Mobile Radio - History

History

Early users of mobile radio equipment included transportation and government. These systems used one-way broadcasting instead of two-way conversations. Railroads used medium frequency range (MF) communications (similar to the AM broadcast band) to improve safety. Instead of hanging out of a locomotive cab and grabbing train orders while rolling past a station, voice communications with rolling trains became possible. Radios linked the caboose with the locomotive cab. Early police radio systems were initially one way using MF frequencies above the AM broadcast band, (1.7 MHz). Some early systems talked back to dispatch on a 30-50 MHz link, (called crossband).

Early mobile radios used amplitude modulation (AM) to convey intelligence through the communications channel. In time, problems with sources of electrical noise showed that frequency modulation (FM) was superior for its ability to cope with vehicle ignition and power line noise. The frequency range used by most early radio systems, 25 to 50 MHz (vhf "low band") is particularly susceptible to the problem of electrical noise. This plus the need for more channels led to the eventual expansion of two-way radio communications into the VHF "high band" (150 to 174 MHz) and UHF (450 to 470 MHz). The UHF band has since been expanded again.

One of the major challenges in early mobile radio technology was that of converting the six or twelve volt power supply of the vehicle to the high voltage needed to operate the vacuum tubes in the radio. Early tube-type radios used dynamotors - essentially a six or twelve volt motor that turned a generator to provide the high voltages required by the vacuum tubes. Some early mobile radios were the size of a suitcase or had separate boxes for the transmitter and receiver. As time went on, power supply technology evolved to use first electromechanical vibrators, then solid-state power supplies to provide high voltage for the vacuum tubes. These circuits, called "inverters", changed the 6V or 12V direct current (DC) to alternating current (AC) which could be passed through a transformer to make high voltage. The power supply then rectified this high voltage to make the high voltage DC required for the vacuum tubes, (called valves in British English). The power supplies needed to power vacuum tube radios resulted in a common trait of tube-type mobile radios: their heavy weight due to the iron-core transformers in the power supplies. These high voltage power supplies were inefficient, and the filaments of the vacuum tubes added to current demands, taxing vehicle electrical systems. Sometimes, a generator or alternator upgrade was needed to support the current required for a tube-type mobile radio.

Examples of US 1950s-1960s tube-type mobile radios with no transistors:

• Motorola FMTRU-140D (dynamotor powered)
• Motorola Twin-V, named for its "universal" 6 or 12 Volt power supply
• General Electric Progress Line (Early models without "T-Power" power supply)
• Kaar Engineering Model 501

Equipment from different US manufacturers had similar traits. This was partly dictated by Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations. The requirement that unauthorized persons be prohibited from using the radio transmitter meant that many radios were wired so they could not transmit unless the vehicle ignition was on. Persons without a key to the vehicle could not transmit. Equipment had to be "type accepted", or technically approved, by the FCC before it could be offered for sale. In order to be type accepted, the radio set had to be equipped with an indicator light, usually green or yellow, that showed power was applied and the radio was ready to transmit. Radios were also required to have a lamp (usually red) indicating when the transmitter was on. These traits continue in the design of modern radios.

Early tube-type radios operated on 50 kHz channel spacing with plus-or-minus fifteen kilohertz modulation deviation. This meant that the number of radio channels that could be accommodated in the available radio frequency spectrum were limited to a certain number, dictated by the bandwidth of the signal on each channel.

Solid state equipment arrived in the 1960s, with more efficient circuitry and smaller size. Channel spacing narrowed to 20-30 kHz with modulation deviation dropping to plus-or-minus five kilohertz. This was done to allow more radio spectrum availability to accommodate the rapidly growing national group of two-way radio users. By the mid 1970s, tube-type transmitter power amplifiers had been replaced with high-power transistors. From the 1960s to the 1980s, large system users with specialized requirements often had custom built radios designed for their unique systems. Systems with multiple-CTCSS tone encoders and more than two channels were unusual. Manufacturers of mobile radios built customized equipment for large radio fleets such as the California Department of Forestry and the California Highway Patrol.

Examples of US hybrid partially solid state mobile radios:

• Motorola Motrac
• Motorola MJ IMTS Car Telephone (1963)
• General Electric Transistorized Progress Line
• General Electric MASTR Professional and MASTR Executive
• RCA Super Carfone