Child's walkie-talkie picks up trashy talk?

[CoolBreeze]

The Associated Press

HUNTINGTON -- Deborah Pancaro is pretty sure it wasn't the cartoon character Diego she heard on her 3-year-old's walkie-talkie talking about drugs and strip clubs.

The Huntington mother of three says the profanity-laced conversation most likely was some trucker's CB radio conversation because she also overheard "10-4.''

The Diego walkie-talkie is produced by Fisher-Price and sold exclusively at Wal-Mart. It is supposed to have a range of about 20 feet.

Pancaro says her son is at that age where he repeats nearly everything he hears. She wants the product pulled from the shelves.

Though the product has not been recalled, it has been discontinued.

Fisher Price spokeswoman Juliette Reashor says someone from the company will contact Pancaro.

Ok, who wants to run with this one? (Dont forget to mention baby monitors)

[genlock]

Even if the child's walkie talkie were designed to operate on some frequency like 49 mhz,
an overpowered, illegal CB signal could overpower the frequency determining elements
of the walkie-talkie and be received. I suspect the child's toy was a victim of fundamental overload.
A larger question might be how the walkie-talkie (operating on FM mode) somehow decodes the citizen band
transmission (most are in the single-sideband mode). Perhaps the CB'er was operating on AM, wlth illegal power and
sited locally to the child's home. Fisher-Price toys operate under FCC part 15 and are not at fault in this situation.

[The-Hammer]

Hell, I used to have a set of speakers that would pick up CB transmissions from trucks passing the house.

[Hoosier Daddy]

Over the road trucker with dual (slightly directional) mirror antennas
Modified, juiced up CB radio
One that does about 15 watts AM out of the back of the radio
VFO hot-wired for any frequency between 24.7 Mhz and 29.6 MHz
Fed into a 300 watt linear amplifier under the seat
Turner 2+2 amplified mobile microphone

Yep. This could happen.

[lastone]

A larger question might be how the walkie-talkie (operating on FM mode) somehow decodes the citizen band
transmission (most are in the single-sideband mode).

There is a simple answer.

1 Illegal radios are AM/FM/+-SSB and operate into the "ham " bands.

2 On some popular models, removing a transistor and inserting a jumper makes them 50 watts + instantly.


Any WV coal hauler knows this. For about $239 you can have one too.