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An amateur radio operator ("ham") since age 16, Gross was very interested in radio communications. While still in high school in Cleveland, Ohio, he invented the "walkie-talkie", or portable two-way radio. Dick Tracy cartoonist Chester Gould was impressed enough to ask permission to adapt the device to his comic -- and the detective's "two-way wrist radio" was born. During World War II, Gross worked with U.S. Office of Strategic Services and helped invent a portable two-way radio for ground troops to communicate with aircraft. After the war, he turned to the medical field, helping bring doctors to emergencies -- by inventing the pager. "If you have a cordless telephone or a cellular telephone or a walkie talkie or beeper, you've got one of my patents," Gross once said. But he was a man before his time: his key patents expired in 1971, so he never saw great riches from today's widespread uses of his inventions. Gross died December 21 at age 82.
From This is True for 24 December 2000
Suggestions for further reading:
Two-Way Radios & Scanners For Dummies
by H. Ward Silver
Amazon Price: $17.49
Customer Review: Good book to learn the basics of police or nascar scanning. This book isn't helpful with programing specific models but is well worth the money anyway.
All about CB two-way radio
by Hy Siegel
Amazon Price:
Two Way Radio and Broadcast Equipment: Troubleshooting and Repair
by Joseph J. Carr
Amazon Price:
The Original Dick Tracy Comic Album #2: The Origin of the Two-Way Wrist Radio
by Chester Gould
Amazon Price:
All About CB Two-Way Radio
by Hy Siegel
Amazon Price:
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