"WALKY-TALKIES"

New Zealand Listener, Volume 10, Issue 242, 11 February 1944, Page 6

"WALKY-TALKIES"

Radio Communications Make Possible The Speed of Modern War

(By

ROBERT

PARRISH

through the American Office

of War Information)

* JOHNSON!" snapped the captain on a crest above the Italian valley. P.f.c. Johnson knelt, jerked out the telescoping antenna pole of his "walkytalkie,’ and handed the captain a "talker.’ The captain called the code signal, and got an acknowledgment from headquarters. "Tank warning,’ he said quietly. "Heavy concentration proceeding north by north-east on valley road." The battalion "walky-talkie" verified the message. In three minutes, divebombers droned overhead. Down they zoomed over the tanks, which were ‘caught and smashed like sardine cans. Meanwhile, a tank destroyer battalion rushed into position. * a x ODERN war is fought at 50 miles an hour instead of 50 yards a day. In 1918 the tank warning would have been sent to headquarters py runner. Even if he’d been lucky enough to get through the German ‘barrage and machine-gun fire, he’d have taken an hour to cover the distance. By that time, all the men in the infantry outposts would have been "dead ducks." Communications have come a long way since the day when an army in the radio field maintained contact by the old telegraphic code signals requiring trained operators, or one-way communications by voice. From the bomber feeling its way home to its English base by a radio beam, to the tank operator reporting through twin discs pressed against his throat (with headphones built into the helmet, leaving both hands free) com-munications-and by that is meant versatile, multi-missioned radio-have ‘here changed the whole technique of warfare.

Cavalry officers used to lead a charge with drawn sabres. Now the commander of a tank battalion may direct the fight by radio from a distant hill. Encircled troops no longer send runners ofr carrier pigeons. Their radio messages. leap through any lines drawn around them. Light Weight a Feature Infantry patrols and front-line troops swear by their new five- pound "handy talkie," light enough to hold in one hand and almost as easy to use as a_ telephone hand-set. Originally designed for paratrooper use, this set features an automatic switch which turns the instrument on

when the telescopic antenna is pulled out. The "handy-talkie" in the field can send about three miles. At battalion headquarters is another "walky-talkie" to take the information, as in the case of the battle manoeuvres just described. This "walky-talkie" relays to another radio operator, who contacts regimental headquarters. Quickly the message goes to divisional, corps, and army command by high-powered radio, Nothing must happen to that radio net. The army must always maintain contact between its units. In France, in 1940, the Germans discovered the wavelengths of the French and tuned in to give false orders. To-day an authentication code is used to prevent such disaster, On the "walky-talkie" is a wavelength calibrator which looks like the tuning-button on a home radio set. When the soldier in the field turns it. he begins broadcasting and receiving

on a new wavelength. Armies have prearranged wavelehgths tg substitute when the enemy tries to jam the one they have been using. "Walky-talkies" are used in modern warfare to direct artillery fire. The artillery-liaison officer accompanying the advanced infantry has a "walkytalkie.’ When he calls for fire, he can see the bursts and correct the aim until the guns are on the target. In 1918, the officer would have different coloured rockets to help correct the artillery fire. The guns were some miles back. They fired blind, using a map, and if they made a mistake, as sometimes happened, they shelled their own troops. (continued on next page)

(continued from previous page) Persons seeing photographs of tanks observe a long metal rod sticking upward from the heavy armoured craft. This is no "buggy whip" for the battle wagon. It’s the antenna of the tank’s radio transmitter. The rod is the only visible suggestion of the extensive radio and communications equipment with which every tank on the battle fronts is equipped. The transmitter, about 14 inches high, 18 wide and a foot deep, is mounted on the inner surface of the turret, The receiver, about half as big, is placed alongside the transmitter. The tank commander normally directs radio communications. He can stand upright, or sit on a. jump seat, which swings out of way when not in use. Frequency modulation circuits are employed, because of their noisereducing qualities, a factor especially important in tank warfare. The ultra-high frequencies (short waves), are used, the shift from one frequency to another being made by push buttons. The whole technique is designed to foil enemy eavesdropping. Radios are not only essential to the infantry and tanks, but to scout cars and virtually all other army mobile units, including the cavalry with its "guidon sets." The cavalry "guidon set" has a longer range than the "walky-talkie" and is built in two sections. One straps to the chest of the communications man; the other is installed on a guidon staff, which can be mounted in a cavalry boot or on a motor vehicle. To be sure, telegraph and telephone communication is still vital to the army, even though radio is the newest development. Men of the signal corps make use of all kinds of communications, and at signal corps schools they are taught all phases of telephony and telegraphy, from laying wire to pole climbing. Throat Microphones The air forces, of course, depend largely upon radio, although members of a bomber’s crew talk to each other by telephone. By means of a throat "microphone" a pilot can talk by telephone or radio without interference from sound of guns or motor. The tiny "mikes" are in two buttons held against his throat. Radio has revolutionised naval warfare since the day in 1919 when the navy boasted that a ship could receive a spoken message from 600 miles away at sea, but could not reply to it. To-day, radio reigns supreme as the basis of all communications at sea, Messages from point to point on shore, from shore establishments to the fleet, and between different units of the fleet are conducted by radio. Important shore stations can reach any point in the world, and in addition, each naval district has a radio station near its headquarters. In a recent speech to workers in an American electronics factory, an officer said: "Someone may ask, ‘what damage can we do the Japs and Nazis with one of these little radio tubes?’ "That would be an easy question for the crew of a Flying Fortress on its way to bomb a Jap Island base. It | would be equally easy for the crew of a tank in Italy. Many, many times for both, the radio tubes have been the margin between life and death, victory and defeat."