This radio telephone was produced by Standard Radio & Telefon AB (part of ITT) for use by mainly smaller boats and vessels. Their own literature suggests it was introduced in 1971 and it used 12 channels of high frequency (VHF) radio between 156-162 Mhz.
Since the time of Marconi effective radio communication had been vital to the marine industry and after WW2 ITT (International Telephone & Telegraph) made a name for itself as a provider of quality VHF equipment. The timing was good because after the war it was VHF bands which would provide the first Taxi, Military, Police and Marine communication networks.
What makes this receiver interesting is its overtly portable consumer design, and people would be forgiven for assuming it was an early brick cell phone from the 1980s instead. It ran on only 1 watt and could be connected to either the mains or 8 batteries (although who knows how long the batteries would last?!)
Cosmetically this STR-15 is in very good original condition, everything moves smoothly and the cord is still nice and soft. After inserting 8 size D batteries I could clearly hear radio static through the handset, but despite scrolling the channels was unsurprisingly unable to pick up any signals etc.
This is an interesting item for anyone interested in either vintage marine technology or the pre-history of the cell phone.
You can find a PDF of the original manual via this link to Peel.DK (a good site for Danish Vintage equipment).
