Canada "Used cell phones" 60 years ago !!

Toronto was experimenting with 'cell' phones 60 years ago

By MIKE FILEY -- Sun Media

The Toronto Sun

 

 

They're everywhere! They're everywhere!

Older people have them, teenagers have them. Heck, even little kids have them. In fact, information supplied by the CWTA informs us that there are more than 19 million subscribers using these things across Canada, a nation with an estimated population of just over 33 million.

And just what are these things I'm talking about? Cell phones, that's what. And based on the figures supplied by the CWTA (oh, that's the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association) I've just quoted there's a good chance that when you're next sitting in the car at a traffic light the drivers in the vehicles on either side of you will be on the phone. And who knows? The way things are going (the CWTA reports that cell phones are among the fastest growing consumer products in history) most of those without a cell phone might just have one come Tuesday.

The cell phone phenomenon all started 60 years ago this year with a series of experiments with the goal of establishing wireless communication using what were initially called mobile radio-telephones. And some of those tests were conducted right here in our city by the Bell Telephone Company of Canada. Their experiments went like this.

First, a radio transmitting station with a range of 20 miles was set up on the top floor of the Bell building at 76 Adelaide St. W.

In addition, several of the company's green and black sedans were fitted out with low-power receiving and sending sets and were conspicuous with an 18-inch antenna on the roof.

These vehicles would then wander the city to establish where signals between the car and the radio station worked best.

It wasn't long before it became obvious that the 20-mile range of the main station was insufficient to cover the sprawling (even back then) city. The numerous tall buildings in the downtown core also interfered with the signals. To get around these problems "repeater stations" would have to be established at various locations across the city where special equipment would capture the signals and send them on to the Bell building on Adelaide via the regular telephone lines.

Each of these locations would soon be known as a "cell". Thus it was that over time the original term "mobile radio-telephone" was replaced by the term "cellular phone" and eventually shortened once again to the modern-day "cell phone".

But I'm jumping ahead of myself. In those early days placing a "mobile call" to and from a vehicle was no easy task. It required the assistance of a special Bell operator.

Let's say the boss sitting in his office wants to contact an employee out on a delivery somewhere. A call is made over a regular phone to the "Mobile Operator" who then sends out a radio signal on a channel that's specifically for that vehicle. That signal causes an audible or visual warning in the car telling the driver he's being paged.

The driver then picks up the in-car phone to begin the conversation having first set the equipment to "Receive", to hear the boss's request, then to "Talk" to tell the boss just what he could do with that request.

That same driver could also call home from the car, but the steps to do so were slightly different.

Picking up the mobile phone in the car he would push the "Talk" button, the "Mobile Operator" would respond and be given the driver's home phone number. The call would be placed by the operator.

Once the home phone is answered the conversation takes place again using the "Talk" and "Receive" buttons although this time requests made by the wife are usually carried out without additional comments.

Though the mobile service got off to a slow start, by 1953 The Toronto Telegram newspaper was reporting that the mobile telephone network was serving vehicles on the streets and highways in the Toronto and Barrie areas as well as in and around Montreal.

Bell's wireless phone service, housed in Molson Brewery's mobile rescue trailer, turned out to be invaluable during the rescue operations that followed the Hurricane Hazel disaster in mid-October, 1954.

And now there are BlackBerries and iPhones. What next?

My wife Yarmila and I wish one and all a very Merry Christmas!