Abandoned Motorola Headquarters

[xmo]

APCOR

 

[wa8pyr]

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

Very true. However, that was about the only piece there which didn’t work…

 

[RocketNJ]

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

Oh yeah. Been there many times

 

[RocketNJ]

APCOR
View attachment 108553

Yep, Even though at the time I worked for a GE dealer, we serviced the APCOR units also. Not just the GE crap.

 

[12dbsinad]

Yep, Even though at the time I worked for a GE dealer, we serviced the APCOR units also. Not just the GE crap.

GE gave Moto a good run for it's money back when synthesized radio's became a thing. Everything around here transitioned from M to GE, then back to M, now back to Harris because everyone lost faith in the new world Motorola.

 

[KevinC]

GE gave Moto a good run for it's money back when synthesized radio's became a thing. Everything around here transitioned from M to GE, then back to M, now back to Harris because everyone lost faith in the new world Motorola.

I liked the MPS. Used to maintain a fleet of them.

 

[12dbsinad]

I liked the MPS. Used to maintain a fleet of them.

I can remember when the Phoenix SX and DPS w/ scan came out (synthesized). I think at the time Motorola was only offering the Maxar/Moxy series to compete. The GE's flew off the shelves. The Delta, Rangr, MLS, MVS etc as well as the portables really took off in the PS market around here. I remember ripping out Syntor's and replacing with GE S825 alpha control group. The good ol' days...

 

[KevinC]

I can remember when the Phoenix SX and DPS w/ scan came out (synthesized). I think at the time Motorola was only offering the Maxar/Moxy series to compete. The GE's flew off the shelves. The Delta, Rangr, MLS, MVS etc as well as the portables really took off in the PS market around here. I remember ripping out Syntor's and replacing with GE S825 alpha control group. The good ol' days...

Getting way off-topic, but we had a lot of Corona's since we had 2 GE-MARC systems. Probably something most of you have never seen was the Mastr Exec II "hump back". It was a GE-MARC trunk mount with 20 ICOM's in it. What a pain to align.

 

[12dbsinad]

Getting way off-topic, but we had a lot of Corona's since we had 2 GE-MARC systems. Probably something most of you have never seen was the Mastr Exec II "hump back". It was a GE-MARC trunk mount with 20 ICOM's in it. What a pain to align.

I know what you're talking about... the early version GE-MARC. Never played with many of those. Heck, I still have a few MARC Mastr II repeaters in storage. Not sure why I keep them, conversation piece I guess. Anyway, enough of that on this thread. Thanks for the throwback!

 

[xyz321]

Anybody got a copy on me?

 

[jruta]

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

What is C&E? Wow this place still comes up in a search. I didn’t realize it wasn’t Moto anymore (it’s near me)

 

[KM4MA]

More like 20-30 years ago, I talked with retired, and younger employees, and heard details oftheir corporate flight department, and pilots.

What a change-now, compared with the years when commercial vehicles and LE vehicles rolled along with Motorola radio gear.

 

[xmo]

" What is C&E? "
-----------------
C&E = Communications and Electronics

 

[jruta]

" What is C&E? "
-----------------
C&E = Communications and Electronics

Ah thank you

 

[902]

Yeah, C&E was the thaing before "Solutions." Communications and electronics pretty much summed up the core business. Then came "solutions" which always seems to me like they make solutions looking for problems. In some respects, I might not be far off.

As for the competition between GE and Moto, don't forget the RCA brand, too. For the NJ guys, that was B&C Communications next door to Henry Bros., behind Mr. Paints, and then in Waldwick near the substation and rail yard. For every product and bid spec, it seems these three all had comparable products up to Systems-90 like control heads. It always seemed that Motorola had the edge on design. The RCA control heads were kinda clunky, but the 700 and 1000 series were pretty good radio-wise (if you like the same colored wire with numbers printed on them). Their low band radios were pretty good around the time where Micors were physically larger and maybe a little more intermittent because of the pins. Nothing a hammer and some Deoxit couldn't fix.

That Motorola CB was pretty cool, but really, a CB was just a CB. They had another model that looked closer to a Maxar. Too bad they didn't use the classic mics with it.

 

[jruta]

Yeah, C&E was the thaing before "Solutions." Communications and electronics pretty much summed up the core business. Then came "solutions" which always seems to me like they make solutions looking for problems. In some respects, I might not be far off.

As for the competition between GE and Moto, don't forget the RCA brand, too. For the NJ guys, that was B&C Communications next door to Henry Bros., behind Mr. Paints, and then in Waldwick near the substation and rail yard. For every product and bid spec, it seems these three all had comparable products up to Systems-90 like control heads. It always seemed that Motorola had the edge on design. The RCA control heads were kinda clunky, but the 700 and 1000 series were pretty good radio-wise (if you like the same colored wire with numbers printed on them). Their low band radios were pretty good around the time where Micors were physically larger and maybe a little more intermittent because of the pins. Nothing a hammer and some Deoxit couldn't fix.

That Motorola CB was pretty cool, but really, a CB was just a CB. They had another model that looked closer to a Maxar. Too bad they didn't use the classic mics with it.

Thanks that fills in a lot of blanks- All verbiage lol. And wow I do remember Henry bros. Rt 17 south if I remember correctly? and yes then waldwick. Wow memories

 

[902]

Thanks that fills in a lot of blanks- All verbiage lol. And wow I do remember Henry bros. Rt 17 south if I remember correctly? and yes then waldwick. Wow memories

Yes, they were 185 Rt. 17 S, and B&C was 189 Rt. 17 S (which is the shop behind the bird store now). And, once upon a time, Henry Bros. was the Motorola Service Shop (MSS), but when cellular started becoming popular circa 1984 or so, they transitioned to GE after they got into a cellular sales war with Motorola. That created the Motorola shop in Hackensack, behind the jail (Dave-O!) and then you had HBE and Warner doing the GE stuff, and B&C doing RCA/TAC-TEC/Tac-Tel (there was a Tac Tec place in Jersey City, too). Then Regional Communications was the Tony Sabino spinoff of HBE doing Motorola, and after they went to 1 Bonhert Place in Waldwick, around 1985 or so, B&C eventually became a Radius distributor for the smaller two-ways like Bob at Transmek.

There were amazing business opportunities in LMR back in the day. It was a very healthy industry. Then came all the big trunked systems and network-dependent stuff like Nextel and cellular. At that point, if you weren't the shop selling and maintaining the big trunked system for a county or region, your business was pretty much finished. Some places that don't have mega-trunked systems and still maintain their own dispatch operations have a good mix of local businesses, although you'll see a lot more Kenwood, Tait, and others, all perfectly good stuff, and not the former industry big boys.

 

[mastr]

That Motorola CB was pretty cool, but really, a CB was just a CB....Too bad they didn't use the classic mics with it.

I still have a Motorola CB555 that someone took apart and I stuck back together, it has the best noise blanker of any CB I have used.
The HMN1050D mic works fine with it, if you change the plug.

Unfortunately, all 8 of the knobs are missing in action. Anyone have a basket case CB555? I'll buy it for the knobs.

 

[jruta]

Yes, they were 185 Rt. 17 S, and B&C was 189 Rt. 17 S (which is the shop behind the bird store now). And, once upon a time, Henry Bros. was the Motorola Service Shop (MSS), but when cellular started becoming popular circa 1984 or so, they transitioned to GE after they got into a cellular sales war with Motorola. That created the Motorola shop in Hackensack, behind the jail (Dave-O!) and then you had HBE and Warner doing the GE stuff, and B&C doing RCA/TAC-TEC/Tac-Tel (there was a Tac Tec place in Jersey City, too). Then Regional Communications was the Tony Sabino spinoff of HBE doing Motorola, and after they went to 1 Bonhert Place in Waldwick, around 1985 or so, B&C eventually became a Radius distributor for the smaller two-ways like Bob at Transmek.

There were amazing business opportunities in LMR back in the day. It was a very healthy industry. Then came all the big trunked systems and network-dependent stuff like Nextel and cellular. At that point, if you weren't the shop selling and maintaining the big trunked system for a county or region, your business was pretty much finished. Some places that don't have mega-trunked systems and still maintain their own dispatch operations have a good mix of local businesses, although you'll see a lot more Kenwood, Tait, and others, all perfectly good stuff, and not the former industry big boys.

thank you. Interesting history on these places, I think I had been to all of them at one time or another.

 

[RocketNJ]

Ahh yes, I remember the BC Sheriff K9 coming thru the shop looking for escaped prisoners
The good old days!