12-30 or more miles. This range can't be expected and is based on a best case scenario of topography and other conditions. Most such radios have a real world range of only 1/2 - miles, regardless of packaging claims.
See also
- Radio: Radio waves, Electromagnetic wave, modulation, amplitude, amplitude modulation (AM), frequency modulation (FM), Shortwave, Citizens band radio, General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS)
- Amateur Radio: Selecting a radio, Amateur radio frequency allocations, Morse code, Telegraph, Radio codes and alphabets
