Part of Motorola car phone?

[MagicMo]

I was wondering if this belongs to a car phone? Anyone know?
Thanks
Mo

[Phonesrfun]

It does not seem to have all the connections for the control head that a car phone would have had.  Perhaps it is just a VHF single frequency two-way radio such as would have been used in most phone company trucks for talking to "dispatch".  Not sure what the PL designation is for.

[Adam]

"PL" stands for "Private Line." It was a scheme these FM business band radios, that used frequencies shared by multiple companies, to allow inter-company broadcasts to be heard only by the same company's radios on the same frequency. It did this by transmitting a special tone along with the broadcast that (a) would allow radios on your company to recognize your broadcasts and hear them and (b) squelch (turn the audio off) your radio if the tone does not match your company.  The tone is filtered by the receiver so that receiving parties do not hear it.

I agree with phonesrfun, this is just a mobile FM business band two-way radio, not part of a mobile phone.  Its sticker says "Licensee Illinois Bell Telephone Co." so very likely it was installed in something like a phone installer truck, outside wiring maintenance vehicle, etc.

[G-Man]

It is a conventional two-way radio used for intracompany dispatching and other communications.

Private Line (PL) is Motorola's registered name for sub-audible tones used in Continuous Tone-Coded Squelch System or CTCSS.

General Electric's name for CTCSS is called Channel Guard (CG). RCA called their version Quiet Channel and E.F. Johnson used "TG" for "ToneGuard" or "CG" for "CallGuard".

Industrial/Business Pool, Conventional License - KD7581 - ILLINOIS BELL TELEPHONE COMPANY

ILLINOIS BELL TELEPHONE COMPANY
6889 Snowville Road, 110K
Brecksville, OH 44141
ATTN SBC Regional Wireless Engr.
P: (440) 838-2912

SBC Midwest Regional Wireless Engineering
Budd L Schubert
6889 Snowville Road, 110K
Brecksville, OH 44141
P: (440) 838-2912

Signature Information - John Papay - Title Senior Engineering Manager

Licensee / Applicant address changed 6889 Snowville Road 6889 Snowville Road, 110K

Control Point-
906 W Erie St, COOK, Chicago, IL
P: (312) 633-2653
P: (216) 822-7873

[Bill]

I had one of these in Chicago in the late 60's when I worked for Motorola's C&E Division. It was a VHF all-solid-state, under-dash, PTT radio. My memory is telling me that mine was called a "Dispatcher", but online sources don't agree, so I'm confused on that point. Anyway, I seem to recall that mine was a two channel radio but was not equipped with PL (or at least switchable PL), so the PL knob on the front of yours was the F1-F2 switch on mine. Since I was fascinated by then-developing mobile telephone systems, I set mine up on the telephone frequencies, and was able to use it although PTT was not handy in the mobile telephone environment.

Mine was stolen from my car by a local kid. Long story, and funny in the end since there was a lot of blood and a big gun involved. The judge gave him a choice of jail (meaning juvie detention hall) or the Army. The kid chose the Army.

Bill

[Rokumoncat]

Hi Bill,

Alas, now the Army will not allow a judge to do that. They will refuse entry to anyone with that sort of record.

R. Cat