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Old 27th Aug 2019, 9:49 pm   #41
Biggles
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Default Re: My first mobile phone (1992)

I also had an NEC P100 handset if I remember correctly. Analogue and small enough to fit in a big trouser pocket. It was probably my first personal mobile phone on a contract, through one of the big department stores of the time. I can't remember which service provider it was with. Probably Cellnet. My Motorola 4800X car set at the time had a hands free function, which I think worked if you picked up the call but left the rather large handset in the cradle. The phone reverted to normal operation via the handset if you removed it from the cradle. I was always amazed at how the mic, normally clipped to the sun visor, didn't feeedback through the speaker, considering the system was full duplex. I fitted plenty at the time and never had a problem. I was never very keen on glass mount antennas, which relied on capacitive coupling to transfer the signal. Not easy to fit with heated rear screens.
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Old 28th Aug 2019, 4:06 pm   #42
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Default Re: My first mobile phone (1992)

My first mobile phone was the Motorola A130. It was on the Cellnet analogue ETACS network. It worked very well even in poor signal areas.
One of the features of this handset was that if the battery pack ran flat you could stick four AA batteries in it which would give you a few hours of life. As a result I can actually power it up but would be rather shocked if I found I could make a call with it
I replaced it with a similar looking Motorala D160 which was my first GSM mobile phone..
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Old 28th Aug 2019, 5:51 pm   #43
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Default Re: My first mobile phone (1992)

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Originally Posted by Biggles View Post
I was never very keen on glass mount antennas, which relied on capacitive coupling to transfer the signal. Not easy to fit with heated rear screens.
A guy came to our office and fitted car kits to all the company Vectras.
He did a neat job, but the performance was dire, and removing the phone from the car-kit and using it hand-held was far better.
I unscrewed the f-type connector from the cable at the antenna end and saw why, he had twisted the braid and inner together. He had done that on the kit end as well, and of course done likewise on each car.
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Old 28th Aug 2019, 9:09 pm   #44
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Default Re: My first mobile phone (1992)

Proving the saying, "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing"
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Old 29th Aug 2019, 2:43 pm   #45
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Default Re: My first mobile phone (1992)

I remember the first "on-glass" cellphone antennas from the 80s - they only ever seemed to stay attached for a few months. At first we thought people were driving their cars through car-washes with the screw-on antenna-bit still fitted, but then when it happened to me (and I'd taken all the antennas off the car including the cellular one) we realised it was a more-pervasive problem. Some drivers were needing the antenna replaced every month or so particularly in winter when they were putting their car through a wash several times a week.

As time moved on the on-glass antennas tended to stay attached - whether this was because of better glues or a move away from the original long(ish) multi-element collinear antennas to shorter stubby 1/4-waves I don't know.
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Old 29th Aug 2019, 6:19 pm   #46
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Default Re: My first mobile phone (1992)

We found the solution to missing glass mount whips (usually the whole whip and pad) was to make sure the glass was absolutely clean with solvent spray before sticking it on and then apply a good bead of RTV silicon compound round the edge of the outer pad. The inside had to be clean too otherwise after a while the inner matching box used to come off and dangle on the coax. We also used to use glass mount VHF and UHF antennas. These had a little adjusting trimmer on the matching box to tune for minimum SWR, but I was never convinced that the whip did much, the matching box coil/capacitor combination probably radiating as much signal as the outer bit. The flexible whips we used on vehicle roof mounts (to avoid damage from vehicles squeezing under low roofs) used to unscrew themselves by rotating at certain vehicle speeds if you didn't apply some loctite to the threads.
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Old 29th Aug 2019, 6:34 pm   #47
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Default Re: My first mobile phone (1992)

We had the inner boxes detaching themselves, too.

To *try* and clean the glass before sticking the things to it we used to use "8-80" Ammonia from one of the labs - sometimes it worked sometimes the whip and external-base bit would stay there for months, other times drop off within days. I think the curvature of the glass had an effect - flat side-windows used to retain the base better than some of the non-flat windscreens/tailgates. Sierra Estates were a big problem, with their curved tailgate glass and rear wiper.
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Old 29th Aug 2019, 6:41 pm   #48
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Default Re: My first mobile phone (1992)

It probably depended on moisture ingress, temperature and a load of other unseen happenings. Some would clag on for years, others would be off in days. As with any equipment that is "exposed" to human beings, some problems and faults just remain unexplained. Who knows what happens when it leaves the fitting bay? I used to wonder where all the missing aerials/fittings/missing hand-portables etc finally ended up.
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Old 31st Aug 2019, 5:27 pm   #49
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Default Re: My first mobile phone (1992)

When I bought my Rover 75 estate second hand it had a cradle handsfree for a Nokia 3310, this cradle assembly has the seperate mic, speaker and a "concealed" antenna in a tax disc holder. I had a quick look on the well known auction site got me a working 3310, it lives permanantly in the car now and still works fine.
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Old 31st Aug 2019, 10:43 pm   #50
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Default Re: My first mobile phone (1992)

The Toyota Yaris I used to have had an old Nokia car kit fitted.

At first I used it because I had a compatible phone, but later on replaced it with one that didn't fit so it became purely decorative.
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Old 2nd Sep 2019, 11:16 am   #51
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Default Re: My first mobile phone (1992)

All of these old mobiles came out of my bedside drawer except for the big Motorola 8500x which I was given.

Most of these were my wifes old mobiles with the exception of the Sharp GX10 and the Samsung windows phone which were mine.
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Old 2nd Sep 2019, 9:15 pm   #52
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Default Re: My first mobile phone (1992)

Can anyone offer a home to a ME 50 T (A) Vodafone Racal VT1 car phone?
If so PM me.
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Old 5th Sep 2019, 5:17 pm   #53
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Default Re: My first mobile phone (1992)

Well I seems I got my phones mixed up, I guess its an age thing

Seems I didn't get my 4800 untill late 89 early 1990 and my first one was in fact a Motorala 5000X and how do I know? I just found it with the paper work in the loft

I remember I wore the lettering off the numbers on the 4800 this has virtually no wear so I didn't use it for very long!

Commisioned October 25th 1988

The Useful numbers in the back are all mine so it was my phone (serial numbers match as well)

Mystery is How did I end up keeping it these things were valuable back then.

I'm Guessing when I changed my car the 4800X was already installed and there was no one to hand the old phone back to

So for the moment unless I find even more phones and paperwork that's my first one!

Cheers

Mike T
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Old 9th Sep 2019, 10:56 am   #54
Riccardo Grillo
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Default Re: My first mobile phone (1992)

My first phone was a Siemens A55 in approximately 2003. I ended being given a spare battery for it from someone's A65 which was nice.

This was replaced with a Samsung GT-E1200 in 2013.

That's it.
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Old 11th Oct 2019, 12:00 pm   #55
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Default Re: My first mobile phone (1992)

My first was a Nokia 101. A great phone. Still have it, somewhere...
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Old 11th Oct 2019, 1:24 pm   #56
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Default Re: My first mobile phone (1992)

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Originally Posted by emeritus View Post
Philips savvy PAYG, £39. Early 1990's. My wfe got one too, and bought s package that offered unlimited texts for a one-off payment.....which it did until they cancelled it a few years later.
Had a few myself... Remember the message tone ? https://youtu.be/yryYpi2XH-M

My first mobile was a Motorola Micro TAC. 8 hour battery life on standby and significantly shorter if a call was made. Had it cloned a couple of times to allow me to use a transportable "Vodaphone" unit (Post 52 above) with SLA batteries that lasted a whole day, and another fixed installation in my car. Had to be careful not to have more than one on at a time. Days long gone by. My current Nokia cheapy can last up to a week on stanby with energy to spare for text and calls.
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Old 13th Oct 2019, 3:55 pm   #57
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Default Re: My first mobile phone (1992)

Oh Yea, I remember all of those brick size phones from the very early 90's plus the car install handsets. They were easily hackable, all that was needed was the ESN# adderess on the code line, the six different address lines, a PC and a new ESN# to re-program back on the chip.

Some criminals back then even had an ESN reader device (Smith and Myers) that would collect the number from air, from passing unfortunate cell phone owners, then use their ESN# illegally to program other phones. Then the unfortunate person would recieve a humungusly massive bill at the end of the month.

That behavior carried a more than likely jail term and a massive fine or both. A Dodgy, dodgy practice, but it was so common at that time.
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