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General Electric
FM MOBILE RADIO HISTORY
Part One, 1940 - 65
Introduction; Prewar Equipment
General Electric was an already well established manufacturer of a broad spectrum of electrical and electronic material when it decided to enter the land mobile (police) radio market in 1931. GE's initial land mobile radio products were mobile and motorcycle receivers for the AM medium frequency police channels in the 1700 and 2400 KHz bands, and in the mid 1930's the company branched out with an experimental VHF two way set, using a super-regenerative receiver, but which was more or less a toy rather than a serious police tool.
Inevitably, there will be "holes" in data coverage in any project like this, and I do not have enough information, manuals or examples of equipment to make this page an absolutely complete reference. For example, I do not have photos or detailed descriptions of the motorcycle and mobile equipment made by GE prior to 1940, so while mentioned here, it is not covered in any detail. Equally unfortunate is that I have no information on GE's line of medium frequency and VHF AM equipment built prior to 1945, hence it is not covered here.
In 1940, a revolution occurred in the land mobile radio industry, namely that the successful installation of a VHF FM two-way (actually called three-way, because of the two-channel transmitters) radio system by Fred M. Link and Daniel Noble for the Connecticut State Police proved its superiority over the older low frequency one-way AM broadcasts and AM in general. From that point on, all major manufacturers switched emphasis to VHF FM products and generally introduced no new-design AM equipment from that point onward. GE was no exception. This is not to say that AM equipment was not still being sold, just that purchasers were still buying models and designs dating from 1940, more or less. AM production by all major manufacturers stopped by 1950, other than by special order.
GE had already been building FM mobile equipment since 1938, well prior to Link and Noble's experiments, on a somewhat experimental basis. GE was one of the few manufacturers to respect the Armstrong's patents on FM, and took out licenses to use that system, as did Link. Motorola did not, and was involved in litigation with Armstrong and Armstrong's widow (who eventually prevailed) well into the 1960's. The initial production model FM mobile employed GE's E-1-A and E-1-B, which were large separate transmitter and receiver units, similar in physical design to Link equipment. One reason the units remained separate, other than weight and size constraints, is that purchasers often wanted to add only a transmitter to an already existing medium wave AM receiver installation in an automobile (California Highway Patrol, for example.)
It should also be noted that within months of completion of the Link system for Connecticut, Noble had joined Motorola, Inc. and Motorola was producing a two piece VHF FM radio of their own called the "Deluxe" line, which not surprisingly, appeared very similar to the Link 1940 FM equipment.
By 1942, GE had already revised and superseded the initial FM equipment of 1938 at least two times, making it somewhat more compact and updating some of the circuitry. Typical model numbers for this equipment were 4RMD and 4TMD, referring to the receiver and transmitter respectively. This was the second generation of VHF FM radios produced by GE, and many were sold. They are recognized by the tall, rounded cabinet tops with a single handle in the middle. The transmitter was dynamotor powered and used an 807 tube in the power amplifier. The equipment was available only in the 30-40 MHz range.
In approximately 1949, GE began production of a third and last generation of two-piece separate unit equipment, which saw large production figures and is the most recognized. This frosted-green colored equipment is usually referred to colloquially as the Pre-Progress Line, because in 1955, GE introduced a highly successful series of radios called the Progress Line. The two-way radio industry then began calling the equipment which immediately preceded the Progress Line the "Pre-Progress Line," and even GE began to refer to it as such by the early 1960's. The low band two-piece Pre-Progress radios were also referred to by GE insiders as "8th MO," although I have never seen this description in print in any official documents. The Progress Line was made in a wide variation of models and combinations, and included portables (eventually), base stations, monitor receivers, railroad and so forth. Interestingly, there was no "solocycle" motorcycle Progress equipment made, although a "Servicar" (three wheel motorcycle) combination was offered.
In late 1954, GE began production of the enormously successful "Progress Line," a one-piece mobile radio made of interconnected chassis in a "basket" mounted inside a sturdy steel housing. The Progress Line would be made for ten years and was GE's flagship product. By 1959, the rush for solid state mobile radios caused GE to develop, perhaps prematurely, a radio called the "Transistorized Progress Line" or "TPL." These were generally regarded as a design failure with extremely poor reliability, and saw only a few years of production.
In late 1964, GE began production of the highly successful MASTR Progress Line, ceasing production of all previous models, and began a complete overhaul of the entire product line. GE from the late 1950's and onward also produced a secondary line of less featured "low cost" radios, including a dash mount VHF high band radio called the "Pacer" and a convertible-mount UHF radio called the "Accent 450." Both of which were essentially failures and reviled in the industry.
It is perhaps unfortunate that prior to the Progress Line, GE did not name the various equipment models. This makes it harder to refer to them in any convenient way.
The following is a guide to the specific pieces of equipment.
Wartime and 1940's Equipment
From late 1940 through 1949, there were two models of GE FM mobile VHF equipment, as shown below. It is not known when production ceased on the earlier E-1- series radios, although under the circumstance that it was wartime, probably quite quickly.
E-1-A and E-1-B Equipment (1939-44?)
The E-1 radio equipment seems to have been developed in the late 1930's and was rather short lived, replaced rather rapidly by the RMD/TMD equipment described below. The basic E-1 mobile consisted of a 4GF-4C or 4GF-4D transmitter and a 4SF-1-G or 4SF-1-H receiver. It was a 30 Watt 30-40 MHz FM set. The accessory set was the same as used by the RMD/TMD sets made later and as shown below. Note the peculiar "three-legged" antenna mount, similar to that used by Motorola during the same time period.
RMD/TMD Sets (1942-1950)
For lack of a better description, I have called this equipment the RMD/TMD model, referring to the part of the model numbers for each. This equipment was two piece in wrinkle-gray painted cabinets, recognizable by a large single "T" handle on top. See photos below. This model was introduced during early wartime and was in production by 1942 when war broke out. It was replaced in approximately 1949 by the well known green colored "Pre-Progress Line" mobiles discussed below. To the best of my knowledge, this equipment was produced only in low band VHF, and of course only in FM. The control head was very art-deco in appearance, as can be seen. It was available in 30 or 60 Watt versions, 30-40 MHz. The 30 Watt transmitter was the TMD-30, while the 60 watt was the TMD-60. These were made in large numbers compared to their predecessors mentioned above, and the green "Pre-Progress Line" mobiles were essentially just upgraded versions of this design. Note that both these and their predecessor the E-1 sets were also available with internal AC power supplies to be used as tabletop base stations, in which case a box-like tabletop control box with internal speaker was supplied. Note that the equipment was also available with a telephone style handset. The photo below is from 1943.
Note spinner knob on steering wheel!
Below is the 4CM1 Series control head as used on both series. The speaker was usually a plain "bare" speaker cone attached behind the vehicle dash in the area where the entertainment radio would normally have gone (even into the 1960's, a car radio was a luxury option which added considerably to the cost of a new vehicle, and fleet cars would normally never have had one.)
Postwar Equipment, 1947-1955
Pre-Progress Low Band 2-Piece Equipment (1949-55)
By far the most common GE equipment prior to the Progress Line was the low band two-piece MC-1 series. This series is primarily recognizable by the green colored cases and the lack of handles on the case tops. The basic receiver chassis was also available in a rack mount base station configuration, as was the transmitter, with integral power supplies, but the chassis were not interchangeable between base and mobile as they would be in the later Progress Line equipment. These were reliable and highly successful radios which were slightly smaller than competitive Motorola equipment. The transmitter was powered by a large dynamotor and the receiver used a Mallory "Vibrapack" vibrator power pack. The equipment was available in either 6 or 12 volt versions, although as American automobiles did not switch to 12 Volts until at least 1956, the majority were shipped as 6 volt sets and converted later to 12. Presumably a military version was available in 24 volts. These seem to have been referred to as "8th MO" by GE insiders, and not "Pre-Progress Line," however by 1966 GE itself included these units when referring to the "Pre-Progress Line."
Photos of a typical Pre-Progress MCA-1 set is shown below.
Note that the first generation EM-10 microphone above has a red "GE" logo below the grille; the Progress and possibly even later Pre-Progress microphones did away with this ornament and there is no GE logo on them.
The 4ER6 low band receiver, used in this set, underwent a constant series of revisions and changes, making it somewhat difficult for technicians to keep up with correct documentation. Most notable is that in the latest series of receivers, the method of volume control changed from a 4 ohm audio pad-switch arrangement in the control head (with the DC volume control mounted on the receiver chassis) to one where the DC volume control was located in the control head itself, and the hole for the DC volume control on the chassis of the receiver was left empty. This seems odd, since Motorola went the other direction as refinements occurred, placing the DC volume control on the chassis in later models, and placing an "L" pad for speaker level control in the control head, mainly so that audio decoder accessories could be used by accessing the high level audio available in the control head prior to the "L" pad volume control.
Because of the difference in volume control methods, control heads with volume level switches rather than potentiometers are early in vintage and will not operate with later model receivers, unless the receiver chassis is modified. Most heads seem to be the switch-style volume control.
PRE-PROGRESS ONE PIECE EQUIPMENT (1947-1955)
There were several model series of single-chassis Pre-Progress equipment. Primarily produced for VHF high band, two typical models were the ES-1B and the ES-12 (MC-203 and MC-213). The MC-203 was a square cased VHF high band low power (15W) radio set of approximately the same dimensions as the Motorola one piece lower power FM radios of the same period.
Both were vibrator powered mobiles, and seem to have principally seen service in taxis and small businesses where a power level of less than 20 Watts was ample. There was also a larger one-piece mobile containing both vibrator and dynamotor power supplies, however I have no photos or other information yet.
ES-1:
The ES-1 is an interesting set which dates from approximately 1949, in that the long, narrow coffin-like chassis is constructed in modules which fit into a rack arrangement. It was sold primarily as a mobile telephone. Many of these were used with an external decoder and a Western Electric Model 41A control head. There were also mobile telephone versions of the ES-1 which used a conventional GE control head, as shown below, and with a separate handset cradle. This series was only manufactured in a VHF high band version, and was probably intended to capitalize on the 1946 FCC decision to open up VHF high band to land mobile licensees, as well as require that any new police systems be licensed for that band absent a showing of need for a low band system. The ES-1 is usually found as the ES-1B, but presumably there was an ES-1A as well.
The 4EC1 control head below was supplied with the ES-1 sets:
[ES-1 radio chassis photo to follow]
ES-12 (MC-203):
The ES-12 is the other high band Pre=Progress one piece set, completely different from the ES-1B and probably younger by one or two years. There are photos of them in use dating from 1948, so I assume these sets were being shipped by late 1947. From a marketing standpoint, these seem to have been intended to compete with Motorola's FMTRU-5V "Dispatcher" mobile, also introduced in 1947. Unlike the ES-1B, they are not quite modular and consist of a one-piece transmitter and power supply attached to a separate receiver chassis. Transmitter RF power is approximately 10-15 Watts using a 2E26 as the output tube. These sets saw widespread use as taxi radios. The paint scheme is the same frosted green as the two-piece Pre-Progress Line series and this set is also referred to as a Pre-Progress mobile. It also uses the same control head as the two piece set shown above. A rather shabby example is shown below. The blocked-off round hole on the front panel was used for an optional Secode style stepper-decoder for selective calling, as in early "RCC" and mobile telephone systems.
PRE-PROGRESS UHF EQUIPMENT (July, 1954 - 1960)
In the early 1950's, the UHF range of 450-470 MHz was opened to the land mobile industry. GE's entry into this market in July, 1954 was the frosted green colored MC306/316 series UHF radio, a large one-piece mobile, vibrator powered.
The MC306 was an interesting design in that it utilized the control head and accessory group which would not be seen on any other GE models until the introduction of the Progress Line in 1955. The MC306 was intended to compete with Motorola's famous "T44" UHF Research Line equipment. The MC306 used a pair of 2C39 lighthouse tubes in the transmitter to produce approximately 10 watts output. This Pre-Progress transmitter would come to be considered as a success, however the companion receiver was quickly regarded as a design disaster. The receiver was subject to excessive drift, and there were various AFC circuits and other attempts to correct this, which were never entirely successful. Motorola's problem was just the opposite; their transmitter was considered a flawed design in that the cavity tuning occurred through the removable top covers, instead of through the sides, as on the GE. The Motorola receiver designs were all considered successful.
Nonetheless, the MC306 saw considerable production and many were later used as mobile telephones on the new Bell and Radio Common Carrier channels in the 450 MHz range. The mobile cabinet of the MC306 would also appear nearly identical to that used on the later Progress Line equipment, although it is not the same. Users of UHF in the 1950's were very much pioneers, and with that came the problems expected with brand new technology. It is amazing that GE sold as many Pre-Progress UHF radios as they did.
The MC306 continued in production until 1960, by which time the component density had been shrunk enough to allow incorporation of the basic design into a Progress Line housing and setup. The transmitter was largely redesigned and the use of Lighthouse tubes discontinued. The Progress Line UHF equipment was successful and very popular.
[Needed - photo of the UHF Pre-Progress radio drawer!]
CLICK HERE FOR AN INDEX OF PRE-PROGRESS MODEL NUMBERS (600kb pdf)
PROGRESS LINE EQUIPMENT (1956-1965)
A major line of demarcation occurs in GE mobile radio history starting with the introduction of the "Progress Line." The Progress Line was one of GE's most successful products and it enjoyed a long production run, from early 1955 to August, 1964. It is probably the most well known of GE mobile radio lines of the vacuum tube era. Unlike its predecessor, the Progress Line mobile equipment was all housed in a single, unitized chassis, containing three independent chassis on a common "basket" framework, namely the receiver, transmitter, and power supply. Base stations used the same chassis "strips" as the mobiles did. All Progress Line mobile receivers and transmitters are tube type with no transistors, although there was a solid state power supply made late in production to replace the vibrator and dynamotor styles of the 1950's.
The Progress Line was available in all mobile radio bands, initially only in the low and high VHF ranges only. UHF, as mentioned above, was not added until 1960. The Progress Line saw extensive sales throughout the world, and is one of GE's most well known mobile radio products. The red knobs on its control heads and their unique shape made them easy to recognize. Together with the older Link Radio products, Cuba's police and military relied on the remaining Progress Line equipment left behind by the Batista government after the fall to the Communists, obviously without any support from GE!
In 1959, GE production moved from Utica, New York to Lynchburg, Virginia. Equipment produced in Utica was painted in the frosted light green color scheme of the Pre-Progress era, while Lynchburg equipment was painted a dark blue instead. There were initial production difficulties in Lynchburg due to the humidity in Virginia compared to New York, which mainly centered on difficulties with the plating used on the chassis metals. Utica equipment had been finished with a cadmium plating on chassis sections, however this same process in Lynchburg resulted in black permanent fingerprints and other blemishes showing up on the finished products. As a result, a gold anodizing process referred to by the trade name "Kenvert" was placed on the chassis metals, and cadmium plating was discontinued. With improved air conditioning and production controls, cadmium plating returned on UHF equipment only, for the last six months of Progress production, in 1964.
Progress Line and later equipment assembled at the main GE plant had date coded serial numbers. The first three digits represented the date - - the first digit being the last digit of the year, the second two being the week of production that year, and the balance of the digits being the actual number of radios made at the time of that unit, that week.
There was also an assembly plant in Redwood City, California which assembled chassis into complete radios and performed tuning and final check for customers in the western areas of the country to cut delivery time. Redwood City equipment will have a serial number prefix of RA-. Redwood City serial numbers do not appear to carry date codes.
Progress was manufactured in myriad models, impossible to list here in any comprehensive manner. There were regular mobiles, railroad radios, base stations of all configuration, low powered industrial sets, mobile telephones, and three-wheeled motorcycle sets (for some reason GE did not produce a "solocycle" two-wheeled motorcycle set in the Progress series.)
Progress control heads typically look like the one shown below, although there were multiple frequency and special option heads with more switches and knobs on the front than this one. Progress microphones for the Utica made radios have a green metal housing, as on the Pre-Progress radios, while the microphones for the Lynchburg made radios have a gray plastic Shure dynamic type. There was an abundant variety of different faceplates and switch locations over the years.
The photo below shows a Redwood City,
California assembled, Lynchburg manufactured, Progress transistor-powered low
band mobile used by the City of Corte Madera, California.
Vibrator powered Progress Equipment is shown below:
Below: Unusual Utica manufactured Progress Line head apparently made for some large police agency. Note separate transmit and receive channel selection with "Cars-Sta-Both" (dual front end?) and "Sher" switch (second receiver?) Presumably "Sher" meaning "Sheriff." If anyone knows where this was originally used, do let me know! This was obtained from Gregory Electronics in Saddle Brook, NJ back in the 1970's.
PROGRESS PACK SETS (1959-1962)
Progress Line pack sets were made in approximately 1960, although they actually used many of the components of the slightly newer Transistorized Progress Line described below. They were not common and are rare today. They were made only in VHF low and high bands, and there were two versions of them as well, early and late. The later versions made use of the Transistorized Progress Line receiver chassis almost in its entirety. The transmitters were unique, making use of wire-lead subminiature tubes. The usual power supply was a dry battery box containing "B" and "A" batteries, although late models featured a nickel-cadmium rechargeable battery supply with a DC-DC converter, Typical model numbers were HN-11 and HN-13. The styling of these pack sets was rather attractive and it is not known why more were not sold, nor why the design was not incorporated into a motorcycle radio. Progress pack set production presumably ended by late 1964.
1960's Equipment
TRANSISTORIZED PROGRESS LINE (1960-1965)
GE's entry into the market of the 1960's was the Transistorized Progress Line, or TPL equipment, although production of the Progress Line continued simultaneously for a few years. All manufacturers were in a race to produce equipment which was as transistorized as possible, and at that time this meant using germanium transistors. Because of this race, some less-than-optimum designs were rushed into production. GE's TPL was one of those. It consisted of a fully transistorized receiver and a partially transistorized transmitter, in a peculiar compartmented housing which could be taken apart and mounted throughout a vehicle in separate pieces. The TPL was initially supplied as a rather large under-dash package consisting of a front section containing the receiver and part of the transmitter exciter, a center section containing the balance of the transmitter exciter and a power amplifier, and a rear section containing the power supply for the transmitter, as shown in the first photo below. A complicated engine-compartment mounted fuse-block relay unit switched power to the power supply section and muted the receiver, something done internally in Motorola and competitive equipment.
TPL shipments began in approximately late 1960. For some reason, most TPL's seem to have been made in 1962.
There was an optional cable and bracket kit which allowed the dash mounted receiver to be separated from the rest of the unit in an ugly, impractical and unreliable arrangement which then resulted in the creation of a trunk mounted mobile with an oversized control head. This led to the somewhat incorrect perception in the industry that the TPL had "the receiver contained in the control head." A third arrangement which seems to have been developed a year or two after introduction, finally placed all sections of the TPL into a trunk mounted package and supplied a conventional, quite small control head with just volume and squelch controls inside it. In all versions, the open ventilation of the transmitter exciter and power amplifier section subjected them to dirt and moisture intrusion.
TPL equipment was only made in VHF low and high band models. There was no UHF TPL. The UHF counterpart to the TPL was the Accent 450, although the Accent was introduced in the early 1960's. TPL offered many unusual options, such as dual front ends and noise blankers, most of which were added underneath the equipment in ugly accessory housings, connected by unique and proprietary connectors.
The speaker in the TPL series contains the radio's sole audio amplifier as well. This was a theme of the early 1960's also used other manufacturers such as RCA in its first hybrid equipment (Super Carfone series.) There were two speakers available, a 2 Watt and a 10 watt model. The 10 Watt speaker was supplied with a coiled cord and the unique feature of a lip on the rear edge to allow it to be removed from its bracket and placed on a vehicle window so that it could be heard by workers away from the vehicle. This feature was generally not seen again on later GE equipment although Motorola thought enough of it to copy the lip on the housing of their Micor line of speakers in 1970.
The TPL used a number of proprietary items such as the connectors for the microphone, relay assembly and speaker, which were never seen again on any other GE equipment. The housings were made from a surprising number of elaborate die castings. Also surprising was the use of sockets for the transistors, something not seen on competitive equipment, and one of the main downfalls of the TPL. In rough service, it was reported that it was not unusual for technicians to pull a defective unit for repair only to find several of the transistors rolling about loose in the bottom of the receiver housing! Apparently the reliability of the transistor was not anticipated and the designers chose to treat them like vacuum tubes, making them plug into sockets.
The high band receiver in the TPL was produced in two models. The original receiver used a coil and capacitor L-C tuned circuit "front end," while the last-generation TPL used a helical resonator front end. The exciters also went through two models. The early exciters contained a sealed delay-line modulator module, while the later ones were improved with a more conventional design. Either TPL transmitter modulator has excellent audio. A 10 Watt TPL mobile could be made into an 80 Watt model by plugging an 80 Watt power supply and transmitter module onto the receiver/control/exciter section.
The TPL was plagued with numerous problems which have generally relegated it to the category of one of the largest design failures in the history of two way radio. The plug-in transistors fell out of their sockets, as mentioned, and the solder joints of the stiff wires connecting the two opposing circuit boards in the receiver section could develop cracks. The early models were sensitive to vehicle battery voltage variations causing the squelch threshold to vary. The complicated cabling was an installation nuisance of major proportions. On the other hand, the TPL had a number of unique performance advantages. When squelched in stand-by, it drew less current than a single pilot lamp, allowing it to be left on at least overnight in a vehicle, if not permanently. Unlike the Progress Line, the TPL control head featured a stand-by switch which switched off the transmitter's tube filaments to save current, as well as the green "on" pilot lamp. Even today's equipment can not make that claim.
Accessory decks were added to the TPL between the receiver section and the exciter, such as the Channel Guard board. Yet additional decks were added underneath, such as the noise blanker and the dual front end sections, making a rather bulky package. Note that the front (receiver) section is connected to the rest of the chassis solely by two coaxial cables with RCA connectors, the DC voltage being superimposed onto the cabling.
The majority of TPL's seem to have been made in VHF high band models, and they were purchased in large numbers by the US Government and the Bell System. TPL production ended in approximately 1965, representing one of GE's shortest-lived mobile radios. If nothing else, it was certainly an unusual and attractive set in the dash mount configuration.
Shown below is a rear mount
version of the TPL, in a 35 Watt configuration:
PACER AND ACCENT 450
Pacer and Accent 450 are grouped together as they were both economy radios built for a short period of time. The desktop base station versions of them appear similar.
PACER (1959-1963)
Pacer was a VHF economy all-tube under-dash radio which used printed circuit boards with tube sockets mounted on them. It was an approximately 15 Watt unit finished in Progress Line blue paint, with TPL style red plastic knobs. They were purchased primarily by towing companies, taxi operators and small businesses which typically had just one or two mobiles, such as plumbing and electrical contractors. Although not that bad a design, the Pacer gained the reputation as an unreliable and poor performing radio, primarily because of the issue of hot tubes cracking the traces of the printed circuit boards. Nonetheless, many saw long years of service. There was no "standby" feature on the Pacer and the transistor power supply drew current at all times during operation, as well as being acoustically noisy, as was the crystal oven thermostat which made a "plink-plonk" sound at regular intervals. This was probably not an issue in a vehicle such as a tow truck, where the engine would be running at all times and rather noisy itself. There were no UHF Pacers, the equipment was made in low and high bands only, as well as in an attractive tabletop base station of totally different appearance. Few Pacers have survived.
Accent 450 (1961-1964)
The Accent 450 was a strange and unique UHF radio using tubes mounted on printed circuit boards as on the Pacer, with thick anodized aluminum heat sink-shields for the transmitting tubes attached to the sidewalls of the case. It was all vacuum tube type other than the transistors in the power supply. The receiver front end made use of a 1N21 UHF cartridge mixer diode. Sensitivity was relatively poor. The Pacer transmitter made use of a new and rather unreliable Amperex glass UHF tube, type 7377. These tubes were short lived in actual use and it was unusual to find an Accent 450 in service which would produce more than a few Watts, if that. The odd control head of the Accent contained the speaker and could be mounted either on the front of the radio itself or remotely, using an extension cable. Not many Accents were made and they are regarded as an even worse failure than the TPL. The Accent 450 had no provision for a locking tray or case, and the lid was a flimsy steel plate. The Accent 450, as its name suggests, was made only in a UHF version. Few Accent 450's have survived. Local examples have been refugees from the Port of Oakland, California.
[Help! I need a nice photo of the Accent 450! ]
VOICE COMMANDERS I, II and III (1960-65)
The Voice Commander was GE's first hand-held VHF FM two way radio and replaced the Progress Line pack set (which in late versions contained sections of a TPL mobile receiver.) The Voice Commanders II and III were fully solid state with Germanium transistors, while the Voice Commander I used a mixture of transistors and subminiature wire-lead tubes. Coming from the same design-era as the TPL, Accent 450 and Pacer, the Voice Commanders were also considered design failures for many reasons. The Voice Commander was a strange all plastic blend of the properties of a pack set mated to that of a hand-held radio with the worst features of both!
The push-to-talk button on the Voice Commander is in the front center of the unit, requiring both hands to hold the radio up and talk into it. There was also a remote microphone which plugged into a peculiar proprietary connector on the side of the carrying handle. The telescopic antenna could easily contact the grounded carrying handle, blowing the output transistors in the transmitter if the radio were on the air at the time. The large battery pack of the solid state Voice Commanders contained many sub-C nickel cadmium cells in a series-parallel arrangement. Although provided with a two channel switch, nearly all Voice Commanders were single channel, and most seem to have been wide band radios. The Voice Commander receiver was assembled from several modules encased in brass sheeting, while the transmitter was a single circuit board. Power output was roughly one watt.
The battery box was available as a rechargeable nickel-cadmium style (II and III) or a dry battery version, as shown below (I, II and III.)
The receiver of the Voice Commander was somewhat subject to overload and assorted severe cross-modulation and intermodulation-distortion issues in high signal strength areas.
There were no UHF Voice Commanders, and it is believed that few low band versions were built. The Voice Commander was built from approximately 1960-65. Considering that Motorola's successful HT-200 "Handie-Talkie" was introduced in 1963, it is easy to see why the Voice Commander was utterly non-competitive.
It is hard not to think that the years 1961-64 were bleak ones for GE, in that virtually all of their new product lines during this period, in my opinion, were uniquely ugly, unreliable and poor performing.
POCKET MATE (1964-1969)
The Pocket Mate was GE's first actual hand-held radio and designed to compete with Motorola's HT-200 which had been introduced in early 1963. The Pocket Mate is believed to have been introduced about 1964. The Pocket Mate is almost as bizarre in appearance as the Voice Commander or the Accent 450 radios. A peculiar captive telescopic whip antenna was permanently attached and flipped upwards on the side of the radio to a vertical orientation. The round speaker in the front center also acted as the microphone, a design error repeated by many designers over and over again throughout the 1960's and into the early 1970's. A round push-to-talk button near the top on one side completed the strange appearance of this ugly two-tone radio. The Pocket Mate was made only in VHF versions and is rare. They were also made under Bell & Howell and Kel-Com brand names. The Pocket Mate was the radio found in the possession of the Watergate burglars during the famous Nixon era Watergate debacle. Some were apparently also used by the Secret Service and various covert agencies, which in retrospect leads me to pity them for having to use such a silly and peculiar radio.
PORTA MOBIL (1965-1974)
The Porta Mobil was a solid state pack set intended to replace the Progress Line series portable, rather than the Voice Commander, in that unlike the Voice Commanders, it is larger and has a metal housing. The top handle is a spring-loaded affair which pulls up when grasped, then retracts when released. I am thinking that perhaps there was a major design department employee change at GE about 1964, when the "silly" looking radios stopped being made. The Porta Mobil is fully solid state with a power supply which is an up - converting DC-DC converter, bringing the battery or input voltage to 36 Volts for the transmitter power amplifier stage. The Porta Mobil is actually heavier than the Progress Line portable, but runs a nominal 18-20 Watts on low band and 12 Watts on UHF and high band. The speaker audio output is quite high compared to previous pack sets. The Porta Mobil, being a MASTR series radio, has a centralized metering jack. It uses all silicon transistors. This set was available in either battery powered portable configuration, DC only power supply operation for mobile use, or an AC power supply for base station operation. There was a steel mobile mounting tray to allow mounting of the radio in a vehicle, and a remote mount industrial version was also available, usually used as a motorcycle radio within an appropriate rear-fender weather housing. The standard model featured a microphone, but a handset version was available. Two frequencies were as many as normally available, although a four channel model was made. The Porta Mobil was available in low, high and UHF bands and was purchased in large numbers by forestry and fire departments, logging and industrial buyers. The motorcycle version is rare today, as apparently few were made. The Porta Mobil has no quirks and is generally regarded as a high quality, reliable radio, other than needing a higher than expected amount of battery power on transmit. The knobs are frequently found broken or missing, and they are one area where a bit better quality could have been applied. A "Porta Mobil II" was introduced in approx. 1973 to replace the original Port Mobil.
MASTR Series (1964-1971)
MASTR Professional
The MASTR Professional Series began production in 1964 and totally replaced the TPL, Accent and Pacer series as well as the remaining Progress Line models. The MASTR Professional series was quickly added to by an economy version bearing no similarity, called the MASTR Executive Line. By the late 1960's there was also the Custom Executive, a dash mount radio, and several other MASTR sub-models.
MASTR Professional became to the 1960's what the Progress Line had been to the 1950's, and probably saved GE's mobile radio business from disaster. The "MASTR Pro" is generally regarded as one of the finest mobile radios made by any manufacturer during the period. Unlike the TPL, the MASTR Pro series returned to the philosophy of the Progress Line in terms of separate power supplies, receivers and transmitters made in long chassis "strips." Unlike the Progress Line, the MASTR Pro strips were tied together at the ends with a cast front plate and a rear mounting plate, with individual covers (top and bottom) on each strip with a gap between the strips. This is as opposed to the single large "drawer" housing as used on the Progress Line or the screwed-together modules of the TPL. As viewed from the front, the MASTR Professional series chassis are, from left to right, receiver, power supply, and transmitter. Accessory chassis were usually placed across the rear apron.
The MASTR Pro equipment was available for all conventional bands as well as export and special service bands, in many different power levels. There were many "specials" with assorted options such as more than four channels, multiple channel guard operation, dual receivers, dual receiver front ends, scan, etc.. One of the more famous "specials" is the Illinois State Police Radio Network, or "ISPERN" radio, recognizable by its red microphone and multiple pilot lamps on the control head representing the channel in use.
The initial MASTR Pro series featured a solid state receiver with 2 Watts of audio, and a hybrid transmitter containing a solid state exciter and miniature and Compactron tubes in the power amplifier section. Up to four frequencies were available on the standard boards, and multiple channel models were available on special order for more than four channels. Later receivers were brought up to five watts of audio power output, and the last series used TCXO oscillator modules on VHF and UHF. Like the Progress Line, the "strips" from the MASTR Pro series could also be used in base stations, of which there were several configurations. MASTR Pro mobiles could have the control head mounted directly to the front of the rather large radio assembly, or used under the vehicle dash as was most commonly done. The early control heads were made of die cast metal while the last series were gray molded plastic. All of the MASTR microphones were Shure plastic housing types made for GE with a unique housing design.
By the late 1960's GE offered fully solid state versions called the MASTR Imperial and MASTR Royal Professional, to compete with Motorola's Motran series. These last-generation MASTR Professional radios typically used TCXO modules for frequency stability, called ICOMs in GE parlance, and were rather cutting-edge in design. They were and are uncommon.
GE's advertising often showed the MASTR Professional as a front mount configuration, although the arrangement was so massive (much larger than the TPL) that few were ever configured that way.
There were two styles of speaker; one is as shown below with an all plastic front housing, and an earlier design with a perforated aluminum screen and a cast metal front housing. It is presumed that the change to a plastic speaker housing occurred at the same time that the control heads changed to plastic housings. There were also many custom control head faces made for special customers; the typical generic control head is the only one shown here. A "scan" head was also manufactured, which contained a four channel scanner in a deep housing.
All of the MASTR Professional heads contain a "standby" position on the power switch, which de-energizes the transmitter filaments to save vehicle battery power when there is no need for instant transmission capability, allowing the vehicle engine to be shut off for extended periods of monitoring.
MASTR Executive
The MASTR Executive was a cheaper alternative to the Professional series but enjoyed an equal reputation for reliability and durability. The receiver chassis of the Executive is a metallized plastic, and the transmitter is a hybrid design similar to the Professional series, using Compactron style tubes and conduction heat-sinking. The Executive radio is in a unitized package about 1/3 the size of the Professional, but was available with fewer options. The Executive was available with a small control head mounted to the front of the mobile drawer, where the control cable connector would normally be, or a separate dash mounted control head. Executives were very popular with RCC organizations and budget-minded customers. As with the Professional series, the last generations of the Executive had fully solid state transmitters and TCXO modules, and were referred to as the Royal Executive. The Executive series was available in all bands and several power levels. The Executive control heads were a cheaper design than the Professional, and featured no squelch control, instead having only a "Monitor" white pushbutton.
The Executive was a reliable, relatively trouble-free radio, despite its somewhat "cheap" construction.
Unlike the MASTR Professional, which requires a heavy mounting "tray," the bottom half of the Executive mobile housing has holes and a raised boss to allow it to be used as the mounting platform.
Both the Professional and Executive series would be replaced in the early 1970's by the MASTR II and Executive II series radios, of substantially different design.
Below is a typical example of
the Executive mobile drawer, from 1967.
Executive series accessory
group. Note that the microphone hang-up clip was not normally located on
the control head; this was a customer-performed modification.
Ver. 2/07/2010