Cell phone/Wi-Fi Antenna Installation

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by Patandlinda

Hi Ross pardon my ignorance what is a bag phone ? Pat

Now I feel old...

Early hand-carried cellular phones were essentially the phone which would normally be mounted in a car, but carried in a soft case ("bag") - usually with a shoulder strap - with a battery. It had a handset, connected to the rest of the phone in the bag with a cord just like a traditional phone on a desk or wall. Even when handheld phones became available, some people continued to use bag phones because they had more powerful transmitters in them.

[Vermilye]

Here is a link to a photo of one: https://cdn6.bigcommerce.com/s-a1x7h...086724.jpg?c=2

[Iowa Dave]

Originally Posted by Vermilye

Here is a link to a photo of one: https://cdn6.bigcommerce.com/s-a1x7h...086724.jpg?c=2

Although we had two way radios when I worked for the city, we were early subscribers to the cell phone concept. We had in truck phones in 1973. They used so much power you had to run the engine while using the phone and when you keyed the transmit, the engine would slow down at idle speed. I had a bag phone in about 1993 or so, then a Brick phone, flip phone and on and on as technology changed the world.
I am old but don't feel old, my secret is to interact with people a lot younger than I am to attempt to dissolve the decades between us and the smart ones quickly learn that they may just learn something from a geezer if they listen long enough. In my case that might be quite a while. My gain is to attempt to learn the current slang so I can be hip to their jive, Whoops, that predates me. Hope you are "totes jelly" there that's better.
Iowa Dave

[Patandlinda]

Originally Posted by Brian B-P

Now I feel old...

Early hand-carried cellular phones were essentially the phone which would normally be mounted in a car, but carried in a soft case ("bag") - usually with a shoulder strap - with a battery. It had a handset, connected to the rest of the phone in the bag with a cord just like a traditional phone on a desk or wall. Even when handheld phones became available, some people continued to use bag phones because they had more powerful transmitters in them.

Thanks Brian and Jon for explanation and photo . Wanted to know because of it being mentioned a couple of times . I do remember the brick phone though and had one of those . Pat

[Jim Bennett]

The first cell phone I had about 25 years ago was one of the first truck phones. I got it in my Dodge Ram with the first Cummins diesel to be put in them. The whole jobsite knew when I was getting a call as it used the truck horn as a ringer. Then a race to the truck to answer it. While a convenience in some ways, a pain in others. We sure have come a long way, just love my smart phone for work instead.

[Mike Lewis]

Originally Posted by Rossue

Handheld phones are maxed to 6/10 of 1 Watt. Original analog bag phones and mobile installed phones were 3 Watt. In 2014 the FCC changed the rules on booster amps reducing them to 1 Watt- and you are supposed to register any amplifier that you do use.

Okay, that makes sense. I must have read 500 mW and misremembered it as five watts. Thanks for the info.

[Ron in BC]

Originally Posted by Jim Bennett

We sure have come a long way, just love my smart phone for work instead.

eVan iff hit typs funie sumtymes.

Yah, they sure have come a long way. Wish I'd kept my first "brick". I thought going from the big battery to the smaller slimmer battery was a huge improvement. Making it instead of a big brick to a smaller brick. How things changed. Never thought my home # would be a cell phone either.

Ron

[Jim Bennett]

Originally Posted by Ron in BC

eVan iff hit typs funie sumtymes.

You making fun of my swype typing? You can probably guess which finger I am swyping this post with.

[Vermilye]

Originally Posted by Ron in BC

eVan iff hit typs funie sumtymes.

Yah, they sure have come a long way. Wish I'd kept my first "brick". I thought going from the big battery to the smaller slimmer battery was a huge improvement. Making it instead of a big brick to a smaller brick. How things changed. Never thought my home # would be a cell phone either.

Ron

The problem is most, if not all of the brick phones were analog. Very few, if any analog towers left in the US.

[Bobnjudy]

Yep, I had that Motorola bag also because in central and south Texas there were cell towers only every dozen miles instead of todays 2. Remember when 2G came out in the 90's? That was big stuff. So yesteryears 5 watt baggies can't compete with today's low watt 4G and towers on every greenspot. Better coverage over bandwidths and for sure cheaper.

[Rossue]

What is missing here is that when your camping in rural areas you are almost never going to see any 4G, let alone LTE service. The old 3 Watt boosters have the ability to reach farther to a cell site, whether it be 1X or maybe 3G. The newer boosters being just 1 Watt are much less able to get that 1-2 bars needed just to get a text message out.

[Ron in BC]

Originally Posted by Vermilye

The problem is most, if not all of the brick phones were analog. Very few, if any analog towers left in the US.

I meant as a souvenir. But then it'd be fun to have a relative put modern guts in it. I'd tell inquiring folks that it was a prototype iphone XX and the reason that it doesn't have a video display is that it uses telepathy.

Ron

[Mike Lewis]

A few years ago a neighbor was contacted about putting a cell tower on her property. Eventually it was located about a half-mile away, on someone else's land. The company told her that the ideal spot in that area was the school property, but they've discovered that parents of elementary school kids put up a fuss about cell towers on school property. By the time the kids reach high school, though, the parents no longer care.

[Rossue]

That issue tore a church here apart. The trustees signed a lease for a tower to be installed in a new designed cross. Problem is the pre-school parents said they would withdraw their kids. Cell carrier threatened a lawsuit but quickly realized that was a loser.

[Mike Lewis]

I discovered only recently that a lot of the large crosses you see from the highway in the South are also cell towers.

[Donna D.]

The cellphone towers around Portland, mostly look like trees

[Rossue]

There are some cool looking "mono-pines"; the palm trees look funky to me. Have also seen windmills disguised as cell sites as well. One carrier spent $200K to re-hab the water tower at Pt. Sur lighthouse to hide a cell site.

There is a new push by most carriers in order to advance the 5G buildout in the U.S. to exempt telephone pole right-of-way from local planning rules. They want to be able to string small "pico cells" across the lines to reach a lot of areas the larger towers can't. Santa Monica/Brentwood both have terrible coverage currently due to all the trees and an aversion to large towers. Interestingly Santa Fe, NM has a huge cellular tower downtown. Also curious to me, despite Oregon's environmental creds- there are a lot of big towers poking out of the trees, especially on the I-5 corridor. Practical, I guess.

[Greg A]

Some of our cell towers are Saguaro Cactus facsimiles.