On Sat, 31 Mar 2012 11:15:44 +0100, "
wrote:

On 31/03/2012 10:12, Graham Murray wrote:
Graham writes:

IIRC they were also called cell phones in the UK back when analogue
cellular systems were new, complete with diagrams of hexagonal cells
covering the countryside. Mention of cell or cellular has fallen out
of use in the UK to be replaced by "mobile".

Possibly because at that time, the term 'mobile phone' was often used
for a phone permanently fitted in a car or other vehicle. ISTR that if
you wanted to call one (from a landline) you had to go via the 'mobile
operator'.

That reminds of the 1954 film ***Sabrina*** Himphrey Bogart's character
made a phone call from his chauffer-driven automobile.

Can't find that clip, though.

It might not turn out to be the same technology. Some of the older kit
was effectively the predecessor of today's cordless 'phones but with
more power and consequent greater range and tied to a particular
landline rather than working via an operator. Neither type was secure
at all and anyone using the latter in the UK was an easy target for
the authorities.

Charles Ellson wrote

[...]

That reminds of the 1954 film ***Sabrina*** Humphrey Bogart's
character
made a phone call from his chauffer-driven automobile.

Can't find that clip, though.

It might not turn out to be the same technology. Some of the older
kit
was effectively the predecessor of today's cordless 'phones but with
more power and consequent greater range and tied to a particular
landline rather than working via an operator. [...]

AT&T had radiophones working in St Louis (and later other cities) in
1946, so likely that zero generation technology. I understand that
local calls could be dialed - no operator. I recall a early Ed McBain
where this is a plot point. A radio link to a central exchange just
replaced the normal landline.

I looked all this up when confused in a discussion with an American
about Robert Heinlein's _Space Cadet_ (1949) in which she said "... RAH
explains how it works. Exactly the way a cellphone does now!"

I eventually realised that to her "cellphone" just meant "radiophone",
whatever the technology that it used.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phone

**In 1945**, the zero generation (0G) of mobile telephones was
introduced. 0G mobile phones, such as Mobile Telephone Service, were
not cellular, of course, and so did not feature "handover" from one
base station to the next and reuse of radio frequency
channels.[citation needed] Like other technologies of the time, it
involved a single, powerful base station covering a wide area, and each
telephone would effectively monopolize a channel over that whole area
while in use.

The concepts of frequency reuse and handoff as well as a number of
other concepts that formed the basis of modern Cell Phone technology
are first described in Patent Number 4152647, issued **May 1, 1979** to
Charles A. Gladden and Martin H. Parelman, both of Las Vegas, Nevada
and assigned by them to the United States Government. A careful reading
of their patent makes it clear that this is the first embodiment of all
the concepts that formed the basis of the next major step in mobile
telephony, the Analog Cellular Telephone.
==


--
Mike D

On Mar 31, 9:29*pm, "Michael R N Dolbear" wrote:

AT&T had radiophones working in St Louis (and later other cities) in
1946, so likely that zero generation technology. I understand that
local calls could be dialed - no operator. I recall a early Ed McBain
where this is a plot point. A radio link to a central exchange just
replaced the normal landline.

The original mobile phone system was strictly manual. An improvement
in the 1960s allowed dialing.

As to "zero generation", I strongly suspect AT&T's experience in
wartime military communications contributed to making mobile phones
practical. They (and others) had to rush to develop improved two-way
radios for tanks and jeeps.

*The concepts of frequency reuse and handoff as well as a number of
other concepts that formed the basis of modern Cell Phone technology
are first described in Patent Number 4152647, issued **May 1, 1979** to
Charles A. Gladden and Martin H. Parelman, both of Las Vegas, Nevada . . ..

The Bell System Technical Journal has an issue devoted to explaining
original cellular technology. As mentioned, the Penn Central
Metroliner train phones had an early method of automatic seamless
handoffs from one tower to the next and selecting an empty channel,
including special provisions for the Baltimore Tunnels.