"Why didn't they... ?" #1 (Dawn of the Dead)

[ipotts85]

I am not a walkie talkie expert, but I think that you have to be relatively close to the base in order for them to work. I doubt that the Mall security force paid for an expensive system that work work beyond the immediate area of the mall. The cheaper the system, the less range it has. There would be no need for mall security to have any range beyond the mall property itself. Roger and Peter would probably know more about this as they were cops and used to using the technology, and knowing that the range was limited, they wouldnt take them on their truck mission. even a low grade inexpensve walkie talkie would have enough of a range to reach between the 2 trucks and the helicopter. i've seen relatively cheap walkie talkies that can reach a few miles, and i don't think the technology has changed drastically enough for a 70's era walkie talkie (even a cheap one) not to be able to work in that situation.

[Trin]

I think it was over-confidence, pure and simple. Roger especially. He'd mentally decided that the zombies did not pose much of a threat after they so owned them during the raiding of the mall proper. These are specially trained guys who are used to facing down threatening people with weapons. I don't think he concieved of a situation where he'd seriously be in danger out there with those slow moving zombies while they were in trucks.

[hseiken]

It's doubtful that the different radios would be able to use the same frequency. It wasn't even made clear that the walkie talkies were CB based or just some toy. If they were made specifically for each other, then no matter what, Flyboy couldn't use his equipment in the heli. On top of that, the range between the walkie talkies probably would not have been too great, so as to not interfere with other devices, according to FCC regulations (i.e. low level power). If I remember correctly, that's what the walkie talkies were...just off the shelf units with probably only one frequency. They kept the CB in their room.

[axlish]

Another thought... Stephen was a helicopter traffic reporter, right? Well he would have needed a CB radio of some type to call back to the station with the report. He could have just found the frequency of the mall walkie-talkies, or at worst, just snagged two radios from wherever they got the one they used in the loft when they heard the bikers (from a few hundred yards away).

[Debbieangel]

When Stephen, Roger and Peter went out to move the trucks, why didn't they grab a set of walkie-talkies? It would have been much easier for Stephen to tell the guys on the ground if danger was lurking. I wondered that too ax...hey was the radio broke on the helio? i mean Roger and Peter had CB radio's why not contact them that way on their frequency???

[Philly_SWAT]

even a low grade inexpensve walkie talkie would have enough of a range to reach between the 2 trucks and the helicopter. i've seen relatively cheap walkie talkies that can reach a few miles, and i don't think the technology has changed drastically enough for a 70's era walkie talkie (even a cheap one) not to be able to work in that situation. Dont you have to be near the base for them to work? I mean, seems like the cost of the units would determine how far away from the base you would need to be for them to work. The mall would not even want employees taking them off property, so why pay for a unit that was powerful enough for them to work so far away? The cheap kids walkie talkies dont have a base, but they dont work very far away either. Dont the cops have towers in place to relay signals from the units to the base and back to other handsets? Its like radio signals. You go to a drive-in, turn your radio to the frequency they tell you, and you can hear the movie. But you cant hear it at all once you get a little ways from the drive-in. Other powerful stations, you can hear from several States away. It wouldnt benefit the drive-in owners to have a radio setup powerful and expensive enough to hear anywhere beyond the immediate area.

[TheWalkingDude]

Little walkie talkies are more effected by line of sight. If they would of had them then they wouldnt of had to much of a problem since they was all together outside in sight of each other. They didnt have any problem hearing the bikers when they was off in the distance up on the hill.. Even a good old cb with a junky antenna would carry for a couple of miles...One with a good onecan be heard for about 20 miles or farther depending on conditions.

[Monrozombi]

Remember when they were flying from Philly and Fran says "Jesus christ we don't know where we're going, we don't food, we dont' have water, we dont' even have a radio." Now i'm assuming that is a radio to communicate with the outside world and not an am/fm radio. I would say they wanted to keep the walkie talkies inside the mall for that use and not take the chance of losing them outside and then they'd be screwed. They took a chance but rolled snake eyes esp when Roger started to lose it, had Roger not lost it they would have been able to get the trucks in place w/o too much trouble

[axlish]

Remember when they were flying from Philly and Fran says "Jesus christ we don't know where we're going, we don't food, we dont' have water, we dont' even have a radio." Now i'm assuming that is a radio to communicate with the outside world and not an am/fm radio. I'd have to assume that she meant an AM/FM radio because Stephen would have to have something in the chopper to "radio" his traffic reports back to home base. A CB radio wouldn't provide as much information as an AM/FM would. With a CB, you'd need luck to get good information. Aren't most (all) aircraft required to have a radio device? Stpehen should have been able to log into the same channel as the radio on the trucks. Again, this is all an assumption because we never see a radio on the chopper.

[Monrozombi]

I'd have to assume that she meant an AM/FM radio because Stephen would have to have something in the chopper to "radio" his traffic reports back to home base. A CB radio wouldn't provide as much information as an AM/FM would. With a CB, you'd need luck to get good information. Aren't most (all) aircraft required to have a radio device? Stpehen should have been able to log into the same channel as the radio on the trucks. Again, this is all an assumption because we never see a radio on the chopper. I would assume that he had a cb or some other device as well but why didn't we see him try to use it esp when Peter and Roger were in the trucks? That would lead me to believe that it didn't work or he didn't have one at all.

[Danny]

to be fair if it were you or me ,is a radio the first thing that pops into your head, doubt it, more likely a gun or .....most likely a mall "hey the dead rose, lets go to the mall!, and this time well lock the doors and get trucks inside!, well show you flyboy!!!"

[Angry312]

The CBs they found were not used by either children or security; they were in the maintenance area -- it is a logical step to think they are carried by the guys who ensure the boilers, air conditioning, elevators and wiring is working. With those, they can reach through most of the mall -- remember where everyone was, when they used the walkie-talkies? Wasn't line of sight. Also, the helicopter might have had its communications system either removed by looters or damaged, which would put it as a second-string choice for others escaping. "Well, guys... we're on the roof of the WGON tower.. We can take the chopper without a good radio since Hank dropped that burrito on it... the one with the skeevy bikers eating the radio ... or the one I was flying today, which is cool, but the color scheme is all stupid." The CBs could be tuned into if they installed a radio into the Flyboy chopper -- specifically, by installing a CB radio. Given they were out in the sticks, sort of, it would be a relatively safe bet that they could round up at least a comparable system. Then again, maybe they don't know how to wire one up. Which, I guess, is kind of sad, but that's life. Anyways, giving one to Steven and Fran would allow them to coordinate to a minor degree; if Fran sees one, she fires a shot *near* it, which draws the attention of the Shoot and Loot squad on the ground. If Steven sees one, he uses his magical chin to get their attention. I mean, it did such a stellar job in the first run, right? Angry312; "Must ... Obey ... Steven's... Chin..."

[Philly_SWAT]

The CBs they found were not used by either children or security; they were in the maintenance area -- it is a logical step to think they are carried by the guys who ensure the boilers, air conditioning, elevators and wiring is working. With those, they can reach through most of the mall -- remember where everyone was, when they used the walkie-talkies? Wasn't line of sight. Yes, it was not line of sight. But it was within range of the base that existed within the mall maintenace room.

[Angry312]

Yes, it was not line of sight. But it was within range of the base that existed within the mall maintenace room. They could have *moved* the base for the CB's to ... well, an area *not the basement*, perhaps? It wasn't set into a concrete block, so they could have moved it at least to the next floor, if not the roof, just for the afternoon. Angry312; "... and Fran was definitely on the grassy knoll."

[Philly_SWAT]

They could have *moved* the base for the CB's to ... well, an area *not the basement*, perhaps? It wasn't set into a concrete block, so they could have moved it at least to the next floor, if not the roof, just for the afternoon. Angry312; "... and Fran was definitely on the grassy knoll." Where were they going to plug it in? I dont think that moving it to the roof would help, that wouldnt give much better range than it being inside the mall. I suppose they could have moved the base to the truckyard, but that creates more problems than it would help. Getting out of the truck, looking for a power source (if there even was power at the truck yard), then having to retrieve it later to take back to the mall. If the truck yard got overrun with zeds, there goes the base, and the ability to use the radios in the mall.