Good stuff. I received a 2-channel Midland set for my 8th birthday in January of 72. They were black with a silver grille and more rectangular. There was a small A-B slide switch on the front. The “A” slot was equipped with a crystal for channel 14. You could order a second crystal for the “B” slot for channel 11, but I never did. Just by chance there was an active local teenage group of CBers on channel 14. One of them finally heard me one time (it was hard to break the pile-up on my 100mw into that telescopic from down in my basement bedroom) on an active Saturday night and the rest is history. Spent many enjoyable years on CB and eventually became a ham. I’m in my mid-50s now, and my two closest friends to this day are from those CB years. Though we live far apart we still talk almost weekly - by text and email now. To think it was a set of toy walkies like these that started my radio journey and led to lifelong friendships.
I really enjoyed reading your journey. It’s amazing how technology has evolved and the impact on how we communicate. Thanks again for sharing your story. All the best. Don
Boy, does this bring back memories. I'm like Al. I got my walkie-talkie at 14 years old, (Christmas 1964) with a super-regen receiver. I could take a tuning wand and tune it down to 15 meters and up to 10 meters to copy the hams that were still on AM back then. That led to me getting a general coverage receiver for Christmas 1965, and then passing my Novice license to operate on the air in June 1966. So I've been a ham for 50 years. Thanks, Don. Looking forward to Part 2.
+MrHarveyluke What a great story and I appreciate you sharing it. It had to be thrilling for you to get that general coverage receiver at such an early age followed by your novice ticket. I should have tried harder myself back in the day and learned the code for a Novice license. Thank you again for watching, sharing your story and congrats on being a ham operator for the past 50 years. Best, Don
Hi Don - Walkie Talkies were a lot of fun when I was a kid in the mid 60s. I got my first set from Olson Electronics. My buddy lived about 8 houses from me and we both ran a wire thru our attics and attached it to our WT antennas to get a little more distance. With no cell phones to have in that time, our WT system was our way to communicate to each other. Later I updated to a set from Lafayette Electronics. My family moved after I graduated from HS. Beats me what ever happened to those sets after that. I never really got into Walkie Talkies again until 15 years ago where I bought a set to communicate between 2 buildings of my office. Now I have a late 60s/early 70s set to display in my game room. When I look at 'em, it's fun to bring back those 1960s memories again! See ya -- Atco
+atco21117 Atco - I love it, that is running the wire through the attic; very creative! When I pulled them off the shelf, memories were flowing. Thanks again for watching and sharing your story. Best, Don
Don..wow..thanks for a trip down the memory lane...my brothers and i thought we were the coolest soldiers..or police..with these walkies..and how many antennae did i break!! great video..and the box looks to be in great shape....thx again Donn..loved these two videos..Rich
+iamrichrocker Thank you Rich. Like you and your brothers, I can't recall how many antennas and sets of WTs I destroyed. LOL Some great memories for sure. Best, Don
I remember these little 3 transistor units very well, and yes they really gobbled up the battery's very fast. Ok on receive but on transmit the battery did not last long. Range was limited to about 50/100 mtrs. You could shout that far but great fun at the time. Common faults that I remember were faulty transmit/receive switch. RF transistor goes O/C, sometimes the crystal would die. I'm interested in which one will it be in yours?
+Michael Beeny Hi Michael. I remember us (Dad) buying lots of batteries back in the day. Hate I'm responding so late, but hopefully you caught the root cause in P2. I lucked up and was able to get both units working. Best, Don
Hey Don, talk about a blast from the past, lol. We had those when we were kids. In 1973 we lived in a suburb in Jefferson County, KY about a quarter mile from I-65...you could see the interstate from our back yard. Anyhow, the set we had also had morse code letter codes on the bottom front of the units and when we turned ours on you could always hear the truckers talking in the background. When we tried to use them as kids the truckers would get mad that someone was screwing around...but when we tried to do the morse code with them they'd hit the roof! It was an education to a fairly sheltered kid learning all those bad words I had never heard before! We always thought it was hilarious but after a few minutes we'd turn them off and find something else to do because with all the truckers on there we could never hear each other on them anyways. Take care, Gary
Hi Don. It has been a while. I think I had one pair of really cheap ones once, but at age 14 had my Ham Novice and never really got too hooked on the 27 MHz license free. They are the original "make every stage do double duty" and did it effectively. A good look back going on there. 73 Al
+Albert Morris Al, it has been awhile. Hope all is well with you and the family. That's special that you got your Novice license at that early age. I didn't try hard enough when it came to learning the code. Wish I would have. I appreciate you watching and sorry about the belated response. Work has consumed me as of late. Best, Don
+DAVID GREGORY KERR Hi David - sorry for the delay in responding, work has been demanding. I think I have some transistors tucked away, but you've most likely watched P2 and saw what the root cause was. Thank you again for watching and I hate I couldn't get back to you before now. Best, Don
Don, I was getting ready to post "connect your frequency counter between the base of Q1, and the "rod antenna", but alas, you are leaving us with a "cliffhanger". FYI, Motorola threatened Midland with a lawsuit - because of the similarities between the appearance of these walkie talkies and Motorola's "first generation Motrac microphone." (do an image search on Motrac microphone)
+AMStationEngineer Sorry about the cliffhanger Tim. The video was getting crazy long, so it did make a great end to P1. I checked out the Motrac and you are right, they look like siblings. Best, Don
Hi Don, Thankyou, I'm really learning a lot about signal tracing. WT's are just good Fun. I build one & two transistor Transmitters (TX) for fun. I bought a Grundig S 350 5 Band radio for $3.00, cleaned the header & pins for power, etc. and it works perfect now, bad connection. I was happy. About $50.00 plus or minus, on E-Bay. Check out Dazaro3 on UA-cam, good at small FM TX. Take care, C.
RestoreOldRadios Hi Don, I hope all is good with you and yours, Happy Summer, sadly, it's waning. Using a 2N3904, NPN, or similar small signal transistor, the BC547, etc. series work good too, only one transistor I can transmit about 50 or 60 feet through the house, about 200 plus feet in the open with a fairly good radio. The frequency range can vary depending on coil, closer together on coil the frequency is lower, in the FM Band, spread out, higher on Band. Usually about 92 on up on the FM dial. Quite stable and picks up sound, ticking clock, very good using and electret mic. Disclaimer: I never use them to listen in on anyone. As learned from Dazaro3 on YT, you can hook antenna to the 2nd turn of the inductor coil, or the less fussy emitter side of transistor for better stability. I have had great success just hooking to the collector, as per schematic. In the Tank Circuit, I usually use a 27 to low 30's Pico Farad ceramic or other style cap. Values can vary a bit on caps and resistors. Achieving resonance is a cool thing, and, I usually do. You can use variable capacitor in Tank Circuit if you wish. Sorry so long. All the Best, C. P.S. I use .020" telephone wire on a 1/8" form, a larger finish style nail, 5-6 turns.
Good stuff.
I received a 2-channel Midland set for my 8th birthday in January of 72. They were black with a silver grille and more rectangular. There was a small A-B slide switch on the front. The “A” slot was equipped with a crystal for channel 14. You could order a second crystal for the “B” slot for channel 11, but I never did.
Just by chance there was an active local teenage group of CBers on channel 14. One of them finally heard me one time (it was hard to break the pile-up on my 100mw into that telescopic from down in my basement bedroom) on an active Saturday night and the rest is history. Spent many enjoyable years on CB and eventually became a ham.
I’m in my mid-50s now, and my two closest friends to this day are from those CB years. Though we live far apart we still talk almost weekly - by text and email now. To think it was a set of toy walkies like these that started my radio journey and led to lifelong friendships.
I really enjoyed reading your journey. It’s amazing how technology has evolved and the impact on how we communicate. Thanks again for sharing your story. All the best. Don
Boy, does this bring back memories. I'm like Al. I got my walkie-talkie at 14 years old, (Christmas 1964) with a super-regen receiver. I could take a tuning wand and tune it down to 15 meters and up to 10 meters to copy the hams that were still on AM back then. That led to me getting a general coverage receiver for Christmas 1965, and then passing my Novice license to operate on the air in June 1966. So I've been a ham for 50 years. Thanks, Don. Looking forward to Part 2.
+MrHarveyluke What a great story and I appreciate you sharing it. It had to be thrilling for you to get that general coverage receiver at such an early age followed by your novice ticket. I should have tried harder myself back in the day and learned the code for a Novice license. Thank you again for watching, sharing your story and congrats on being a ham operator for the past 50 years. Best, Don
Hi Don - Walkie Talkies were a lot of fun when I was a kid in the mid 60s. I got my first set from Olson Electronics. My buddy lived about 8 houses from me and we both ran a wire thru our attics and attached it to our WT antennas to get a little more distance. With no cell phones to have in that time, our WT system was our way to communicate to each other. Later I updated to a set from Lafayette Electronics. My family moved after I graduated from HS. Beats me what ever happened to those sets after that. I never really got into Walkie Talkies again until 15 years ago where I bought a set to communicate between 2 buildings of my office. Now I have a late 60s/early 70s set to display in my game room. When I look at 'em, it's fun to bring back those 1960s memories again! See ya -- Atco
+atco21117 Atco - I love it, that is running the wire through the attic; very creative! When I pulled them off the shelf, memories were flowing. Thanks again for watching and sharing your story. Best, Don
Don..wow..thanks for a trip down the memory lane...my brothers and i thought we were the coolest soldiers..or police..with these walkies..and how many antennae did i break!! great video..and the box looks to be in great shape....thx again Donn..loved these two videos..Rich
+iamrichrocker Thank you Rich. Like you and your brothers, I can't recall how many antennas and sets of WTs I destroyed. LOL Some great memories for sure. Best, Don
I remember these little 3 transistor units very well, and yes they really gobbled up the battery's very fast. Ok on receive but on transmit the battery did not last long. Range was limited to about 50/100 mtrs. You could shout that far but great fun at the time. Common faults that I remember were faulty transmit/receive switch. RF transistor goes O/C, sometimes the crystal would die. I'm interested in which one will it be in yours?
+Michael Beeny Hi Michael. I remember us (Dad) buying lots of batteries back in the day. Hate I'm responding so late, but hopefully you caught the root cause in P2. I lucked up and was able to get both units working. Best, Don
Hey Don, talk about a blast from the past, lol. We had those when we were kids. In 1973 we lived in a suburb in Jefferson County, KY about a quarter mile from I-65...you could see the interstate from our back yard. Anyhow, the set we had also had morse code letter codes on the bottom front of the units and when we turned ours on you could always hear the truckers talking in the background. When we tried to use them as kids the truckers would get mad that someone was screwing around...but when we tried to do the morse code with them they'd hit the roof! It was an education to a fairly sheltered kid learning all those bad words I had never heard before! We always thought it was hilarious but after a few minutes we'd turn them off and find something else to do because with all the truckers on there we could never hear each other on them anyways. Take care, Gary
+Rebel9668 Thats too funny Gary. I bet you heard a lot of... I appreciate you watching, but the best part for me is hearing your story. Best, Don
Hi Don. It has been a while. I think I had one pair of really cheap ones once, but at age 14 had my Ham Novice and never really got too hooked on the 27 MHz license free. They are the original "make every stage do double duty" and did it effectively. A good look back going on there. 73 Al
+Albert Morris Al, it has been awhile. Hope all is well with you and the family. That's special that you got your Novice license at that early age. I didn't try hard enough when it came to learning the code. Wish I would have. I appreciate you watching and sorry about the belated response. Work has consumed me as of late. Best, Don
my childhood memories
Me too. I had four or five sets myself. Lots of good times running around the neighborhood talking. Best, Don
Do you have any 2SA733 transistors you can replace the old transistors with and see if that works.
+DAVID GREGORY KERR Hi David - sorry for the delay in responding, work has been demanding. I think I have some transistors tucked away, but you've most likely watched P2 and saw what the root cause was. Thank you again for watching and I hate I couldn't get back to you before now. Best, Don
Don, I assume the speaker serves as the microphone when in transmit mode?
Yes it does.
+z95m Yes, you are correct. Thanks for checking this out. Best, Don
A cliffhanger.....dang it.
+halfwayuphill Sorry about that. The video was getting really long and it worked out that way I promise. Thanks for watching. Best, Don
Do a G-227 midland walkie talkie void please
And oh the batteries they would go through!
+Dennis Hill Yes sir, for sure. I know my parents got irritated as I would burn through them. Best, Don
Don, I was getting ready to post "connect your frequency counter between the base of Q1, and the "rod antenna", but alas, you are leaving us with a "cliffhanger". FYI, Motorola threatened Midland with a lawsuit - because of the similarities between the appearance of these walkie talkies and Motorola's "first generation Motrac microphone." (do an image search on Motrac microphone)
+AMStationEngineer Sorry about the cliffhanger Tim. The video was getting crazy long, so it did make a great end to P1. I checked out the Motrac and you are right, they look like siblings. Best, Don
Hi Don, Thankyou, I'm really learning a lot about signal tracing. WT's are just good Fun. I build one & two transistor Transmitters (TX) for fun. I bought a Grundig S 350 5 Band radio for $3.00, cleaned the header & pins for power, etc. and it works perfect now, bad connection. I was happy. About $50.00 plus or minus, on E-Bay. Check out Dazaro3 on UA-cam, good at small FM TX. Take care, C.
+Cass Virgillo C, I will check out Dazaro3. What kind of range can you get with your TX builds? What frequency range? Best, Don
RestoreOldRadios Hi Don, I hope all is good with you and yours, Happy Summer, sadly, it's waning. Using a 2N3904, NPN, or similar small signal transistor, the BC547, etc. series work good too, only one transistor I can transmit about 50 or 60 feet through the house, about 200 plus feet in the open with a fairly good radio. The frequency range can vary depending on coil, closer together on coil the frequency is lower, in the FM Band, spread out, higher on Band. Usually about 92 on up on the FM dial. Quite stable and picks up sound, ticking clock, very good using and electret mic. Disclaimer: I never use them to listen in on anyone. As learned from Dazaro3 on YT, you can hook antenna to the 2nd turn of the inductor coil, or the less fussy emitter side of transistor for better stability. I have had great success just hooking to the collector, as per schematic. In the Tank Circuit, I usually use a 27 to low 30's Pico Farad ceramic or other style cap. Values can vary a bit on caps and resistors. Achieving resonance is a cool thing, and, I usually do. You can use variable capacitor in Tank Circuit if you wish. Sorry so long. All the Best, C. P.S. I use .020" telephone wire on a 1/8" form, a larger finish style nail, 5-6 turns.
Just put batteries in and try them they will work.