Sixty years ago this month, the September 1961 issue of Electronics World showed how to put together this simple handheld transceiver for 15 meters, dubbed the “Simple-Talkie.” The designer was none other than Hartland Smith, then W8VVD, currently W8QX, whom we’ve featured previously.

With a short piece of wire serving as antenna, the range was said to be about a hundred feet, or several hundred feet with a half-wave wire. The power input was a modest 10 mW. While the range is short, it was useful for various antenna projects around the shack. To communicate from the shack to the tower, the ham inside would use the main station, and the ham climbing the tower could communicate with the tiny rig.