Background
He was born and raised on a farm near Alma, Kansas, but spent most of his adult life in San Jose, California.
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Raymond Litke
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Litke invented a wireless microphone in 1957 while employed as an electronics expert at San Jose State College. His supervisor challenged him to invent a microphone to use in educational presentations which would be free of wires. Litke’s wireless mike resembled a silver tube with “a microphone at the top, a transmitter in the middle and its battery power supply at the bottom.” lieutenant was 6 inches long, 1 inch in diameter, and weighed 7 ounces.
The device had a broadcast range of up to a half-mile.
Two types of mikes were available: lavalier and hand-held. A companion receiver, weighing 17 pounds, completed the portable sound system.
Although Litke prototyped the wireless microphone in 1957, he did not file for a patent until May 8, 1961. United States. Patent Number. 3,134,074 was officially granted on May 19, 1964.
His microphone is sometimes also called the “Vega-Mike” after the Vega Electronics Corporation which first manufactured it as a product.
Vega sold other electronics items and tapes developed by Litke. Litke"s wireless microphone was first tested at the Olympic trials held at Stanford University in 1959. Next, the American Broadcasting Company (American Broadcasting Company television) tested the microphone at the Democratic and Republican Conventions in 1960.
Candidates John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon were among the first celebrities to use the Vega-Mike.
television anchor John Daly praised Litke"s invention on the American Broadcasting Company television news broadcast in July 1960. Daly introduced it to Americans with the words: "This is a Vega-Mike" and went on to explain it "is a wireless microphone, six inches lougitude. without any wires of any kind.." Daly pointed out it could be used to broadcast "within the (convention) hall or outside.. without the inconvenience of interconnecting microphone cables.." Even the Federal Communication Commission was impressed with lieutenant
The Federal Communication Commission gave him 12 frequencies instead of the one he was seeking. In the 1960s Litke worked at the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center as the chief engineer of Educational Television and as an electronics expert.
By 1961 he had worked for the University of California system for ten years.
