Telephones... then and now

[Industrial Toys]

These new smarts phones are amazing. I hate them, but they ARE amazing. When Maxwell Smart used his shoe phone in the 60s, that just never seemed like it could ever be a possibility.

But nothing about the modern phones can match the special feeling (hard to put into words) of Frank Canon PI, speaking to the Mobile Operator on his VHF Bell System, Radio Telephone, driving his mile long (that's just the hood) Lincoln.

 

[MossRoad]

I had to share a bag phone with another Technician. We alternated On-Call duties. We both played in a disc golf league on Sundays. It started at 11:00 and a backup we were supposed to check and monitor on a VAX started at 12:00. So, golf was out every other Sunday. So one Sunday, he pulls into the parking lot just before noon. I know he's on call, so what's he doing here? We go to his trunk, and he has a VT220 hooked to an inverter, and acoustical cups, some other stuff, and the bag phone, etc... and he dials into the modem at work, sets the computer clock forward to noon, the backup starts, he plays golf, finishes the round, checks the backup, then sets the computer clock back to correct time. This went on for several months until the boss noticed the backup was done one day 10 minutes before it was supposed to start....

 

[k0ua]

Ah, the VT220 terminal.. That was the emulation mode we used for all our PC's that needed to communicate with Nortel PBX's that were running Meridian Mail. VT100 would work, sort of, but VT220 was the standard.
Anything would work to talk to the PBX side of it but you really needed VT220 to get the function keys to communicate with Meridian Mail and paint correctly and look nice on the screen.

 

[TemporaryKubotaOwnerMark]

This was a 20 minute news special with lots of file footage including Charles Kuralt making and receiving calls ending by saying you soon will no longer be able to say sorry... I wasn't near a phone to call you...

On October 13, 1983, David D Meilahn placed the first commercial wireless call on a DynaTAC from his 1983 Mercedes 380SL to Bob Barnett, former president of Ameritech Mobile Communications, who then placed a call on a DynaTAC from inside a Chrysler convertible to the grandson of Alexander Graham Bell, who was in Germany for the event. The call, made at Soldier Field in Chicago, is considered by many as a major turning point in communications. Later, Richard H. Frenkiel, the head of system development at Bell Laboratories, said about the DynaTAC: "It was a real triumph; a great breakthrough

Motorola DynaTAC - Wikipedia

1. Wikipedia is garbage. Anybody can post anything they want.

2. Martin Cooper has a lot of people believing his lies. He's done a great job of convincing a lot of people. They are still lies.

3. The facts are as I laid them out. Cooper's phone was impressive, but that was not the first commercial call. It wasn't commercial at all. It was done on a test network.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I enjoy Wikipedia. It offers much entertainment and information that (us) Nerds enjoy, and could be found no place else. Not particularly interested in What Brad and what's-her-face are doing.

I subscribed to Popular Science in the Early 70s. I remember an article outlining cellular telephone service. I wish I hadn't gotten rid of all those magazines.

 

[3930dave]

I had a Motorola bag phone in 1993, was on it 4-6 hours per day (had 11 guys I had to keep busy)... glad the company paid the phone bill. I even had a box that connected to it that gave me dial tone so I could use a modem on it (transmitted repair work orders via modem). We could also use a standard desk phone connected to the dial tone box. I messed with people when I used the desk phone, they didn't know about the bag phone and only saw me talking on the standard handset. Good fun back in the day.

Those bag phones were much loved by car-traveling business people. It is only within (very) recent years that the digital networks have built-out coverage mostly equivalent to what those bag-phones could execute all those years ago. For the longest time there were plenty of slightly rolling hills, only 20km or so from Toronto Int'l airport, where digital cell calls would routinely drop.

Rgds, D.

 

[ultrarunner]

1. Wikipedia is garbage. Anybody can post anything they want.

2. Martin Cooper has a lot of people believing his lies. He's done a great job of convincing a lot of people. They are still lies.

3. The facts are as I laid them out. Cooper's phone was impressive, but that was not the first commercial call. It wasn't commercial at all. It was done on a test network.

Not disputing anything you said only posted to show I was not making this up...

The source for my post was a PBS special on modern technology... was not able to pull up a transcript and did a search and Wikipedia was almost word for work what was said by CBS Charles Kuralt on tape back in 1983...

I was in school then so no personal experience...

As a side note... I have sent in Wikipedia corrections that were incorporated... with your knowledge it would be a service if you could update that page.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

I got my first cell phone in 2002, because my wife nagged me into it. I didn't see the point. I'm on my second one now. I still mostly leave it home unless I have email or word processing to do. Even when I have it with me I have the ringer turned off, so I rarely answer it.

 

[PILOON]

My early mobile phone was located in the trunk of the car, about 1/2 cu ft with cables to the front and a handset.
Basically it was a FM transceiver. Then we also had HF SSB 2way radios for communications in northern Quebec that used 3-4 different frequencies dependent on ionosphere and propagation.

Back then I installed probably 100 in aircraft and sold at least 100 portable sets to wealthy hunters.
The Spillsbery Tindell SBX11 was a very popular portable as well as a Morconi CP 24.
Most or all HF's were crystal controlled making inventory a real hassle as everybody wanted a different frequency, oh we did stock some standards but never enough.
Bell did have 4 channels that we stocked but then you had maybe 5-6 different brand/models that used different harmonics so 'impulse buying' was never an option. Crystal lead time was always the problem.

All that is replaced by SAT phones or cellphones.

 

[ultrarunner]

My first Cell was 14.95 per month with 10 minutes back in 1996... I never went over the 10 minutes mostly because there was no cell service where I live.

The phone had a 3 to 4" rubber coated antenna.... it did come in handy to call into work after getting a page which seemed to work everywhere.

After sometime the 10 minute plan I had was discontinued so I got rid of the phone...

I grew up in a household where the phone was for important business... not chit/chat and old habits die hard.