Car Phones

[frankie811]

Years ago (80s) when I worked in K-9 security patrol, our cars were equipped with car phones that worked in the 151 MHz range & had letter channel designations like Ch YJ & JR....etc. Providence had two channels that you couldn't use if someone else was making a call. I was just wondering if those frequencies were still in use. Probably not.

 

[nd5y]

The frequencies still exist.

Part 22 Paging Channels - The RadioReference Wiki

wiki.radioreference.com

I haven't heard of anybody still running MTS or IMTS on them.

 

[MiCon]

I used to listen to those, too. Haven't heard anything for at least twenty years. It's my belief, although I could be wrong, that no one supports that technology anymore. Same for the back-of-the-seat airline phones of twenty years ago, also.

 

[KK4JUG]

Even before the 80s, I used those phones. In the 60s, drag racing (on legitimate tracks) was a big thing and I was selling racing slicks. I had a CB (17W3288 that later changed to KGI3126) but it got so crowded and messy that I added the car phone for communications. It worked out much better. All that ended when I joined the Air Force. I never got involved in drag racing again.

 

[nd5y]

had letter channel designations like Ch YJ & JR....etc.

I found those channel designators, also the UHF ones, and added them to the wiki article in post #2.

 

[frankie811]

Even before the 80s, I used those phones. In the 60s, drag racing (on legitimate tracks) was a big thing and I was selling racing slicks. I had a CB (17W3288 that later changed to KGI3126) but it got so crowded and messy that I added the car phone for communications. It worked out much better. All that ended when I joined the Air Force. I never got involved in drag racing again.

In today's world, drag race has a whole new meaning.

 

[ecps92]

Years ago (80s) when I worked in K-9 security patrol, our cars were equipped with car phones that worked in the 151 MHz range & had letter channel designations like Ch YJ & JR....etc. Providence had two channels that you couldn't use if someone else was making a call. I was just wondering if those frequencies were still in use. Probably not.

Yes they (Freq) is still in use, but not for those original purposes. Many auctioned off for traditional LMR purposes.
Same with some of the Paging in the 454 bands

 

[JustinWHT]

I found those channel designators, also the UHF ones, and added them to the wiki article in post #2.

The 10 lowband 37 and 43 MHz channels were called Rural service. Texas had only one, it was way out in southwest Texas. It used Z for labels. It was MTS.

The 11 VHF high and 152 and 157 channels were called Highway service. It used J and Y labels. Roaming was possible. IMTS and MTS were used.

The 12 UHF was called Metro service and only Dallas and Houston had it. Roaming was not possible. It used Q for labels

In my truck I had an 11 channel IMTS and 7 channel RCC (using the 2805 Hz signalling).

 

[JustinWHT]

In my truck I had an 11 channel IMTS and 7 channel RCC (using the 2805 Hz signalling).

I came across Community Phone

Its an ATA connected to a cellular device.Its a drop-in replacement for a POTS line.

$99 unit made by ZTE and base plan of $36 a month. My retired senior BFFs got hit with a $7 increase, bringing their decades old phone service to $97 a month.

It has a 12 hour battery backup but I've seen a reference to 28 hours.

I'll get one next month. I'll stick it in my Explorer and mount a black Trimline phone on my armrest, just like I did 60 years ago with my SWBell IMTS Motorola Pulsar I control head. I don't know what the wall wort power supply voltage, but I can work around that.

That will be so retro and totally cool.

 

[JustinWHT]

Providence had two channels that you couldn't use if someone else was making a call.

For SWBell calling another mobile used two channels.

GTE had Revert button (in place of Horn button). When you called another local mobile, a recording would tell you to hang up, base would out dial other mobile, when they answered, your phone would ring.

Finding a free channel was impossible at times. Control head had three buttons the left, Home, Roam, Manual. In IMTS Home mode the phone would scale for idle tone on the channels strapped in control head, in IMTS Roam mode it would scan the multiple channels you selected with channel pushbuttons, in Manual you could select a single channel for MTS mode.

I would go to Manual and listen on selected channels for the alternating ringing tones, cocked my dial to send a burst of answer tone, then wait for calling party to hang, then I smashed my Roam button for that channel.

Or I'd listen for a call to wind down, when I heard the mobile disconnect tones, I'd smash my Roam for that channel.

 

[JustinWHT]

In today's world, drag race has a whole new meaning.

 

[JustinWHT]

Been watching Monty Python drag racing?

 

[kayn1n32008]

I haven't heard of anybody still running MTS or IMTS on them.

No idea about the USA, but the last places I know of, that had either IMTS or MTS was in Yukon territory and British Columbia.

BC also had a full duplex VHF radio phone service called Autotel. It was on the 15kHz channels between the MTS 30kHz channels listed.

AUTOTEL

A light google search found this gem on the web. In Alberta, Aurora was on UHF 409.xxxx/420.xxxx(I believe)

In BC, Telus discontinued VHF radio telephone in 2016. Even then, I believe it was only available in certain select areas when radiophone service was finally terminated.

Telus disconintued maritime radiophone service in 2010.

Attached is an archived page from Telus of the Autotel service before it was discontinued.

Northwest Tel discontinued radiophone service in the Yukon in 2014.

 

[kayn1n32008]

No idea about the USA, but the last places I know of, that had either IMTS or MTS was in Yukon territory and British Columbia.

BC also had a full duplex VHF radio phone service called Autotel. It was on the 15kHz channels between the MTS 30kHz channels listed.

AUTOTEL

A light google search found this gem on the web. In Alberta, Aurora was on UHF 409.xxxx/420.xxxx(I believe)

In BC, Telus discontinued VHF radio telephone in 2016. Even then, I believe it was only available in certain select areas when radiophone service was finally terminated.

Telus disconintued maritime radiophone service in 2010.

Attached is an archived page from Telus of the Autotel service before it was discontinued.

Northwest Tel discontinued radiophone service in the Yukon in 2014.

I just did a TALFL search and Telus still holds a bunch of 152.xxx/157.xxx Licenses in BC. Not sure why though

 

[redbeard]

I used to listen to IMTS on my old BC 200 XLT scanner. I've since found the old site on Mt. Troy in Pittsburgh. They had a separate building beside a Long Lines site and used a monopole off the top deck of the concrete silo tower. Transmitters were in the building and coax ran underground to the silo floor then up the wall of the stairwell.

Checking out the license there were other locations listed and it turns out I'd found one of those too further north in Beaver County, out in the middle of nowhere in the woods. I'd always wondered what it was for as it was obviously disused but had the Bell vibe. Only a single dish and a vertical antenna. Seems like later in life it was a radio base station site for Verizon under KGW 534.

 

[tvengr]

Years ago (80s) when I worked in K-9 security patrol, our cars were equipped with car phones that worked in the 151 MHz range & had letter channel designations like Ch YJ & JR....etc.

I remember those mobile phones. I believe they used 152 MHz frequencies. You had to contact the local mobile operator to connect the call for you.

 

[mikegilbert]

This Long Lines site in Eugene, OR also had an IMTS site located just outside the fence in the bottom of the photo.

 

[RichardKramer]

Here in Reading, PA, 152.6 was the busiest freq in use. My mother was so into listening to the calls I bought a large can crystal for my Patrolman Pro 2 so she could listen all day. I said "Mom doesn't the tone bother your ears when no one is on the channel? She said not at all; it's worth listening to waiting for a call to come through." lol.

 

[garys]

There were also UHF frequencies in use.

This site has an interesting history of mobile phones. THE FIRST CAR TELEPHONES

There are eleven pages starting with the post WW2 years and going up to the end in the early 1990s as cell phones took over.

Note that there were two types of systems, one run by the wire line companies and one independent. That carried over to the cell phone era where there were "wire line" and non wire line cell phone systems. The wire line systems were owned by whoever the area land line phone company was.

 

[kayn1n32008]

There were also UHF frequencies in use.

BC, Alberta and Yukon had UHF systems.

In BC, UHF was limited to the Fraser Valley. No idea on actual coverage, and until recently, I had no idea that BCTel/Telus had UHF service in BC at all whem it was discontinued, 80+% was internal phone company related calls. I didn't grow up in the Fraser Valley, and spent very little time there. Mostly just going to teaching conventions with my parents(dad was a high school teacher)

I did know about the UHF service in Alberta and the Yukon, both were terminated before I lived in either province/territory.