/diy/ - Do It Yourself

hey guys looking for some info from those in the know.

i had these walkie talkies as a kid in the early 90's, mine were the ones on the left, tho the right ones look identical just different branding.

my knowledge of radios is zero. i remember playing with these with my grandad as a kid, i always did s.o.s on morse code.

one day someone came thru on it, i remember there was a load of background noise and i couldnt make out what the guy was saying, there was a small airfield about half a mile from my grandparents house, i was either speaking to someone at the airfield or someone in a light aircraft, it only came thru on my set, not the one my grandad was using, my grandad took the talkie and spoke to them, he was ex navy so knew the jargon.

my question is how do these talkies work? are they single band/channel vhf? why would an airfield/aircraft be on the same channel as kids walkie talkies? who would i have been talking to do you think? aircraft? airfield? could have been coastguard or ship as we were right on the coast. or an airliner? and why did it only come thru on my set as where my grandad was he was closer to direction of the airfield

what do u guys think? what are the range on these things, they are labeled as MPT1336 whatever that means, another page i found said MPT1336 are 49mhz and work upto 1/4 mile.

who can u speak to with these things? cb radio, vhf radio, ham radio? i remember a lot of background noise and i couldnt make out shit, reminds me of the radio my dad has on his boat.

also do modern kids walkie talkies work in the same way, or have they changed the design due to legislation to stop you picking up signals you shouldnt?

would really like someone to explain all this, it happened when i was 7yo that was 30yrs ago, ive always wondered.