Recommissioning Vintage Mobile Phones

[Chris M. White]

Hi all,

Digging around in some old boxes upstairs, I came across a Motorola
Flip Phone LT which I haven't used in donkey's years. Here's a pic
from a similar one on Ebay:


https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/224671229063?hash=item344f72e487:g:i08AAOSwfyBhgAfv


I thougth it might be kind of cool to reactivate this old classic and
use it day to day. Obviously the battery pack would need upgrading
'cos the originals were NiCads and probably knackered anyway. But
aside from that, is it feasible? I can't recall where the SIM slot is
on these so to know that would be useful as well; cheers.

Chris.

[Theo]

In uk.d-i-y Chris M. White <cw9...@gsm.com> wrote:
> I thougth it might be kind of cool to reactivate this old classic and
> use it day to day. Obviously the battery pack would need upgrading
> 'cos the originals were NiCads and probably knackered anyway. But
> aside from that, is it feasible? I can't recall where the SIM slot is
> on these so to know that would be useful as well; cheers.

It seems that's a 1G analogue phone:
https://www.mobilecollectors.net/phone/3712/Motorola-MicroTAC%20Flip%20Phone%20LT

That ETACS network was switched off in 2001, so you couldn't use it as a
daily driver. Although you might be able to run your own network:
https://hackaday.com/2018/11/03/revive-that-old-analog-cell-phone-with-sdr/

Theo

[Jim GM4DHJ ...]

I had one of them in the mid 90's Motorola digiflip full size card slid
in the bottom .....pig of a thing too big for your pocket .....

[Jim GM4DHJ ...]

looks digital

[charles]

In article <eci7og136f6nvoj97...@4ax.com>,

Chris M. White <cw9...@gsm.com> wrote:

I suspect the frequency bands it used will have beeb re-allocated, but I've
been out of touch with that side of life for over 25 years.

--
from KT24 in Surrey, England
"I'd rather die of exhaustion than die of boredom" Thomas Carlyle

[John Rumm]

On 04/11/2021 11:57, Chris M. White wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> Digging around in some old boxes upstairs, I came across a Motorola
> Flip Phone LT which I haven't used in donkey's years. Here's a pic
> from a similar one on Ebay:
>
>
> https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/224671229063?hash=item344f72e487:g:i08AAOSwfyBhgAfv
>
>
> I thougth it might be kind of cool to reactivate this old classic and
> use it day to day.

That is going to take some work :-)

Since that is an ETACS analogue phone and there are no networks for it
to talk to any more, you will need to convert it to digital.

I think the approach I would take is to rip out the contents of it, and
replace them with a small microcontroller dev board and a modern GSM
module. Use the microcontroller to interface with and scan the keypad,
and to drive the display (which might also be worth replacing with a
modern OLED i2C module if you want it to look flash), and hand off the
actual call handling to the GSM module.

> Obviously the battery pack would need upgrading
> 'cos the originals were NiCads and probably knackered anyway.

That is probably the least of the problems...

> But
> aside from that, is it feasible? I can't recall where the SIM slot is
> on these so to know that would be useful as well; cheers.

ISTR that the microtac and startac etc used full sized sim cards (i.e.
credit card sized, which pretty much used the whole footprint of the
phone to accommodate it) - however that will be a moot point in this
case as you are not going to be re-using the existing circuitry.


--
Cheers,

John.

/=================================================================\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\=================================================================/

[Chris M. White]

So in short it's a non-starter, then. Pity! I'm sure there would have
been many more years left in it from the durability PoV.
Thanks, all.

[Brian Gaff (Sofa)]

Yes but it would be very low on security, and may well interfere or be
interference for, the normal digital stuff. I do remember that the analogue
network was just over 1ghz, since you could easily receive them on a scanner
back in the day.
Brian

--

This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...
bri...@blueyonder.co.uk
Blind user, so no pictures please
Note this Signature is meaningless.!
"Theo" <theom...@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote in message
news:cPf*Cq...@news.chiark.greenend.org.uk...

[Jim GM4DHJ ...]

> So in short it's a non-starter, then. Pity! I'm sure there would have
> been many more years left in it from the durability PoV.
> Thanks, all.
>

just another example of technology squandering the worlds resources ...

[Rod Speed]

Jim GM4DHJ ... <kinvig...@ntlworld.com> wrote

Yeah, like yank tanks.

[Peeler]

On Fri, 5 Nov 2021 19:52:32 +1100, cantankerous trolling geezer Rodent
Speed, the auto-contradicting senile sociopath, blabbered, again:

<FLUSH the abnormal trolling senile cretin's latest trollshit unread>

--
dennis@home to retarded trolling senile Rodent:
"sod off rod you don't have a clue about anything."
Message-ID: <uV9lE.196195$cx5....@fx46.iad>

[Cursitor Doom]

On Fri, 5 Nov 2021 08:01:42 -0000, "Brian Gaff \(Sofa\)"
<bri...@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:

>Yes but it would be very low on security, and may well interfere or be
>interference for, the normal digital stuff. I do remember that the analogue
>network was just over 1ghz, since you could easily receive them on a scanner
>back in the day.

Perhaps you're getting mixed up with the old cordless analogue home
phones of that time, Brain? 'Twas good fun back then listening in on
other people's conversations. ;-)
--

"Abolition of the family! Even the most radical flare up at this infamous
proposal of the Communists."

- The Communist Manifesto, Marx & Engels

[notya...@gmail.com]

There seems to be some confusion here [E]TACS phones did NOT have SIM cards, although you could change network (but not keep your number).

BT Opal was an example of a 2G phone with a credit card sized SIM card.

You won't be able to set a up a private TACs network as the frequencies were re-used for GSM.

What you might be able to to is to reconfigure it as a 934MHZ citizen band transceiver - that was between the Tx and Rx on TACS and you just need an easily obtained CB license to use it.

[David Woolley]

On 04/11/2021 11:57, Chris M. White wrote:

> I can't recall where the SIM slot is
> on these

If it's analogue, there won't be a SIM!