UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum - View Single Post

Pellseinydd · 27th Aug 2019, 12:15 pm

My first 'fixed carphone' was on Vodafone in the early 1990's on the old analogue network - it was a 1920's GPO Telephone 121 mounted on the dashboard of my Ford Sierra Estate complete with a vintage looking dial centre label! It was on the passenger side so little chance of using it when driving ;-) I had one of my mobile exchanges at the Welsh Highland Railway at Porthmadog and they had decided to adopt the '1920's look' in keeping with the time the railway was originally built. Hence I just did the same with my 'carphone'. It worked perfectly, you could dial out using the rotary dial and incoming calls rang the bell on the phone without a problem. It used an early analogue Cellular Terminal Adapter about a foot square and three inches thick mounted in the car boot. Can't remember the name of the unit - it was a US made unit - effectively the forerunner of the Nokia 'Premicell' but a lot bigger. First handheld was a 'brick' type in 1987. Had that one on Vodafone until I moved to 'Orange' as they extended their network into our part of the World in 1995. Both the above units are buried somewhere in the loft. Might dig them out one day.

27th Aug 2019, 12:15 pm	#40
Pellseinydd Heptode Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Flintshire, UK. Posts: 707	Re: My first mobile phone (1992) My first 'fixed carphone' was on Vodafone in the early 1990's on the old analogue network - it was a 1920's GPO Telephone 121 mounted on the dashboard of my Ford Sierra Estate complete with a vintage looking dial centre label! It was on the passenger side so little chance of using it when driving ;-) I had one of my mobile exchanges at the Welsh Highland Railway at Porthmadog and they had decided to adopt the '1920's look' in keeping with the time the railway was originally built. Hence I just did the same with my 'carphone'. It worked perfectly, you could dial out using the rotary dial and incoming calls rang the bell on the phone without a problem. It used an early analogue Cellular Terminal Adapter about a foot square and three inches thick mounted in the car boot. Can't remember the name of the unit - it was a US made unit - effectively the forerunner of the Nokia 'Premicell' but a lot bigger. First handheld was a 'brick' type in 1987. Had that one on Vodafone until I moved to 'Orange' as they extended their network into our part of the World in 1995. Both the above units are buried somewhere in the loft. Might dig them out one day.