Electronics Question

[Just Plain Jeff]

Those of us with older coaches may have what we have: An old-style cell phone with a cord plumbed into the dash.

Somewhere along the line 'a guy' told me NOT to take that out because there was some emerging technology that would be on the market which would utilize that circuit in a helpful way.

His explanation went way over my head.

Any news/information on this?

Thanks in advance.

Expertise Level: -10

[Petervs]

Those old cell phone gadgets had a power source for recharging the handheld battery, a connection for the remote roof mouted cell antenna, and often an output to a speaker and microphone so you could talk hands free.

The only future use for one of these that I can envision is to install the handset and turn on the blinking lights for the BLING contest at some future POG rally. Nobody wants a bare spot in the dash either.

Rip it out, you will never miss it.

Peter vS
94 Marathon XLV

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Boy, that went right through to my heart.

There is something sensual about picking up my hard wired cell phone and feeling something that weighs about a pound, has big buttons, and has the mouthpiece near my mouth when the ear piece is next to my ear.

That sucker works and allows me to plug whatever I want into the phone jacks through the bus. I have had fax machines and answering machines and extension telephones plugged into the jacks which are connected to that big old antique (it's 10 years old so in electronics years that is the equivalent of a century).

That sure beat the sissie girl little flip top phones with a keypad so small you can hit three buttons at once that doesn't power my bedroom phone extension or the answering machine or a fax machine. Peter, be sensitive to the needs of us Neanderthals who are comfortable with reel to reel tape recorders and carbon paper. Yes I have an answering machine, and not voice mail.

[Just Plain Jeff]

Pretty weird 'concidence.'

A neighbor just came up and donated a Marinco (new) cable. It is a combo fone landline/cable tv yellow cable. I'll bring it to TGO on the 28th for first dibs.

But Jon may NOT have my John Denver 8-track tapes.

They are going to come back, I can feel it.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Imre,

This is a secret just between us. Keep it to yourself.

Actually I don't often use that big old cell phone. Two reasons. I hate the phone so I rarely make calls and hate answering them. When it rings Di usually goes to the LR to use the extension.

Now we are in tall cotton because I now have a cordless phone and answering machine, so instead of reaching under the dash for that big heavy old sucker, I use the nice little cordless phone. None of this is because I knew my brain was getting fried on bad stuff, but because it is easier.

BTW, that big old sucker is set up with a dedicated speaker and a microphone hidden somewhere, and I have used it hands free just like the On Star. It's just that to press the button to answer it I literally have to lean over under the dash to see the right button to push on the keypad and with the glasses I have it is easier said than done.

Don't tell anybody.

[garyde]

I am not quite sure I understand. Is the Dash phone a Cellular phone which is integrated with other standard land line phones in the Coach? As far as the EM Radiation, I believe Imre is refering to the Antenna for Cellular phones which would be on the Roof of the Coach. The Handset on a Dash mount would not have any of those parts & smarts.

[Just Plain Jeff]

This is one of those dash-mounted 5W jobs with the remote speaker. Since we are Po' Folk, the previous owned disconnected the service from the provider, fearing late night calls to the relative we have who has a phone in their trailer in the Ozarks.

Foto courtesy of the new LED flashlight.

Expertise level -9

[Jon Wehrenberg]

That there is the phone, but it is mounted very low under the RH side of the dash so it is difficult to see the buttons when driving. It is connected to a converter that allows you to plug stuff into the phone jacks and they act like they would on a regular land line, even though the antique phone shown is a cell phone. I'm sure a technical guru can explain that in language the techies would understand.

[Jeff Bayley]

Jeff- I would love to have one of the old style phones in my coach but not enough to install one. I wish one was in here already. The speaker phones usually work great and you get better reception wiht the external antenna and more power. There is no (rumored) threatening radiation as suggested by Imre on these style units or at least not within ear shot of your head. The radiation (which is stronger on these units) would be emited from the transceiver and more specfically the remote antenna which is of course is remotely located away from the handset as garyde more less said. This would be harmless. The radiation question (on our portable transceivers) seems to be debatable I guess but I always use a bluetooth or similar headset with my cell phone for convieience, not protection from radiation but if it turns out to be protecting me from radiation then great bonus. You should keep that old/powerful phone and use it.

Jon talked about plugging other phones and fax macines into his extensions. This is not riding on the normal old style phone alone. There is a 3rd party adapter that is available that (I recall) works in cooperation with your base unit style cell phone and normal cell phone service. You can plug a home style phone (or fax) into the 'network' so to speak and it behaves just as it would at home. You don't hit "Send" or "End"; just use as normal. I looked at them but decided against it for some reason however a customer using it who orginally told me about it was very happy with it. I can't recall the name of the thing.

[Lee Bornstein]

The Phones in question are the Motorola "Bag" phones.
Liberty installed these with handset under dash, Transmitter and RJ-11 adaptor inside wall on drivers left side under Tag Lift Lever

There are several components to the system.
Handset - Contains pushbuttons, display, and functions of traditional handset.
Hands Free Microphone & Speaker
5 Watt Transmit/Receive Unit
RJ-11 Adaptor allows Fax, Modem, Answer Machine to connect to Cell phone.
Rooftop antenna.

This device is ANALOG only and is not supported by all Cellular Service Providers.

Basically, It's an antique and only real benefit is extended range sometimes.

Lee