NA 1st Cellphone

it was a prototype, proof of concept. it proved the concept.
 
You need to reread the article. What he said was there were phones in cars BUT NOT handheld portables. What he did was ride on the phone network already in use at the time.
My first cellphone was a bag phone I got in 1990 but I remember working for a guy in 1974 who had a phone installed in his van. Company phone that kept him in contact with his customers. It worked remarkably well.
 
Car phones before cellular did, indeed, work; but there were only a few channels, so you often had to wait a while to get a call through, and they were open. Any VHF scanner could listen in. But they worked, and well.
 
SCCutler said:
Car phones before cellular did, indeed, work; but there were only a few channels, so you often had to wait a while to get a call through, and they were open. Any VHF scanner could listen in. But they worked, and well.
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They did listen in. And the analog cell phones were no better. Our lab used a spectrum analyzer that was good to 22 GHz. One of my co-workers was tuning through the spectrum performing an EMI test on a computer system when he stumbled into a conversation. A guy was telling his girlfriend in X rated detail what he was going to do when they got together. My co-worker just couldn't turn that dial. :D
 
Marty is an interesting guy. I spent a lot of time withhim one day when we took the corp jet from San Jose to Chicago a few years back. He did indeed make the first commercial cell call, after there were literally thousands of test calls. If you ever meet him ask him and he will be happy to tell you all about it.
 
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So he's the guy I've wanted to choke all these years when stuck next to somebody screaming into a cell phone, or when mine rings at the worst possible time...

Bummer. He seems like a nice guy. Makes me feel kinda guilty.

-Rich
 
RJM62 said:
So he's the guy I've wanted to choke all these years when stuck next to somebody screaming into a cell phone, or when mine rings at the worst possible time...

Bummer. He seems like a nice guy. Makes me feel kinda guilty.

-Rich
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Actually he is not. Marty wrote a patent that brought forth some of the ideas of cellular telephony, he also did a lot of advocacy in the early days of cellular, actually pre-cellular day. If you really want to choke someone I had far more to do with the actual development of the technology than Marty did. I can, in exchange for not being choked, give you the names of other people more deserving of some fingers around their neck for making these damned annoying things.

My job prior to working on cellular was supporting NASA with manned and unmanned space flight, then working on SDI stuff. I always look back at those jobs and think that I was somehow helping the world, but now I make money by creating technology that helped drug dealers and prostitutes improve their business and also created a technology that just annoys the bejebus out of everyone.
 
ScottM said:
Actually he is not. Marty wrote a patent that brought forth some of the ideas of cellular telephony, he also did a lot of advocacy in the early days of cellular, actually pre-cellular day. If you really want to choke someone I had far more to do with the actual development of the technology than Marty did. I can, in exchange for not being choked, give you the names of other people more deserving of some fingers around their neck for making these damned annoying things.

My job prior to working on cellular was supporting NASA with manned and unmanned space flight, then working on SDI stuff. I always look back at those jobs and think that I was somehow helping the world, but now I make money by creating technology that helped drug dealers and prostitutes improve their business and also created a technology that just annoys the bejebus out of everyone.
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Nah, I'll pass on the choking. Cell phones have helped me save lives a few times, too; so I guess you gotta take the bad with the good.

-Rich
 
RJM62 said:
Nah, I'll pass on the choking. Cell phones have helped me save lives a few times, too; so I guess you gotta take the bad with the good.

-Rich
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True, but sometimes when I am behind a moron who is completely clueless as to the world around them as they cruise at 60mph yammering on their cellphone I question if there really is any good.
 
ScottM said:
True, but sometimes when I am behind a moron who is completely clueless as to the world around them as they cruise at 60mph yammering on their cellphone I question if there really is any good.
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'Round here, they're nearly always bow-heads in Escalades, Suburbans and Honda minivans. You can always tell, they zombie along like slugs... tend to precisely pace the sped of whatever car they're next to.

Makes me want to "Select Missiles, Target Designator On..."
 
SCCutler said:
'Round here, they're nearly always bow-heads in Escalades, Suburbans and Honda minivans. You can always tell, they zombie along like slugs... tend to precisely pace the sped of whatever car they're next to.

Makes me want to "Select Missiles, Target Designator On..."
Click to expand...

I'm firmly convinced that people like that are the reason we're not allowed forward firing .50 cal MGs in our cars. I'd probably use mine once or twice a day. I think I'd settle for a high power IR LASER slaved to where I'm looking. Take out a rear tire and let them stew on the side of the road while I get where I'm going in a reasonable time.

Then again...
 
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