I'm often asked how I came to make the first "communicator". Well, as with many inventions, there's a story to it. This one begins on a cold, clear, Febuary night back in 1979. A friend and myself were snowmobiling back to Transcona, (a distant suburb of Winnipeg), from a popular snowmobilers' night spot in Selkirk, Manitoba. The trip is about 20 miles each way and the route we took was along the frozen Red River, then along the Winnipeg Floodway. (The Floodway is really a marvel. Built around 1966, it's a huge canal which diverts the waters of the Red River around Winnipeg and then back into the river, when the Red is in flood. It saves the city from the devastating floods Winnipeg has suffered in the past.)

Going out, we rode along the east side of the Floodway. Now coming home, we were on the west side, I had travelled this way many times and knew what lay ahead, but I wasn't sure my companion knew - and he was in the lead. I decided to catch up. I wanted to warn him, a few miles ahead lay a storm sewer outlet with a guard rail which stretched right across our path. I accelerated and was almost alongside him when he roamed out in front again. This was repeated a number of times. Each time I got close enough to wave at him, he took off.

I did finally catch up - but it was after he hit the guard rail. His machine was flattened against the thick post holding up the railing, it was demolished, a complete write-off. Using my headlight and a small pocket flashlight, I found him about 60 feet away in a snowdrift. On impact, he had flown over the railing, over the sewer outlet, and landed on the other side. He was unconscious and I wasn't sure how bad he was hurt, but I remember thinking his neck might be broken. I was carefully turning him on his side, so his air passages would be clear (I had seen this done on television), when he began to regain consciousness. Amazingly, after a few minutes he was able to stand, and a short time later, we both got on my machine and continued home. He told me later that he didn't know the guard rail was there , and when I accelerated up to him, he thought I wanted to race.

The next day I decided to use my background in electronics to make a pair of 2-way radios I could attach to helmets and use to talk from one snowmobile to another. I knew this type of communication would have prevented the previous night's near fatal accident and I wanted to be ready when such a situation occurred in the future.

Well, I did it, not on the first try, but eventually. And they worked so well some of the people I was snowmobiling with asked if I would make radios for them. One radio led to another and a few months later, along with my brother and a friend of ours, I formed a company to manufacture 2-way radios for people riding snowmobiles and motorcycles. We called them Helmet to Helmet Communicators®.

We've certainly made a lot of improvements in the years since then, but one thing has never changed - our desire to make your ride as safe and enjoyable as possible. I like to think we've helped. Happy trails,

Les Collett
President