BY PRISHA RATHORE
STAFF WRITER
Have you ever used a walkie talkie? If you have, do you really know how to use it? If your answer is yes, you may need to rethink your answer. This article will teach you that a walkie talkie is more than just the talk button. We will cover each part of the walkie talkie. You can follow along with a real walkie talkie if you would like to.
Search button
The search button is the button at the top with the zigzag. Before we talk about the search button, let’s talk about channels. Channels are the places that you can communicate with others. If you are using a walkie talkie, you may notice that there is a number button on the screen. That is your channel number. Some walkie talkies can have up to 22 channels!
You cannot talk with people that aren’t on the same channel as you. The search button will search across these channels to find available conversations going on near you. Beware, you may not want to talk to a random stranger on a walkie talkie, though, so it is not advised. But if you really need someone to talk to, you can use the search button if you like.
Menu Button
Next, the menu button can change your ringtone, your squelch, and your channel. To change all these things, first click the menu button. Then the channel number will flicker. Click the up and down arrows to change the channel. To activate voice talk, click the menu button three times. Voice activation makes it so you don’t have to click the button to talk. It will detect your voice and then send your message. It can also change something called a squelch. A squelch is the noise that is made after you are done with your message. It signifies that you are done speaking and it means “roger that”. You can have it be on or off.
Privacy codes
Privacy codes can be very helpful, but can also be dangerous at the same time. Let’s say that we are on channel 22. The little number/text above it should either say off, or have a number ranging from 1 to 99. That little number is your privacy code. It means that you cannot hear anyone else who is on the channel that has their privacy code off. But the catch is that anyone who has their privacy code off can hear conversations from all privacy codes. It is recommended to not have a privacy code if you don’t want others listening in to your conversation.
Mon Button
The last button we will talk about is the mon button. Mon stands for monitor. When you press and hold this button, it will make a lot of static. The static is normal. The mon button can find private conversations going on near you. For example, as I stated earlier, people that are on privacy codes cannot hear people that aren’t. But they can If they press and hold their mon button. I hoped that you learned more about walkie talkies! Thanks for reading!