Old-School Tools: Walkie-Talkies!

 

A WALKIE-TALKIE? Get out, you might say, in the era of ubiquitous smart-phonery. 

Agreed, up to a month ago. I associated these devices with the Radio Shack of my pre-teen years, in the 1970s. Yet when my wife suffered a debilitating fall in 2016, on an icy slate, it took me a while to wake up to her yelling for me. I began to consider, as she made a remarkable and hard-fought recovery, whether we might install an intercom system back by our chicken coops. On and off this consideration went, for five long years. Now we have something, but not an intercom. Those serve a certain need, but they are not perfect.

Her parents had an intercom between their auto-repair shop and their house. It came in handy in many regards, mostly for "lunch is ready, Edward!" notices but even altering them to a burglary. They left the unit active 24 hours a day. My tough-as-nails father-in-law went to the shop after the shop's mic signaled a break-in. He surprised the burglars with a shotgun and he told my mother-in-law to call the law. The bad guys dutifully put up their hands (no arguing with both barrels of what I refer to as "Old Painless") until the deputies took them away.

I've no plans for backyard heroism, but we do often have issues with our animals at dusk, usually a hen gone missing but also our too frequent encounters with Copperheads. An intercom lacks portability. Then I began to research walkie-talkies. They have come a long way as electronics evolved and rechargeable batteries improved. We knew that our phones do not have perfect reception from every location on our property, including the deer stands I use in hunting season, when a call for assistance might be essential. Moreover, we could take them to our land in Buckingham, where one needs to do a certain dance on a certain spot to have ANY cellular reception.

I'm not going to recommend a particular model. Take a look at reviews on Amazon and elsewhere. Some offer more water protection than others, including boater models that can survive "man overboard" situations. 

We purchased a midrange Midland pair of walkie-talkies for under $60, shipped. We use the low-frequency band (you pick a channel among 22) for a range of up to 25 miles (high-frequency use requires an FCC license). We are delighted. Just the other night, a Copperhead was cornered by our livestock dogs and I needed to respond ASAP. I got the notice from the walkie-talkie. Most other times, it's simply me (I do the cooking) saying "Queen Bee, come in, dinner in 5." Some things never change. My old man had a CB radio in his Cadillac, when he went to Florida to buy loads of tomatoes. His handle was "Big Joe Tomato." I use that one once in a while.

So far this old-school tool has more than paid for itself.  We never forget to carry them now when one of us leaves the house. We just make sure the other person has their radio and it's on.

 Don't rely on that fancy phone, if reception is spotty and your land has nooks and crannies you walk, hunt, or work. Buy a walkie-talkie and learn to use it. It might save your life.

And yes, I miss the living hell out of 70s Radio Shack. DIY electronics! I should write a post about the drawers of resistors and the soldering irons...