UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Powered By Google Custom Search Vintage Radio and TV Service Data

Go Back   UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum > Specific Vintage Equipment > Vintage Telephony and Telecomms

Notices

Vintage Telephony and Telecomms Vintage Telephones, Telephony and Telecomms Equipment

Closed Thread
 
Thread Tools
Old 20th Aug 2019, 2:21 pm   #1
electronicskip
Nonode
 
electronicskip's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Gloucester, Glos. UK.
Posts: 2,148
Default My first mobile phone (1992)

Found my first mobile phone today which dates from around 1992 I believe .
Obviously its an analogue phone from those days and weighs a ton.

Its a Nokia 100 unit with the BT Branding on it and a retractable aerial as was almost standard in the early days of mobiles.

What was your first mobile?
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	IMG_20190820_141119.jpg
Views:	514
Size:	57.4 KB
ID:	188635  
electronicskip is offline  
Old 20th Aug 2019, 2:51 pm   #2
MrBungle
Dekatron
 
MrBungle's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: London, UK.
Posts: 3,687
Default Re: My first mobile phone (1992)

Your first there actually features in the Science Museum

Past the casual and naughy listening into analogue phones on a Yupiteru MVT-7000, mine was the 121 which is the same handset with some additional features which never got used.

This was quickly replaced with a Nokia 1011 which was GSM not analogue. Then a Nokia 5.1 I think it was and then a Motorola L7809, Treo 180G, Orange SPV, Various Nokia Symbian handsets none of which were memorable, Lumia 710, Motorola Moto G, then iPhone 5s, 6s, now XR. Adopting smartphones that early, before that word even existed, was a massive and expensive mistake I made.
MrBungle is offline  
Old 20th Aug 2019, 2:53 pm   #3
Cobaltblue
Moderator
 
Cobaltblue's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Exeter, Devon and Poole, Dorset UK.
Posts: 6,800
Default Re: My first mobile phone (1992)

My first mobile was a car transportable Motorola 4800X around 1988 may have been a bit later it was fitted into F62OJN but not from new.

When not in the car you had to gather up the handset the Radio unit and the Battery pack and carrier assemble it and put it in a smart Black Motorola shoulder bag.

I was doing maintenance and installation of networks back then mostly X25 Stratacom Tellynet Cray, but toward the end IP Cisco and Wellfleet (changed its name to Bay).

It was replaced a few years later by a similar arrangement from Panasonic.

I had it kicking around for years after it was replaced in the early/mid 90's by a little Siemens GSM not sure of the model still have it somewhere!

Cheers

Mike T
__________________
Don't care if it was a bargain why's it in my kitchen
Mike T BVWS member.
www.cossor.co.uk
Cobaltblue is online now  
Old 20th Aug 2019, 3:14 pm   #4
G4YVM David
Heptode
 
G4YVM David's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Salisbury, Wiltshire, UK.
Posts: 998
Default Re: My first mobile phone (1992)

Mine was probably that one in fact. Good phones. I really thought going digital was a bad idea. With an analogue phone you could make out the voice even in very poor condx. Digital is either on, off or dalek.
__________________
David, G4YVM.
G4YVM David is offline  
Old 20th Aug 2019, 3:32 pm   #5
Cobaltblue
Moderator
 
Cobaltblue's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Exeter, Devon and Poole, Dorset UK.
Posts: 6,800
Default Re: My first mobile phone (1992)

I found a Picture on net

This is in the Carrier but not the shoulder bag.

Normally the Radio unit lived under the passenger seat and the handset lived in a cradle on the dash/console to the left of the gearstick on my Astra.

the speaker was in the passenger foot well.

The aerial was on the roof just in front of the sunroof it made an awful whistling noise when the sun roof was opened

Cheers

Mike T
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	4800.JPG
Views:	199
Size:	16.7 KB
ID:	188638  
__________________
Don't care if it was a bargain why's it in my kitchen
Mike T BVWS member.
www.cossor.co.uk
Cobaltblue is online now  
Old 20th Aug 2019, 8:05 pm   #6
dglcomp
Heptode
 
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: Portland, Dorset, UK.
Posts: 868
Default Re: My first mobile phone (1992)

Mine was a Christmas present and the very first PAYG phone on Vodafone, A Telital PV129. Still analogue and required you to top up £15 a month, of which half went on line rental. Naturally with still being at school (year 6! if I remember correctly) and us having little money it got used until the free month ran out.
Hate to think how much it cost.

As for the history past that (if anyone needs to waste a bit of time),
It started with an Alcatel One Touch DB on Virgin Mobile, followed by a Trium Mars then 110. Later there was a Nokia 3650, basic sony erriccson, Sagem flip phone, Orange branded ZTE, Panasonic CF-P2, MIO A701 GPS phone, Lumia 610, Huawei Ascend W1, Lumia 625, Lumia 830 and finally my current phone a S/H 930.
dglcomp is online now  
Old 20th Aug 2019, 9:35 pm   #7
McMurdo
Dekatron
 
McMurdo's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Staffordshire Moorlands, UK.
Posts: 5,263
Default Re: My first mobile phone (1992)

motorola MR30, still got it, battery still good.
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	mr30.jpg
Views:	248
Size:	37.6 KB
ID:	188666  
__________________
Kevin
McMurdo is offline  
Old 20th Aug 2019, 9:45 pm   #8
emeritus
Dekatron
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Brentwood, Essex, UK.
Posts: 5,303
Default Re: My first mobile phone (1992)

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.
emeritus is offline  
Old 20th Aug 2019, 9:50 pm   #9
davyrocket2
Pentode
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Westgate On Sea, Kent, UK.
Posts: 246
Default Re: My first mobile phone (1992)

I started off with a phillpis diga in 1998 £80.00 from carphone warehouse .I recall the sim card was locked to the handset,it was about the size of a bank card .I owned it for 5 years it was replaced by a nokia 3330 which lasted 2 years and.I replaced it with a nokia 6600, the only downside was poor battery life .I replaced with a device called a T Mobile 111,also known a SPv-m2000 for the orange network this lasted me for 8 years and. I purchased a 2nd hand SPV-M2000 from ebay that lasted about 6 years and. I replaced with a HTC one X that lasted 6 years and was only replaced because it stopped recognising the sim card .I could have it repaired but decided that it was time to change.I purchased a Samsung galaxy grand neos which is dual sim and apart from a new battery still works like the day I purchased it.I never wanted a mobile phone but my mother talked me into as the cost of landline seemed too expensive. I mention the one thing that seems relevant was not wanting or knowing about computers or email until my partners daughter took me to the local libary and.I was taught me how to go online everything seemed to spiral from there especially learning how to access emails and the internet from a mobile phone.I conclude that mobile phones and the internet is addictive any thoughts anyone please,regards David
davyrocket2 is offline  
Old 20th Aug 2019, 11:20 pm   #10
Julesomega
Nonode
 
Julesomega's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Stockport, Greater Manchester, UK.
Posts: 2,078
Default Re: My first mobile phone (1992)

Maybe you'd like to add details and an image of your Nokia 100 on https://www.45spaces.com/mobile-phones, I'm going to add a stack of old phones on there pending a tuit

45spaces works a bit like a wiki, anyone can add items and images, and comment on their or others' items
__________________
- Julian

It's good here

Last edited by Julesomega; 20th Aug 2019 at 11:27 pm.
Julesomega is offline  
Old 21st Aug 2019, 1:05 pm   #11
electronicskip
Nonode
 
electronicskip's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Gloucester, Glos. UK.
Posts: 2,148
Default Re: My first mobile phone (1992)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Cobaltblue View Post
My first mobile was a car transportable Motorola 4800X around 1988 may have been a bit later it was fitted into F62OJN but not from new.

When not in the car you had to gather up the handset the Radio unit and the Battery pack and carrier assemble it and put it in a smart Black Motorola shoulder bag.

I was doing maintenance and installation of networks back then mostly X25 Stratacom Tellynet Cray, but toward the end IP Cisco and Wellfleet (changed its name to Bay).

It was replaced a few years later by a similar arrangement from Panasonic.

I had it kicking around for years after it was replaced in the early/mid 90's by a little Siemens GSM not sure of the model still have it somewhere!

Cheers

Mike T
I have a couple of 8500X models too which were given to me a couple of years ago.
electronicskip is offline  
Old 21st Aug 2019, 9:10 pm   #12
Biggles
Rest in Peace
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Hexham, Northumberland, UK.
Posts: 2,234
Default Re: My first mobile phone (1992)

Back in the early nineties I had a 4800X boot mount in my company vehicle. I still have it somewhere, along with a Panasonic transportable set, which is basically a mobile set mounted in a carrying frame powered by an oblong slot-in 12V SLA gel battery. I installed many mobile phones in our works fleet, right from the early days, in various forms. That was when I was young and fit enough to do it! You had to be double jointed in every limb, have long thin arms and be able to dismantle and rebuild every panel in a vehicle (without leaving fingermarks).
Alan.
Biggles is offline  
Old 21st Aug 2019, 9:18 pm   #13
SiriusHardware
Dekatron
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Newcastle, Tyne and Wear, UK.
Posts: 11,471
Default Re: My first mobile phone (1992)

I was a little bit late to the party as regards mobiles, mainly due to the cost of running them, so my first mobile (which is sitting beside me now) arrived in about 2001, cost me £180, and is a Nokia 3330 (image of it attached) - basically the classic 3310, but with added 'WAP' text based internet capability. I'm still using the SIM card which came in it in a more modern 'dumb' Nokia phone.

I was still using the 3330 until several years ago when its most recent battery gave out. Batteries for them are still widely advertised but the new ones are all, without exception, Li-ion batteries with the same form factor - this phone pre-dates the common usage of Li-Ion batteries in phones and it can not charge them: Only the original Nicad or NiMH version will do, and they appear to be unobtainium. I have even considered squeezing three 1.2V NiMHs of whatever form factor will fit into the battery compartment, but no suitable cells appear to exist.
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	nokia_3330.jpg
Views:	128
Size:	44.6 KB
ID:	188693  
SiriusHardware is online now  
Old 21st Aug 2019, 9:30 pm   #14
Dave Moll
Dekatron
 
Dave Moll's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: West Cumbria (CA13), UK
Posts: 6,113
Default Re: My first mobile phone (1992)

Although I am one of those rare folk these days who do not use a mobile 'phone on a regular basis, I started by buying the repro brick (shown below) about three years ago (I think), which a more mobile-savvy friend managed to get working with a Sainsbury's SIM. Unfortunately, that service was withdrawn not long afterwards, and the 'phone didn't work with the replacement SIM (1pmobile) that I bought. This SIM now sits in a GSM module connected to my house telephone system to give me access to cheap outgoing calls from my landline 'phones.
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	Chinese repro brick phone.jpg
Views:	128
Size:	19.2 KB
ID:	188694  
__________________
Mending is better than Ending (cf Brave New World by Aldous Huxley)
Dave Moll is online now  
Old 21st Aug 2019, 10:24 pm   #15
michamoo
Hexode
 
michamoo's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Cambridge, Cambs. UK.
Posts: 469
Default Re: My first mobile phone (1992)

My first was a Motorola 3788e bought for £40 in 1999 from some here today gone tomorrow phone shop in Peterborough. Still have it and still seems to work ok. Is even capable of storing a massive 5 text messages!
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	Motorola-Phone-M-3788-_1.jpg
Views:	352
Size:	31.4 KB
ID:	188696  
__________________
If smoking is so bad for you, how come it cures kippers?
michamoo is offline  
Old 21st Aug 2019, 10:33 pm   #16
Richard_FM
Octode
 
Richard_FM's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: Stockport, Cheshire, UK.
Posts: 1,996
Default Re: My first mobile phone (1992)

My first phone was an Ericsson A2610 which I bought in 2001 when I started a new job & was travelling a lot. Oddly I wanted to get a Trium Mars but they were out of stock & offered an alternative.

I used it until 2004 & still have it & the box, but while it powers up it doesn't seem able to do anything.
__________________
Hello IT: Have you Tried Turning It Off & On Again?
Richard_FM is offline  
Old 21st Aug 2019, 11:03 pm   #17
Graham G3ZVT
Dekatron
 
Graham G3ZVT's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Greater Manchester, UK.
Posts: 18,668
Default Re: My first mobile phone (1992)

Here are my first two mobiles, both from work.
An NEC and a Panasonic, I'm not sure witch one was first, I suppose it was the NEC as it is larger.
And yes, the Panny has got an aftermarket coat-hanger aerial, my colleges and customers pulled my leg about that.
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	old mobiles.jpg
Views:	213
Size:	66.6 KB
ID:	188697  
__________________
--
Graham.
G3ZVT
Graham G3ZVT is offline  
Old 22nd Aug 2019, 11:32 am   #18
Sinewave
Octode
 
Sinewave's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2016
Location: Oxfordshire/Bucks borders, UK.
Posts: 1,604
Default Re: My first mobile phone (1992)

I had a Philips TDC308 (I think that's the number, looks identical) in 1999. I still have it somewhere!
__________________
Avometer, vintage Fluke and Marconi collector. Also interested in vintage Yaesu and KW.
Sinewave is offline  
Old 22nd Aug 2019, 11:38 am   #19
D.Finney
Pentode
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Wigan, Greater Manchester, UK.
Posts: 147
Default Re: My first mobile phone (1992)

My first mobile was a Motorola bought in 2001 at a Sale at Index where I worked at the time, used for about 6 years before getting a more modern version. I can honestly say I did not know anybody who had a mobile until the late 90's, and I cannot recall seeing anybody using one before then.
D.Finney is offline  
Old 22nd Aug 2019, 12:38 pm   #20
Bobdger
Hexode
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Rustington, West Sussex, UK.
Posts: 381
Default Re: My first mobile phone (1992)

My first mobile was a Motorola bought in 1987 and fitted to my new Ford, this was a Ford upgrade.I think that the new cost from Ford was £1100. cost to telephone out was £1.00 and incoming calls were £0.50 per min.. The owner of a local firm that I do a lot of work for said I dont know why you bought that. (It will never catch on).

Bob
__________________
Bob, BVWS member
Bobdger is offline  
Closed Thread

Thread Tools



All times are GMT +1. The time now is 9:42 am.


All information and advice on this forum is subject to the WARNING AND DISCLAIMER located at https://www.vintage-radio.net/rules.html.
Failure to heed this warning may result in death or serious injury to yourself and/or others.


Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Copyright ©2002 - 2023, Paul Stenning.