When Cell Phones Worked: The History of the 21st Century

There was a time when my cell phone never "dropped a call" or didn't get good connections. 

It was 30 years ago. Our first 'cell phone' was before cell phones. 
It was called a "radiotelephone" or radiophone.
We called it a car phone. 

Even in the depths of the forest up north in extremely rural areas, we got service.
We did not experience, nor know the term, a 'dropped call'. We did not know about being out of a service area, or not getting a good connection. 

The car phone was huge.  But the instruction booklet on how to make a phone call was only 24 pages long. 
Plus the guide to how much a call would make in different places. The average was about $1 a minute. 

We bought it for safety reasons driving home in Kansas at midnight from the airport.
By "safety," we mean car trouble in the middle of nowhere, not personal safety trouble. 

In addition to huge amounts of car battery power, the car phone ran on a radio frequency. No towers needed.  
Our car phone now a new feature of our Museum of the 20th Century.  Call - - if you can get through - - for museum hours.

 

 

Comments

[David Lubic]

That technology actually goes back a little ways.

http://www.wb6nvh.com/Carphone.htm

[David Lubic]

Where that image came from.

http://www.wb6nvh.com/MTSfiles/Carphone6.htm

[David Lubic]

Ho, ho, ho, that thing is modern compared to what I once used when I was an employee with a TV cable company.

Our truck radio was permanently mounted below the dash, was quite large compared to what's in the photo, and had a rotary dial!

From what I remember, what we used looked like this. This would have been new in 1970.

http://www.wb6nvh.com/MTSfiles/FACTS1.jpg