Radio age research, manufacturing, communications, broadcasting, television (1941)

Record Details:

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New Walkie-Talkie Produced by RCA in Record Time Production Schedule Beaten by 60 Days as First Unit of Smaller, More Powerful Radio is Presented to Maj. General Akin, Chief Signal Officer. AN'EW walkie-talkie for the armed forces with twice the aiiKe of its World War II counter- )art, but having only half the k-eijrht and bulk of its predecessor, las been developed by the Radio i'orporation of America and turned iver to the U.S. Army Sipnal Corps, vhich provided the specifications, rhe first production model was pre- ented to JMaj. General Spencer B. Vkin. Chief Signal Officer, U.S. Vrmy, by Walter A. Buck, Vice 'resident and General Manager, iCA \'ictor Division, in ceremonies leld at Camden on March 8. An outstanding example of the dvance in the design of sub-minia- ure components, the new walkie- alkie is the smallest tunable radio ransmitter-receiver of its type ver produced. Through the ingenu- ty of engineers, many of the part.* lave been compressed to fit into netal cylinders no larger than a niniature electron tube. The com- lete two-way communication unit ontains 16 tubes, yet is only 9V2 fiches high, 10^2 inches wide and inches deep. Including batteries, ntennas and handset, it weighs nly 29 pounds. It can be used .•hile strapped to the back of the perator, mounted in a vehicle, or et up as a semi-permanent ground tation. With an output of appro.x- mately 1 watt, the walkie-talkie as a range of about 5 miles. Design Problems Outlined Some of the major problems met nd solved by RCA engineers in ooperation with the Signal Corps rere outlined by T. A. Smith, As- istant General Manager. Engineer- ng Products Department, during he presentation ceremonies in 'amden. "The story," he said, "begins of- cially shortly after the war. Un- fficially, it began even earlier— icfore the end of the war. It might .MAJ. GENER.AL SPE.N'CER AKIN, CHIEF SIGNAL OFFICER, U. S. ARMY, DIRECTS MANEUVERS OF ARMY PLANE IN FIRST PUBLIC DEMONSTRA- TION OF NEW RCA WALKIE-TALKIE UNIT AT CAMDEN, N. J. be said to have begun with the prob- lems of GI's struggling with vital communications gear, made as light and portable as anyone could de- sign it, but still heavy and cumber- some to carry. "World War II 'walkie-talkies' had added a new concept of com- munications to field warfare. But along with great advantages they brought certain difficulties in the way of reduction of maneuvera- bility, maintenance problems and transportation requirements. Bulki- ness and weight, however, were the two main disadvantages of the old equipment. In fact, in some sectors they were referred to—not too lov- ingly—as 'backie-breakies'. "Engineers of the Signal Corps were, of course, well aware of this. Even before the war ended they were making plans for a new equip- ment. They started putting their ideas down on paper based upon their experiences during World War II and soon drew up a list of specifi- cations for the set they wanted. These requirements seemed impos- sible of achievement by techniques known at the time. "Signal Corps engineers, how- ever, believed that by utilizing the newly-developed art of sub-minia- turization to the fullest extent it would be possible, over a reasonable period of time, to develop the set they wanted. "The problem of sub-miniaturi- zation, or making things much smaller, is not simple because all of the many parts—and there are [RADIO AGE II]