Thanks for the alert on this program David. And congratulations on doing an excellent job! The program aired here at 9:00 PM. I enjoyed it so much that I watched the repeat of it which aired at 1:00 AM locally.
I was pleasantly surprised that the program delved into the mobile telephone system including recognition of the Improved Mobile Telephone Service (IMTS) which was the interim system in the US until the development of the cellular network that we know today. Outside of my visits to the Motorola Museum at their huge campus in Schaumburg IL, I have never before seen that information presented publicly. I'm glad to see that IMTS isn't completely forgotten. You may be interested in knowing that in the early 1970s I was employed as the Chief of the Airport Police Department at Greater Rockford Airport in Rockford IL. My patrol car was equipped with a Manual Telephone System (MTS) which was basically a Motorola Motrac 2-way radio on a common carrier frequency with operator assisted calling. It operated in the half-duplex mode meaning only one side of the conversation could be conveyed at a given point in time. The operator had to monitor the entire call. Since there was only a single frequency in our area, only one mobile telephone conversation could take place at a time. This was in a geographic area of nearly 300,000 residents. That demonstrates how very rare mobile telephone service was in those days. Since much of my time was spent outside of the patrol vehicle, around 1973 my MTS capability evolved into a very customized Motorola HT-200 "brick" walkie-talkie equipped with a 2-tone sequential alerting device for incoming calls. This radio had been custom modified to allow operation on both the 160 MHz common carrier system and the 150 MHz local sheriff's department radio system. Such "wide-band" capability in a portable radio was rare at the time. This was a VERY expensive and unique piece of communications equipment that I was proud to have entrusted to me. Although it would now be considered as a very antiquated system, at the time hand held mobile telephones were only a futuristic idea that was in the early development stage at Motorola. Essentially this radio provided me with hand held mobile telephone capability nearly two decades before the cellular mobile telephone system came into widespread public use. Patrick Griffith, Westminster CO http://community.webtv.net/N0NNK/ http://community.webtv.net/AM-DXer/ _______________________________________________ IRCA mailing list [email protected] http://arizona.hard-core-dx.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: [email protected]
