Thread: First mobile phone sold in Australia. Seen one?

Originally Posted by RSCHIPP

It was a long time ago...

I was one of a few radio techs in Telecom that looked after the 007 base stations in Perth. I did have a full set of workshop manuals for the entire system including the original vehicle installed units, however according to SWMBO the space they occupied was more valuable than the manuals. I couldn't argue that I needed them anymore.

In WA the base stations were located at:

Wellington Exchange (City)
Fremantle gain silo (Freo port)
Walliston (Hills, next to the air traffic control radar)
Padbury (northern suburbs back then)
Brunswich Junction (up in the hills we love to call Harvey.)

I took a "portable" unit to TAFE as part of my "talk" which was an assessment for a unit in my Dip Electronic Engineering course. Another guy who worked for NEC gave a talk on these new "FAX" machines and brought one in... It was all high tech back then.

The novelty of driving a car with a telephone in it was good fun. Especially when you called people from their drive way and asking if you could pop in. Their surprise when you immediately knock on their door after you hang up was priceless.

Cheers
Ron

So do you think that a complete portable one in near mint condition and still working (exception being that the battery pack is long overdue for retirement) would be in any way collectable? Don't get me wrong, I'm not keen to get rid of it because I need space, just idle curiousity having seen very little information on them anywhere. If there isn't one of these in a museum somewhere there should be.

Originally Posted by rick130

Dad had VHF radios in all his business vehicles, I think he installed them in about 1971 or '72 ?

Anyway, they were Australian made Pye's and the handpieces looked a squared off or futuristic (for the time) telephone handpiece.

As Mike said, how times have changed.

I remember the Pye's. My dad worked for the local council and a couple of the new units every year would make their way home for our and a friends vehicles for the weekend trips. Massive units with a black telephone handpiece, coiled cord and a hole drilled in the back about where your thumb would be for the push to talk button.

The more things change the more they stay the same...

Originally Posted by clubagreenie

I remember the Pye's. My dad worked for the local council and a couple of the new units every year would make their way home for our and a friends vehicles for the weekend trips. Massive units with a black telephone handpiece, coiled cord and a hole drilled in the back about where your thumb would be for the push to talk button.

The more things change the more they stay the same...

They sound older again

Dad's were a grey colour with a red switch on the side of the handpiece.
Philips took them over not long after and they went to conventional mics, but at the time the techs reckoned the older crystal sets were more robust ?

I think I still have a couple stashed in the shed.
Why, I have no idea......

Originally Posted by pfillery

I have what I believe is the first model of "mobile" phone sold in Australia. I would say it is more of a portable car phone the size and weight of a briefcase full of pavers. I stumbled upon it in my shed a few weeks back and have unsuccessfully tried to google information on it. Can't even find a picture on the web.

They were affectionately known as a 007 unit as far as I know and were owned by Telstra (then telecom) as they cost thousands of dollars, and rented to users in the early to mid 80's, before analogue bricks were even thought of. They can't even tell me anything. Is anyone familiar with these or used them when they were out? I'll post a pic for interests sake when I get a chance. Unbelievably this one still works when a bit of 12v power is applied. Won't find a network since this is long gone. From the little info that I have, most of them were taken back by telecom and scrapped in the late 80's, some were modified by ham radio gurus as radio receivers, but I'd imagine it is raer to find something that google can't explain (seems that if it isn't on google it doesn't exist).

I was curious as to whether anyone knows the phone I'm talking about?

Why don't you give the Telstra Museum at Clayfield a visit or call?
Telstra Museum Brisbane

They should be able to help you.

I had a philips(I think) one, it was the size of 3 house bricks stacked on each other, when I pulled it apart it was a normal carphone and 2 6V SLA cells in a plastic case!
It was fantastic when a mate and myself did a trip up through broken hill/ coober pedy as the mobile rates to Melbourne were cheaper than STD at the time.


Fraser

I had a testra motorolla bag phone.from mid/late 80's
it had a 12V lead acid batery and an antenea amplifier.
it was used up till the end of the system.
black bag with a flap that had to be opened.

it was cheeper to use than landline as i didnt make many calls.
line rental was almost nothing.

often the cell tower of mittagong would show up on the bill when used north of newcastle.

this would change the bill as they measured prices in KM radius.
i have to point out that the previous call within minutes was north of newcastle.

was the type of phone blamed for setting off airbags when used in car.

Ahh, the days of tuning in to the appropriate VHF freq and listening in to the whole conversation . I know of someone who used to do that as a teenager

As an ex self employed mobile phone tech my favourite trick was buying all the old analogues from the digital dealers (they would trade them in to get people onto the new system) and then putting them back into circulation!