A little introduction
Posted: 2013 Dec 08, 06:47
Hi everyone,
Thanks go to spectreman for contacting me on YouTube. I was unaware of this site, which contains the only forum for vintage cell phone collection that I'm aware of. In recent times I was wishing a site like this existed - it never showed up in Google searches I did, or anything. But here I am now! It would appear my arrival on this site has been awaited by a few people - I'm flattered! I suppose I'll provide here some background on my hobbies and knowledge involving older cell phones.
My name is Trent, and I'm a 19-year electrical engineering student in Canada. I own a collection of about 15 cell phones. My interest started about 8 years ago when I acquired a Motorola MicroTAC 650e and a Motorola Profile 300e (circa late 1990s analog phones) that belonged to my grandparents. I fell in love with the unique design aspects of these and other older cell phones, and I made a point of finding more. Most of my phones were found at yard sales or given to me by friends, and a couple come from eBay.
The bulk of my interest is in analog Motorola phones. These only make up about half of my collection, though - the rest I happened to acquire, but don't really care for. If you've seen my videos on YouTube (another thanks to spectreman for the mention), you'll notice I have some expertise in Motorola car phones and their derivatives, the transportable phones and bag phones (I'll hereafter mention only the bag phone, although all three derivatives are applicable). My fascination with these particular phones lies in their unique, rugged, modular design, and the sheer number of different models were made over the years. I always think I've seen them all, and then something new comes along!
As there is little published information about Motorola bag phones, I've made a long-term project (a third of my life now!) of learning and documenting as much information about them as I can. This is includes information such as the different models that were made, and technical information such as various hidden features that reside in the phone's firmware. The fruit of my labor (for nontechnical information) is the Wikipedia article Motorola Bag Phone. I created and authored the article, based on my own original research (which is wrong for a Wikipedia article, but I have no other choice), in 2007. I updated it with more information until 2010. I picked it up again this summer, and made some huge improvements to it. I can now confidently say that it's the largest and greatest collection of information about these phones in the world, and I'm pretty proud of how it's turned out.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to being able to contribute here. I'll definitely add photos of my phones and fill in any missing information I can contribute, and I'm thinking of writing a couple of articles pertaining to older Motorola phones, such as how to enter the NAM programming mode and the test mode, and fun stuff you can do in those modes. Also, this Christmas I will become the proud owner of a Tektronix CMD80 test system, which can emulate an AMPS, E/J/NTACS, CDMA, TDMA, or PCS base station, so I'll be able to write an article about fun stuff you can do with that, as well (similar to spectreman's article on his JRC system). And of course, I'll offer my knowledge here on the forums wherever appropriate. I hope to be a useful source of wisdom here.
I'm currently tied up with exams until Christmas, but after then I should be able to have some fun here. I look forward to it!
Thanks go to spectreman for contacting me on YouTube. I was unaware of this site, which contains the only forum for vintage cell phone collection that I'm aware of. In recent times I was wishing a site like this existed - it never showed up in Google searches I did, or anything. But here I am now! It would appear my arrival on this site has been awaited by a few people - I'm flattered! I suppose I'll provide here some background on my hobbies and knowledge involving older cell phones.
My name is Trent, and I'm a 19-year electrical engineering student in Canada. I own a collection of about 15 cell phones. My interest started about 8 years ago when I acquired a Motorola MicroTAC 650e and a Motorola Profile 300e (circa late 1990s analog phones) that belonged to my grandparents. I fell in love with the unique design aspects of these and other older cell phones, and I made a point of finding more. Most of my phones were found at yard sales or given to me by friends, and a couple come from eBay.
The bulk of my interest is in analog Motorola phones. These only make up about half of my collection, though - the rest I happened to acquire, but don't really care for. If you've seen my videos on YouTube (another thanks to spectreman for the mention), you'll notice I have some expertise in Motorola car phones and their derivatives, the transportable phones and bag phones (I'll hereafter mention only the bag phone, although all three derivatives are applicable). My fascination with these particular phones lies in their unique, rugged, modular design, and the sheer number of different models were made over the years. I always think I've seen them all, and then something new comes along!
As there is little published information about Motorola bag phones, I've made a long-term project (a third of my life now!) of learning and documenting as much information about them as I can. This is includes information such as the different models that were made, and technical information such as various hidden features that reside in the phone's firmware. The fruit of my labor (for nontechnical information) is the Wikipedia article Motorola Bag Phone. I created and authored the article, based on my own original research (which is wrong for a Wikipedia article, but I have no other choice), in 2007. I updated it with more information until 2010. I picked it up again this summer, and made some huge improvements to it. I can now confidently say that it's the largest and greatest collection of information about these phones in the world, and I'm pretty proud of how it's turned out.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to being able to contribute here. I'll definitely add photos of my phones and fill in any missing information I can contribute, and I'm thinking of writing a couple of articles pertaining to older Motorola phones, such as how to enter the NAM programming mode and the test mode, and fun stuff you can do in those modes. Also, this Christmas I will become the proud owner of a Tektronix CMD80 test system, which can emulate an AMPS, E/J/NTACS, CDMA, TDMA, or PCS base station, so I'll be able to write an article about fun stuff you can do with that, as well (similar to spectreman's article on his JRC system). And of course, I'll offer my knowledge here on the forums wherever appropriate. I hope to be a useful source of wisdom here.
I'm currently tied up with exams until Christmas, but after then I should be able to have some fun here. I look forward to it!