Mobile radio

This article is about professional equipment. For mobile radios used in amateur radio, see amateur radio mobile operation.
National Guard operating a mobile radio station (1922)
Mobile radio on board of Zeppelin

Mobile radio or mobiles refer to wireless communications systems and devices which are based on radio frequencies (using commonly UHF or VHF frequencies), and where the path of communications is movable on either end. There are a variety of views about what constitutes mobile equipment. For US licensing purposes, mobiles may include hand-carried, (sometimes called portable), equipment. An obsolete term is radiophone.[a][1][2][3]

A sales person or radio repair shop would understand the word mobile to mean vehicle-mounted: a transmitter-receiver (transceiver) used for radio communications from a vehicle. Mobile radios are mounted to a motor vehicle usually with the microphone and control panel in reach of the driver. In the US, such a device is typically powered by the host vehicle's 12 Volt electrical system.

Some mobile radios are mounted in aircraft (aeronautical mobile), shipboard (maritime mobile), on motorcycles, or railroad locomotives. Power may vary with each platform. For example, a mobile radio installed in a locomotive would run off of 72 or 30 Volt DC power. A large ship with 117 V AC power might have a base station mounted on the ship's bridge.

According to article 1.67 of the ITU, a mobile radio is "A station in the mobile service intended to be used while in motion or during halts at unspecified points."[4]


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  1. ^ It was also seen on some Kaar Engineering mobile products. One example is the title on a special products service manual Model T31BAT-3100B-SP3 'Dispatcher' Radiophone 25-54 MC 12 W RF Power 12 VDC, State of California Radio Communications System, (Chicago: Motorola Communications Division, 1965).
  2. ^ The Oxford English Dictionary conflicts with some uses, saying radiophone is interchangeable with radiotelephone.[full citation needed]
  3. ^ The 11th edition of Newton's Telecom Dictionary says radiophone is an, "obsolete term."[full citation needed]
  4. ^ "R15-WRC15-C-0000!!MSW-E" (PDF).