BOX 3-1

Handie-Talkies Serve Both Military and Commercial Needs

In 1940 Motorola developed the first handheld two-way radio, the Handie-Talkie, a 2.3-kg AM unit with a range of 1.6 to 4.8 km. Within three weeks of U.S. entry into World War II, Handie-Talkie production exceeded 50 units a day; by 1945 more than 130,000 units had been built. In 1942 Motorola's design for the world's first portable FM two-way radio, the SCR-300 backpack unit, won a competition to replace an older Army Signal Corps radio, the "walkie-talkie." The SCR-300 weighed almost 16 kg, had an average range of 16 to 32 km, and could be tuned to various frequencies in the 40–48 MHz band. Motorola police radios were used in the Army's first radio relay system for behind-the-lines communications and its first radio teletype hookup. After the war, Motorola introduced the first commercially available portable radiophones, the Handie-Talkie radio line. A fully transistorized, VHF pocket transmitter version was developed in 1960. A fully transistorized, portable two-way radio was developed in 1962; its weight of approximately 1 kg was reduced by almost half in 1969. These devices have evolved into Motorola's current line of cellular telephones. Component technologies from commercial communications equipment are now designed into future generations of military equipment, thus furthering the ongoing cycle of commercial-defense synergy.