Abandoned Motorola Headquarters

[jruta]

Like any good innovator, they kept at least one of nearly everything they made, or at least the first-generation product in a particular line (first military radio, first cell phone, first car radio, first TV, etc). Everything I saw in the museum at Schaumburg was in 100% working order, not demonstration units or display dummies.

They also have lots of other stuff like Motorola tube caddies, colorful neon signs, repair shop signs, and so on. It all works.

thats neat. I kind of figured they would keep at least one (I would have anyway lol)

 

[wa8pyr]

thats neat. I kind of figured they would keep at least one (I would have anyway lol)

Examples of the signs I saw in their storage area. The yellow and blue neon one that says "Motorola Radio" is exactly like one of those which was hanging in the back room at the museum; when I saw that thing, I immediately went into full-on covet mode. One day I will have one...

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

I had a blue and white tube caddy like that at work,

 

[12dbsinad]

Man, I miss the old Motorola.

They could be so much more today if they didn't turn into a bunch of shmucks.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

Man, I miss the old Motorola.

They could be so much more today if they didn't turn into a bunch of shmucks.

mis- /\/\anaged by sch/\/\ucks.

 

[RocketNJ]

CCSI moved to Elgin.

I miss going to CCSI every 4th quarter for about 6 weeks to help push the systems out the door!

 

[902]

Man, I miss the old Motorola.

They could be so much more today if they didn't turn into a bunch of shmucks.

There's more truth to this than you realize. The Galvin family made the company a family. At least two of us in this thread (possibly more) had the good fortune to work in that environment before it turned.

 

[RocketNJ]

What kind of telemetry? An EGC MT500? My most prized Motorola possession is an HT220 Electrocardiogram, the real portable version of the APCOR

KMG 365

View attachment 108473View attachment 108474

I started in two way, well before Motorola, working on APCOR units. I remember the RF cabling was like small hardline in those units

 

[Project25_MASTR]

As @n0esc noted, that's really all that's left there in Schaumburg. The NOC is there, training, and a few other departments that I don't recall at the moment.
View attachment 108430

I actually had some classes in there in early 2017 right after the finished moving everyone in and renovating (Networking Essentials, GTR8000 ESS Workshop, and Astro 25 Applied Networking). The cafeteria was excellent with some pretty good variety. I'm trying to recall the exact layout. On one side of the lower floor of the tower is the TRBO lab with a two classrooms and on the other is the Astro 25 lab with one or two classrooms. The Astro 25 side classrooms have a bunch of VPMs for console classes in them. When I was there they kept some HPD stuff in the back of the Astro lab and had a live two site system (one site was a simulcast prime with two physical subs IIRC) with a third in Plantation (which was what was typically used for remote labs).

My luck, when it came to training I always got scheduled for Schaumburg in Winter and Plantation in Summer where my co-workers got Plantation in the Winter and Schaumburg in the Summer.

 

[902]

I started in two way, well before Motorola, working on APCOR units. I remember the RF cabling was like small hardline in those units

Well, no, APCOR is a Motorola trademark for their 1 and 12 Watt white wheel chocks. The original Coronary Observation Radio (COR) was an HT220 transmitter with a copper-encased 1400 Hz ECG modulator pack, a 3 lead ECG jack, a calibration switch that sent extreme high/low tones to make a square wave on the console, and volume control/channel switches. They also made an orange box (I know Dave knows, but for everyone else) that was NOT the "Squad 51" "Biocom." I used one of the suitcase Motorola CORs as a paramedic in Jersey City when the white box APCORs were broken, and Newark, NJ, had one, too. It was HEAVY, but I think they functioned much better than the white ones. You had to be in pretty decent shape to carry all that medieval torture junk up 5 flights of stairs and come down with a patient in a stair chair - and everything you went up with.

 

[902]

View attachment 108500

I had a Motorola Home Radio sign very similar to this that I picked up at the Packrats hamfest in Warrington, PA, like 30 years ago. The neon was broken and would have needed to be re-done. I had it sitting on the file cabinet next to my bench at the shop and one of the sales guys saw it and "HAD TO" have it. I didn't really want to let go of it, but I realized that if I got to be as old as I am now, it would probably be heaped in the garage with the rest of my electronics hoarding "projects." I think I traded it for a "Plan Orange" (think citrus, like a lemon) Syntor X9000.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

I started in two way, well before Motorola, working on APCOR units. I remember the RF cabling was like small hardline in those units

I have a duplexers from one of those units with SMA connectors. Been meaning to make a tiny repeater.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

There's more truth to this than you realize. The Galvin family made the company a family. At least two of us in this thread (possibly more) had the good fortune to work in that environment before it turned.

Very true. The culture changed terribly after the Galvin family stepped/was pushed aside. There were then some sickening general memos from corporate HR. "You should not expect to remain in the same position for the remainder of your career". - There were many fine employees who actually spent their entire career doing same job and doing it well. How does one interpret such a statement? Sorry, you have been in engineering too long, time to get your MBA. We see you have been inspecting incoming parts for the last 10 years, perhaps you should work in ????

I remember getting an employment agreement sent to me randomly via fax on my ~ 13th year in the company. Sent by fax, it was like a third generation smudged document. I was to sign it and send back. No personal contact, just sign it send it back. No consideration, as Lawyers say. So into my desk it went. Nobody bothered to call, make that "special effort". Somebody did take note, because upon my VSP some years later it came up that I had not signed!!

 

[FedFyrGuy]

Former Motorola Cellular Plant - Arlington Heights, IL (previously Shure Brothers facility)

 

[FedFyrGuy]

Former Motorola Mobility facility, Libertyville, IL

 

[FedFyrGuy]

Former Motorola Mobility cellphone plant and distribution center, Harvard, IL

 

[902]

In my view, branching into consumer cellular was its divergence point. They could have focused more on (pardon the marketer-speak) "mission critical" applications and developed a fusion of LMR and whatever was the cellular standard of the time, but executive "leadership" focused on low hanging fruit. At least at the shop level, there was some odd competition going on from mobile telephone subscribers who were using full duplex on Privacy Plus 900 MHz MOSMRs and cellular, which was still mostly AMPS at the time. We also saw this influx of limos and famous people within the region driving in at the same time police cars and fire trucks were coming in. It was just an odd juxtaposition.

And, then came iDEN and our 800/900 MHz SMRs went away.

 

[902]

This used to be the Motorola C&E, Inc. Area C headquarters in Glenn Rock, NJ. 85 Harristown Rd. I taught my girlfriend how to drive in the vacant back parking lot at night there.

 

[K9RPL]

Like any good innovator, they kept at least one of nearly everything they made, or at least the first-generation product in a particular line (first military radio, first cell phone, first car radio, first TV, etc). Everything I saw in the museum at Schaumburg was in 100% working order, not demonstration units or display dummies.

They also have lots of other stuff like Motorola tube caddies, colorful neon signs, repair shop signs, and so on. It all works.

Well, not EVERYTHING works. The Pack Set with a shell hole would probably impact (pun intended) operations I think.

 

[K9RPL]

This used to be the Motorola C&E, Inc. Area C headquarters in Glenn Rock, NJ. 85 Harristown Rd. I taught my girlfriend how to drive in the vacant back parking lot at night there.

View attachment 108541

I've been there. I did 3270 Display System installs...