Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!att!pacbell!ames!xanth!ginosko!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!wuarchive!swbatl!texbell!vector!telecom-gateway From: morris@jade.jpl.nasa.gov (Mike Morris) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Cellular Calls to 911 Message-ID: Date: 7 Aug 89 21:02:24 GMT Sender: news@vector.Dallas.TX.US Reply-To: Mike Morris Lines: 52 Approved: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 279, message 3 of 9 doug@letni.LawNet.Com (Doug Davis) writes: > ..edited... > >As a side note, anyone want to post their experences about fun things >to do with your portable cell phone? So far I have this list: > + Calling someone while sitting out front of their dwelling. > (yeah I know that's old but it still worth a few laughs... sometimes) > + While sitting in a resturant with lousy service, call the > manager up and complain.. > + Calling up the grocery store and asking where they hid something. I've done all of those with an amateur radio autopatch system. Been doing it since 1968, with a Motorola "portable" that had tubes in it (rember those? The electronics teachers tell the students "think of them as high voltage, depletion mode JFETS that glow in the dark"). The radio sat in a canvas bag that was shoulder-carried, with a 18" whip sticking out. The microphone plugged into a box that had a touchtone pad, a transformer and a 9v battery in it, and the box plugged in to the microphone jack on the radio. The system technology has changed - the repeater now has a Z-80 based controller, with 512k of PROM, 16k of battery-backed RAM, and can run 5 different radios simultaneously, plus a speech synthesizer and a autopatch card. I can carry a radio smaller than a pack of cigarettes that has 4 times the power (1w vs 250mw), or a 8-watt walkie talkie can hang on my belt... > + Ordering pizza, (yes please deliver it to the red z-car outside) Amateurs can't legally do this. The plain English translation of the FCC's gobbldegook is: "If your autopatch use results in a profit for anybody, don't". Exceptions are made for 911, AAA, tow truck, etc calls. If anybody is _really_ interested, there is an ongoing argument of this on rec.ham-radio. >From some of the reactions I have seen, I am convinced that some people >will never be able to cope with "modern" technology. Even truer back in the '70s when I got my first solid-state "portable". Still in the canvas sack, but 2 whole watts! Later on I got a true handheld. It was fun calling my date on the phone and saying "Go open the door", and then surprising her with a rose when she did. >... Usually when >they peer sheapishly out from the office, or whatever, a little wave and >a smile is all it takes to get the eye popping, open mouth act. > Most of the crowd I ran around with needed a technical explanation, and several ended up getting their amateur licenses. One girlfriend did! Unfortunately, my wife won't. Mike Morris UUCP: Morris@Jade.JPL.NASA.gov #Include quote.cute.standard | The opinions above probably do not even come cat flames.all > /dev/null | close to those of my employer(s), if any.