Alfred Traeger's two-way radio with pedal power enables flying doctor/school of the air
Alfred Traeger with his pedal-powered two-way radio receiver that enabled the Royal Flying Doctor Service and school of the air to operate in the outback.
Image courtesy State Library of South Australia
The two-way-radio powered by a pedal-operated generator was invented by Alfred Traeger in 1927 and became the central to the success of the Royal Flying Doctor Service and long-distance School of the Air education in the Australian outback.
Growing up at Balaklava, north of Adelaide, Traeger, ''curious, patient, precise”, at age 12, made a crude but effective telephone receiver that could transmit over the 50 metres between the toolshed and the family home.
Traeger studied mechanical and electrical engineering at the South Australian School of Mines and Industries (1912-15) then joined the Metropolitan Tramways Trust and Postmaster-General's Department.
In the 1920s, Traeger worked for Hannan Bros in Adelaide, handling car generator and electrical repairs. Always intrigued by radio, he obtained an amateur operator's licence and built his first pedal transmitter-receiver.
He was contacted by flying doctor service founder John Flynn to assist in experiments to give remote outback families radio access to medical treatment. Flynn and Traeger carried out wireless experiments in outback areas, and transmitted Australia's first radio telegram. But the large copper oxide Edison batteries they used proved unsuitable for remote homes.
Traeger developed a pedal generator to power a Morse cord wireless set. He later added a typewriter keyboard that enabled unskilled operators to type a message in plain language and have it transmitted in Morse. In 1939, Traeger's set dispensed with pedals and adopted a vibrator unit. Traeger also suggested the school of the air, started in 1951 by Adelaide’s Adelaide Meithke.
With his brother and father, he founded Traeger Transceivers and started exporting his radios. In 1962, pedal sets went to Nigeria; in 1970, Traeger’s firm provided an educational radio network for Canada.
Traeger continued inventing. He designed a gas turbine-driven car and used solar power to convert salt water to fresh water.
