Author Topic: You can take it to the beach  (Read 996 times)

Dave W

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You can take it to the beach
« on: May 05, 2013, 09:49:37 AM »
From 1989. What a bargain!


OldManC

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Re: You can take it to the beach
« Reply #1 on: May 05, 2013, 10:53:02 AM »
"Only" $799? What a bargain, and so handy, too!

Highlander

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Re: You can take it to the beach
« Reply #2 on: May 05, 2013, 03:24:49 PM »
My first was one of those big Panasonic shopping bags as it was a "transportable" and listed at £1200 - I got it on contract for £400 - it worked fine up until the start of the GSM era and it got cloned, so I shut the beastie down - still lives in the loft - the batteries are bigger than a Nokia Communicator (if you remember those) - also had a "kojak" aerial for the van.
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Pilgrim

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Re: You can take it to the beach
« Reply #3 on: May 05, 2013, 03:53:46 PM »
My mom had a "bag" phone, about half the size of the one in that ad.  But she felt safer driving in rural areas and having it.  As I recall, with the external antenna, substantial battery and plugged into the car's DC power, it put out a pretty strong signal.
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gweimer

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Re: You can take it to the beach
« Reply #4 on: May 05, 2013, 04:01:57 PM »
My first cell phone was the Motorola bag phone.  It fit under the armrest of my car perfectly, and had one of the best signals I've ever had on a cell.
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the mojo hobo

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Re: You can take it to the beach
« Reply #5 on: May 06, 2013, 04:48:07 AM »
Those bag phones had something like 3 watts of power. When the phones got smaller and the transmitter got closer to the users head, the power was cut substantially, to less that one watt. For a while there was a very noticeable performance disadvantage, but now there are a lot more towers.

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« Last Edit: May 06, 2013, 04:57:09 AM by the mojo hobo »