Bell Telephone: Explaining mobile phone technology, c1946
An evening pause: Hat tip Jim Mallamace, who notes that he watched this video on his modern mobile phone.
What strikes me is how much we take this capability for granted, especially when you watch and see how “compact” the car units were. Yet, in the 1940s when this technology was first being developed the use of telephones themselves was only a few decades old. The very idea of being able to communicate instantly with anyone over long distances was still relatively new. Now it included talking to people at random locations. For the people of that time, this was exciting news harboring a bright future.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation:
5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
Jim-
Nice selection. (I love this type of stuff.)
To Mr. Z’s point, let’s back up 19 years….
“How to use the Dial Phone”
ATT/ PACBell
https://archive.org/details/HowtoUse1927
(unfortunately, this is silent. not sure if it was made that way or if the audio was lost)
> Fresno California market– “Dial Telephone’s will be placed in service Midnight, May 28th.”
“unfortunately, this is silent. not sure if it was made that way or if the audio was lost)”
Considering the first “talkie” came out in the fall of 1927, I’d say this was made in the “usual” silent manner.
BTW this video can be useful for the younger generations. Some years ago I showed my 10 year old kid the dial phone at my dad’s house. She couldn’t figure out how to use it!
Interesting that this type of communication was half-duplex, like using a walkie-talkie. Must’ve been a bit awkward for those on the landline side of the conversation.
Car telephones! What hooey! What’s next pocket phones! I’ll believe it when I see it on Dumont TV news!
I’m ashamed that, as an engineer, I wasn’t aware that mobile car phones were a thing in the late 40’s. Previously didn’t think that came until the 80’s. How wrong I was…. I’m especially impressed with how they were able to integrate raiowaves, base stations, and (at the time) cutting edge telephone trunck lines and telephone hubs. Must have been a monumental procedure, and effort, to perform a mobile call effectively in the style of a walki-talki. Makes me really appreciate the modern mobile technology we have today. I’ll probably laugh at my own comments in 10 years…
Typo corrections: Walkie Talkie* and radio waves*. The pitfalls of mobile technology! The irony…
Shaun–
‘World’s First Mobile Phone’ (1922)
British Pathé
https://youtu.be/ILiLaRXHUr0
0:58
I remember car-phones from the 7o’s detective show Cannon. And that Lincoln! I remember a guy talking into a Dick Tracy watch-but it required the Orbital Antenna Farm. Satellite Phones are about the size of old moble phones-one used by a dying climber atop Everest to say goodbye to his family. I think he is still up there. One chopper design did make it to the summit-lightly loaded however.
A car phone was featured in the 1954 movie Sabrina.
Edward-
Excellent obscure cultural-reference!