RE: IML: Car Phones?

["David W. Gustafson" <davidwgustafson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I do remember seeing two Imperials in the fifties with early car telephone
units, one was a 54 sedan and the other a 55 sedan.  Northwestern Bell here
in Minnesota offered the service, if you owned the equipment for $7.00 per
month, which included 30 message units.  Each additional M/U was 20cents. If
you rented the equipment from the local telco, it was about $30-35 per month
more.  Service was offered on both the low (highway)band, which the car
received on 35 Mhz and transmitted on 43 MHz.  It was half duplex service,
which the mobile had to press to talk. There were 2 channels in any given
geographical area, in our case a ZA and a ZB channel.  Channels were seldom
less than 150 miles apart.  They also offered two channels of urban service,
which was full duplex (no push to talk) on 152 and 158 MHz.  This was
increased to 4 channels in late 1966 when they added fully automatic IMTS,
two-way dial.

Congestion was terrible.  I had an early low band unit in my car back in
1962 and it was manual service. The early systems could only support about
35-50 users per channel.

Cars with 6 volt systems suffered from inadequate electrical systems.  The
low band units were rated about 60 watts out, which meant about 90 to 100
watts in.  Doing the math, this is anywhere from 15 - 20 amperes when
talking.  At night, the lights would dim when talking.  Standby pulled about
5 amps, remember this was all tube type equipment at the time.

VHF equipment was a little more efficient and the power reduced.  Most were
rated about 20 watts and had transistorized power supplies so the drain was
significantely less then the first generation units.  General Electric
supplied most of the equipment to Northwestern Bell here in Minnesota.
Motorola also supplied equipment to the telcos in other parts of the
country.  Strangely enough, DELCO and AC Spark made early car telephone
equipment and was pushed by Michigan and Indiana Bell in the early sixty's.
I have a few of these units, along with a GE and Motorola IMTS unit
slumbering away in my garage.  I do have a picture of an early automatic
unit installed in a late 50's Imperial and a story that goes along with it.

I also have quite a bit of information relating to the early development of
car phones if anyone is interested, please contact me off the list.

________________________________________
From: mailing-list-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:mailing-list-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Alex Krasicky
Sent: Monday, April 10, 2006 6:29 PM
To: mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: IML: Car Phones?

I have just emailed the ATCA (Antique Telephone Collectors' Association)
listserv and expect some responses shortly. Thanks for the information so
far! And I'd like to see photos of that Princess, Jeff, and your British
unit, Mr Boehme, if it's not too much trouble.

-Alex Krasicky

theboehmes@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
I have a radio phone that came with my 65 Crown; The? antenna assembly is
attached to the rear deck along with the antenna. I have the phone in a box.
It is an English PYE brand. My car came from Canada. I assume the owner had
it installed. The wiring from the phone assembly does not look complete. I
have toyed with the idea of getting it operational again but I would not
even know where to begin.
?
-------------- Original message -------------- 
From: Jeff Ingraham <jeff_ingraham@xxxxxxxxx> 

> Hi, 
> My 65 Ghia Limo has a Princess phone in the back 
> seat arm-rest. I don't know how it worked but it is 
> still mostly intact. 
> My car came from New york City. 
> Jeff Ingraham 
> 
> --- Alex Krasicky wrote: 
> 
> > Hello everyone, 
> > 
> > There are several 1960 Imperial ads that feature 
> > radio car phones. Just out of curiosity (and because 
> > I collect antique telephones): 
> > 
> > Has anyone ever come across an Imperial with a car 
> > phone installed? Motorola units were popular among 
> > the rich and famous in the 1960s and early 1970s. 
> > 
> > What modifications are necessary to install one on 
> > the dash? I know the main rec eiver component is 
> > installed in the trunk (and weighs around 50 lbs). 
> > 
> > Because there are no operators to connect radio 
> > phones to land lines anymore, I am playing with the 
> > idea of how to make such a phone actually work today 
> > in a car. 
> > 
> > Thanks for any help or suggestions. 
> > 
> > -Alex K. 
> > 
> > 
> > --------------------------------- 
> > Talk is cheap. Use Yahoo! Messenger to make 
> > PC-to-Phone calls. Great rates starting at 
> 1�/min. 
> 
> 
> 
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________________________________________
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