Motorola Brick Phone

[Doug Rose]

I have always wanted one and I finally found one cheap. Model # F09NFD8402AG. They usually go very high, I saw a real beater at a yard sale recently for $100!

I need an antenna and a charger for this. Does anyone know where I could find them?

Is this one of the first ones or a later issue. Either way...I am very happy with it....thanks...Doug

[DavePEI]

Doug:

I might have a charger for them, but pretty sure I don't have a spare antenna. Give me a day or two to check. I have a half dozen or so of these, including the 1983 model. The way to tell them apart is by the size of the LED characters in the display. The first production run had much smaller LED's. Yours is one of the  later ones, made around 1990... The first ones were all branded Motorola.

Dave

[ESalter]

I was very lucky earlier this year.  A friend of mine found me one for $10 at a train show.  As if that's not cool enough, it's engraved "C.N.W. TRANS." on the side, meaning Chicago and North Western Transportation - my favorite railroad.  It is also missing the antenna and battery.  It came with an adapter that slides on the back like a battery but has a coiled cord with a car cigarette lighter plug on the end.  Using that I powered it up and it seems to work except for lacking service.

---Eric

[gpo706]

In the UK the analogue cell-phone network was shut down in about 1994, and replaced by digital networks, so any old analogue phones here are for display only, unless you get a analogue shell with modern guts.

Of course I'm not sure if the US has analogue networks today!

[DavePEI]

In the UK the analogue cell-phone network was shut down in about 1994, and replaced by digital networks, so any old analogue phones here are for display only, unless you get a analogue shell with modern guts.

Of course I'm not sure if the US has analogue networks today!

Our analog service was shut off a few ears ago. These phones aren't for use, but for display, and most collect them because they were the first style of cell phone available, especially the 1983/84 ones like my oldest.

Dave

[gpo706]

http://www.retrobrick.com/latest.html

I'd like one but £149 is a bit steep for me!

[twocvbloke]

Ah the Motelona RetroBrickPhone, they've been around forever it seems....

[Bill]

I had no idea these were collectible. I have a Motorola Micro-TAC flip phone that I've been hanging onto just because it's cute, and it's historic - and, well, it's a phone. It says "digital", and mentions channels in the 832 and 2412 MHz bands. The battery is discharged, of course, and I have no charger. But it turns on, dials, and searches for service when I put a 6-volt power supply on the battery connections.

Model F09HLD8315AG. Better pix available, of course.

Anyone interested? I suppose $25 plus shipping would take it. Or perhaps a trade for something like a good E-1 handset?

Bill

[TelePlay]

It says "digital", and mentions channels in the 832 and 2412 MHz bands.

Is that phone of European origin? 2.4 GHz is way high for the US bands of 800 MHz and somewhere around 1.9 GHz. I seem to remember from a decade ago that the US military uses 2.4 and due to 9-11-01, the planned and in progress change over or swapping of the 1.9 for 2.4 bands in the US was stopped/cancelled so as not to compromise military readiness.

[twocvbloke]

Non-US GSM signals are usually 900MHz and 1800MHz, 3G here in the UK (and probably elsewhere) is 2100MHz, so unlikely to have come from over here...

Not to mention it lacks any mention of GSM anywhere, so the "Digital" part of it I haven't a clue where it comes from, must have been for a unique network provider...

[Bill]

I can't answer either question - I'm just reading the label inside, shown in the next-to-last picture. Maybe the phrase "832/2412 channel operation" means something else - but what? This is certainly not my area of knowledge. My guess is that predates GSM, so that's out.

Anyway, it's a fun phone, and would make a nice display piece.

Bill

[AE_Collector]

The only thing "Digital" about that flip phone is the display! Not to worry, for this discussion, that's a GOOD THING!

I had several of those. There were 555's and 888's I think. You could tell from the display but I can't recall the difference now.

Terry

[DavePEI]

I have one or two of these in the museum early cell phone display.

Dave

[TelePlay]

The only thing "Digital" about that flip phone is the display!

Yes, I remember now. Had a Motorola flip phone in the late 90s with several extra thick batteries. Lasted about 6 hours each. Had to hang up and change batteries during a conversation. Also had a battery discharger/charger to recondition the batteries to get rid of the NiCad memory problem. Those first flip phones were analog only and as such, were always connected to a tower, always on, unlike the digital phones of today that go to sleep until pinged by a tower to wake up for an incoming call.

My first digital phone took both analog and digital transmissions. The battery lasted a day or two in digital but if I drove into a rural analog network, the battery would discharge in an hour or two. I don't think analog exists anywhere today.

[benkeys]

Bill, I used a very similar phone like the one in your picture many years ago. I had when i was in High school, i think sometime between '99 and 2000. Had it on pageplus prepay. 10.00 would buy 40 minutes. A few years after i was out of HS i bought another phone like it for something like 25 or 50 cents at a barn sale, but never activated it... I imagine they shut down analog cell networks sometime in the same time frame as analog TV, maybe before. I thought the purpose was first to use those freqs for other stuff then i cant remember what the other purpose was.. But them were some of the best built cell phones ever made.