Sixty years ago, the May 1962 issue of Electronics Illustrated featured these two projects to build unlicensed devices for use on 11 meters. The first is the walkie-talkie shown at the top. The three-transistor transceiver was powered by two mercury batteries. It’s 100 milliwatts were said to have a range of about 1000 feet.

The other project is a transmitter to be installed in a model rocket, weighing in at only 1-1/8 ounces, including battery. It had a range of about 1500 feet. The circuit was shown for 11 meters, where it could operate license fee, but the magazine also pointed out that good results were had on 10 or 40 meters for licensed hams.

Various types of telemetry could be used, but to start, the magazine recommended a photocell, mounted near a small hole in the side of the rocket. This would allow a measurement of the rocket’s spin, since it would oscillate in time with the photocell pointing at the sun.