Mobile radio
![In the early 1970s, the California Department of Forestry requirement for 6-frequency transmit, 3-frequency receive, scanning, and a 5-tone burst encoder was unusual, leading to this custom-built mobile radio.](/Images/godic/202501/27/1970_CDF_control_head3611.png")
![A mobile radio in a US ambulance often has two sets of controls: one in the patient area and another near the driver.](/Images/godic/202501/27/Dual_control_ambulance_mobile_radio3611.png")
Mobile radio or mobiles refer to wireless communications systems and devices which are based on radio 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.