Are pictures collectible?

[MagicMo]

During my Dad's many years with IL Bell he took thousands of pictures, which were kept on slides. He took pictures of  work sites, main office, TV networks and special functions. They are very cool and seem to be part of IL Bell History. While he took thousands of Pictures I posted just a sample of them below. Forgive me for the quality, they are a picture of the slide from a viewer. The originals are very clear.
Thanks,
Mo

[MagicMo]

A few more

[MagicMo]

The following slides look like marketing material for IL Bell, not sure? They are marked IBT "extras" by my dad.
Not sure what this was used for or that they even used them. I actually think they were the ones that were not approved because there are a couple doubles and triples of the same pic with slight changes.
See the first two pics.... CAN YOU SPOT THE DIFFERENCE?

[Bill]

Hmmm. No I can't see the difference other than the obvious distance-to-subject.

I imagine that IBT means Illinois Bell Telephone, but most of the pictures in the second series don't look particularly telephone-related. In fact, they look more like ads for Motorola two-way radio products, most of which were not telephone-related. The last picture (16), for example, is a Motorola HT-200 Handie Talkie, and I'm not aware that they were ever used in telephone service. The previous picture (9) appears to be a Motorola pager, though I can't be sure. The first pair (14 and 15) appear to show an HT-200 in an under-dash car charger. The microphone being used by the car's driver may be an external mic connected to the HT-200, or it may be connected to an entirely different piece of equipment. But again not telephone-related.

I have no idea why your Dad, an IBT guy, would have unrelated Mototola pictures. Motorola, of course, supplied the mobile phone equipment to IBT, so these may have been incidental pictures taken at photo shoots for IBT stuff.

Fascinating, nonetheless.

Bill

[MagicMo]

Hi Bill,
Thanks for all the info. I do know that IL Bell had a partnership with Motorola to offer cell phone service at one time. I pasted part of the article below. Not sure why my Dad had these slides, but I agree that they are fascinating.

"The Dynamic Adaptive Total Area Coverage (DynaTAC) mobile device needed a vast antenna network to accomplish its goal of go-anywhere communications. The first two networks to offer cell phone service for this phone in the United States took shape later in 1983. One was in Chicago, a partnership between Motorola and the Illinois Bell phone company. The second network to offer service for this mobile device took root in the Washington, DC, area and was controlled by the American Radio Telephone Service and Motorola. By the early 1990s, every major American city had cell phone coverage, though not with the reliability of modern 4G networks."

Thanks!
Mo

[Owain]

probably not so much collectable, but they should go to an archive if possible.

Is there an index of what/where/when the slides were taken?

[Dan/Panther]

Mo;
I don't know if this is what was intended, but if you stare at the photos and cross your eyes, to merge to two photos into one in the middle you get a special effect. NOT EVERYONE CAN DO IT.
D/P

[G-Man]

The photos of a T.O.C., testboard, IMTS maintenance bays, etc., are fantastic! Most of the c.o. photos that we have collected in our Pioneer Museum are not as detailed as these.

Regarding the radio photos-

The FCC set aside a special group of frequencies for telephone maintenance activities. Telephone companies equipped their maintenance vehicle fleets with two-way radios manufactured by Motorola, G.E., RCA, Link, and a couple of others as is shown in their BSP's.

The Motorola radios that I installed in ATT vehicles were capable of linking repeaters so the user could talk from the west coast to their headquarters in New Jersey or any part of the nation in between if necessary. Of course by now cellular telephones has negated much of their use. When I was with a Bell operating company, two-way radios were of great use.

One of the slides shows a Motorola Convertacom would allow the user to slip a Handie-Talkie into a special under dash holder that will charge it, allow the use of a hand-held microphone, and boost its power to the equivalent of a standard mobile radio, into a roof-top antenna. The hand-held radio in it is definitely not a much earlier HT-200.

Some models were even mobile repeaters which allowed the low-powered Handie-Talkies to be used outside of the vehicle and have its signal boosted by the Convertacom. Perfect for use by field forces who can take it out of the vehicle and use it as a regular hand-held.
                                    
Some of the photos represent how rugged and reliable the radios are as if they were part of a sales presentation given by Motorola to Ill. Bell decision makers.

Of course the pager photo would be applicable to Ill. Bell's tariffed paging service. However, once they  had decided to purchase that particular model, it would of course would have been custom badged with the Ill. Bell logo.

Some of the photos may have been used in the training of Ill. Bell employees regarding the proper use of two-way radio communications.         

The photo of the TD microwave antenna structure would be of particular interest to those on the ATT Long Lines listserves, which due to its uniqueness, most likely could identify it.

[MagicMo]

What you see here is just a sampling. There are hundreds. The microwave picture was marked "Joliet IL."
G-Man, I agree with you it was for training purposes. I found more slides that show IL Bell training.
The slides are not dated but they are marked where they were taken. Here is a few more:
Thanks,
Mo

[MagicMo]

Here is a sample of the training slides:

[MagicMo]

Just a few more. The last one Says "BB Rep." Bellboy?

[rdelius]

these would be nice to be scanned and put up on Flickr.

[twocvbloke]

Dynamic Adaptive Total Area Coverage (DynaTAC)

You know, I always wondered what the "TAC" bit was short for, and now I know... 

I have a few GSM Motorola MicroTAC phones (No StarTAC (the Flip phones) though, they're pricey for working examples!!), though where they are I'm not sure, they're good at hiding cos they're small compared to say a GPO 746 or WE500...

[paul-f]

I have seen similar photos in the AT&T Archives.  They have the corporate files from the former Illinois Bell.  Many of their documents are stamped IBT.

Stock photos were often made by AT&T and sent to all the operating companies for use in local press releases.

IBT territory was actively used for field trials of many new phones and systems.  If your dad was involved with development or testing, he may have had access to equipment that was sourced outside the Bell System and marketed for special purposes locally.  The Bellboy became a standard Bell System product.  As I recall, the equipment was made by Motorola and later Stromberg Carlson.

http://www.telephonecollectors.org/pictures/?id=212582364

http://www.telephonecollectors.org/pictures/?id=212582429

http://www.telephonecollectors.org/pictures/?id=212583725

http://www.telcomhistory.org/vm/Images/main/SeattleExhibit/SeattleTour8.jpg

I'd certainly be interested in seeing the photos -- especially any that might contain field trial sets.  I have several photos posted here and on linked pages:

http://www.paul-f.com/weproto.html