I have one of the earliest mobile phones going I reckon.
Not so much a phone. More a brief case full of a huge battery and a phone nestled at the side.
I bought it in 2000 when Ebay landed in the UK. The phone was cheapish but the shipping from the US nearly sank Woodsy Inc.
From the 1970's my attache case telephone must be the forerunner of what we now call mobiles. It even says Portable Telephone on its baseplate.
There are about 15 big buttons to push down and I've often pressed them and wondered what they did and who they would have connected too. I'd love to fire it up! I'd probably need permission!
Costing thousands of dollars at the time - it came with all its paperwork - there can't have been that many of these things around in the US in the late 70's surely? or?
I will blog the phone in detail soon but wondered if you had a briefcase telephone or a an attache case walkie talkie, either a real one or a toy?
Maybe an early mobile brick, a field phone or a toy Batphone or a James Bond communicator in an attache case? I had a Secret Sam case but I'm sure there wasn't a walkie talkie or even a radio in there but maybe it was just a secret!
Let's hear from you!
In 1990 the Local Radio station I worked for sent me out to do field reporting for the Christmas Appeal and kitted me out with a Brick.
ReplyDeleteBrick was right! It was at least as big and almost as heavy. The antenna was as big as what I have on my car now.
I also couldn't stray too far from a mains socket as it would eat batteries.
Was it one of those huge things Bill like a Johnny 7 Field phone? Who provided the network back then? Vodaphone?
DeleteDo you know I think it was Vodafone... And it was angled too. What amazed me was that the batteries were drained so quickly. I went out with a satchel full of three and the phone itself and by the end of the afternoon I was on the last one!
Deleteand I bet the phone wasn't cheap either Bill!
DeleteClosest thing I can think of was my Aurora Ready Ranger Backpack.Didnt have a phone,but an amplified Bullhorn.Plus a bunch of other gadgets you would surely like.If youre not familiar with this toy, Google it.I'm sure youll find it interesting.(By the way,my first"real" phone was shaped like a hamburger)
ReplyDeleteJust googled it Bri. The Ready Ranger pack looks magnificent. I would have loved it as a kid too. It even had a tent! As for the burger phone Ive seen them but never made a call. I think the ones Ive seen are house phones that flipped open.
DeleteI found a 1943 British field phone at a car boot last summer, Woodsy. It's still in the original wooden storage box, which also has the brass Instructions Guide fixed inside the lid. It also has its original khaki webbing shoulder strap. Certainly a heavy lump of forties mobile phone technology to shoulder around :)
ReplyDeleteAmazing Tone. What a find. How did those field phones work? Radio? I wonder who the last person was that your phone called?
DeleteVintage British field phones are still easy to find and quite affordable, Woodsy. These robust, battery powered, hand cranked phones, were simply connected to portable telephone cables running from point A - point B. Looking at it, it's actually early war, dated 1941. Sitting here in the quiet calm of my home, I do wonder where it went during the war years, and who used it :)
ReplyDeleteWow, so the portable cables were laid across entire battlefields and beyond by cable layers? That's amazing. So how did those phones in cars work, like the Batphone?
DeleteTelephone line, or cable, was typically issued on hand portable reels, Woodsy. Ideal for short range use, giving a link between localized command posts, first aid posts, perimeter positions, check points, observation posts, etc :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Tone. I actually didn't know that. Did Accy Man those reels of cables for his field phone?
DeleteSimilar to that, Woodsy.
ReplyDeleteAh yes, your memory serves you well :)