New Made Item: SCR 300 was a portable radio transceiver used by US Signal Corps in World War II. This backpack-mounted unit was the first two-way radio to be nicknamed a "walkie talkie". This is a high quality reproduction of the battery case for this radio, and it measures approximately 11" x 5" x 9".

History of the SCR (stands for either "Signal Corps Radio" or "set, complete, radio.")

In 1940, Motorola (then the Galvin Manufacturing Company) received a contract from the War Department to develop a portable, battery powered voice radio receiver/transmitter for field use by infantry units.

The performance of the SCR-300 during tests demonstrated its capacity to communicate through interference and the rugged quality of the design. Motorola was to produce nearly 50,000 of the SCR-300 units during the course of the war, the first units transported by air for use in the invasion of Italy by the Allied Forces. A sizeable quantity went to the Pacific theatre of war. They made a great contribution in the European invasion where their role in re-establishing order at the conclusion of the Battle of the Bulge have led some to call it the single most useful piece of communications equipment employed in the invasion.

Radio Set SCR-300 and SCR-300-A consisted of an 18-vacuum tube, quartz crystal controlled portable FM receiver and transmitter (however it should be regarded as a transceiver as some stages and circuits are shared by both functions of receiving and sending such as in the frequency control loop), designated BC-1000 (or BC-1000A), along with batteries and accessories such as the case, handset, and two lengths of whip antenna. It had an innovative tuning that sets both receive and transmit frequency in tandem along with integrated calibration. A squelch circuit was provided to minimize roar in the high-gain circuits when there is no signal. The SCR-300 used the frequency band of 40.0 to 48.0 MHz divided into 48 - 200kHz wide channels spaced by 1MHz. The transmitter power was 0.3 watts with a range of 3 miles with the longer antenna.

The entire SCR-300 assembly weighed between 32 and 38 pounds depending on the batteries used (BA-70 or BA-80). The Radio Set SCR-300 was issued with War Department Technical Manual TM 11-242, 15 June 1943 and later dates.

The SCR-300 consisted of many parts one such part was the:

Battery Case CS-128-A - used to fit to the bottom of the radio to house the battery. The radio could be used without the case, using a much smaller battery, if space or weight were a priority. We have replicated an all steel Battery Case CS-128-A because they are so often missing from original units or if they do exist they are damaged beyond repair.