Make a Walkie Talkie

While manufactured two-way radio devices require quite a bit of technological know how, homemade walkie talkies are much easier to make. Create a classic tin can walkie talkie as a craft project, or turn your smart phone into a push-to-talk device and have fun talking to friends from a distance. Over and out!

Steps

Using Tin Cans or Paper Cups

1. Gather your materials. For this simple project, you’ll need:
   • Two tin or aluminum cans, or two papers cups
   • Five-to-ten meters of string
   • A hammer
   • A nail
   • Two tin or aluminum cans will hold up better than plastic ones. The string is less likely to tear through the bottom of a tin or aluminum can.
2. Poke the nail through the bottom of each can/cup. Make the holes in the cans large enough to feed the string through the holes.
3. Thread one end of the string into one of the cans. Take the entire length of string and thread one end of it into one of the receivers. Make sure you feed the string from the outside of the receiver through the bottom and into the receiver.
   • Each can will be act as a receiver.
4. Tie the string inside the receiver. Pull the string through far enough that you can tie a good knot in it without having to reach inside the receiver.
   • If the first knot isn’t large enough to keep the string from falling out of the nail hole, then knot it again.
   • If you’re using plastic cups instead of cans for your receiver, tie the string to the nail and leave the nail inside the cup. This will help keep the string inside the cup, as the string is more likely to tear a larger hole in the plastic.
   • Make sure you secure the string in the first side before threading it into the other receiver since it will simply pull away from the first one.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 on the second receiver. Now that you have finished your first receiver, you need to thread the other end of the string into the second receiver and secure it.
   • Again, if you’re using paper cups for receivers, then you may want to get a second nail that you can use to help tie off the string.
6. Stretch the string out until it is taut. All sound is created by sound waves traveling across a substance. This is the same for voices and even sounds vibrating down stringed instruments, such as violins or guitars. So, you want the string to be stretched tight like a violin string in order for the sound to travel across it effectively.
   • Of course, you don’t want to pull so tight that the string breaks or pulls the string out through the bottom of your receivers. Just pull the string tight enough that you can pluck the string and it will twang.
7. Talk to the person on the other end. Now that you’ve finished the setup for your walkie talkie, use it communicate. Speak into the receiver as the other person listens on the other receiver and send some secret messages.
   • Do not pull the string connecting the paper cups or aluminum/tin cans too tightly when using the walkie talkies. Too much force could cause the string to pop out of the cups or cans.
   • If you make the receivers with tin or aluminum cans, be careful when placing your ear or mouth to the cans in case there are jagged edges around the lip of the cans.

Using Your Smart Phone

1. Get a smart phone. Purchasing a smart phone solely to have a walkie talkie may not be the most cost effective, but most people already have a smart phone.
   • If you don’t have access to a smart phone, you can always use the first method in this article.
   • Push-to-talk apps are available for most major smart phone operating systems, including iPhone, Android, and Windows phones.
2. Download a push-to-talk app. Open the application store on your smart phone and search for push-to-talk apps. There several apps available, including:
   • iPTT: this is one of the App Store’s original push-to-talk apps. It provides one-to-many group communication. It also offers one-to-one communication within a group channel, called “whisper”, or straight one-to-one communication. It’s simple to use and free to download for iPhone users.
   • TiKL Touch Talk Walkie Talkie: this is another simple but great push-to-talk app. All you need is your contact list and a data plan on your phone. TiKL supports group messaging and push-to-talk calls. It’s also free to download for iPhone and Android users.
   • Voxer: this app functions like a walkie-talkie, but it sends messages rather than real-time dispatches. The app runs on iPhone and Android. It’s also free, and works over any data connection, including Wi-Fi. You can also send text messages, location messages, and photos.
   • HeyTell: this app is a lot like Voxer, but with more customization. It has three levels of privacy, which allows you to add or block friends from Twitter and Facebook. Like Voxer, it works on any data connection. It’s free and can run on Windows Phone, as well as iPhone and Android.
   • Zello: this app caters to developers, who want to add push-to-talk functionality to their own apps. But as a regular smart phone user, you can use Zello to turn your phone into a walkie-talkie. Like Voxer, Zello saves messages for replay later. The app is free and works on iPhone, Android, and Blackberry.
3. Install the app and set up an account. These apps don't use your phone number or plan minutes. So you will need to set up an account to allow other users to find you via the app.
4. Invite friends and family to download the app. One of the sticking points of any push-to-talk app is that anyone you want to contact with it must also have a smart phone and the same push-to-talk app installed.
   • With the prevalence of smart phones, asking friends and family members to download an app is still easier than buying and sending them a walkie-talkie.
   • Most of the push-to-talk apps also have group messaging, so you can easily chat with many people at once.
5. Push to talk. Once you and your friends or family have the same push-to-talk app, connecting is as easy as selecting the person from your contact list, pressing the "talk" button, and delivering your message.
   • Since push-to-talk app use a very small amount of data on your phone, you can connect through the app without using minutes at all. If you're connected to Wi-Fi when you use the app, then you won't be using any of your plan's data.
   • You can also send messages and photos to any user, across the globe, which sure beats the range of a typical walkie talkie.

Things You'll Need

Using Tin Cans or Plastic Cups

• Two clean aluminum/tin cans or paper cups
• Hammer
• Two nails
• Five-to-ten meters of string

Using Your Smart Phone

• A smart phone
• A push-to-talk app

Sources and Citations

See also

• Communicate With Deaf People
• Become an Interpreter for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
• Be a Great Conversationalist
• Read Lips
• Use Hand Gestures Effectively
• Do the Peace Sign
• Flip Someone off with Style
• Do the Vulcan "Live Long and Prosper" Sign
• High Five Someone