Motorola Bag Phone

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The Motorola Bag Phone was a portable Cellular Telephone manufactured by Motorola, inc. from 1992-2000.

1 Description
2 Cellular system
3 Styles and Model List
4 Color Display/Attache Carry Case
5 Gallery

[edit] Description

Motorola's line of powerful, rugged cell phones went on sale in 1992 for approximately $200. These phones put out 3 watts of power (as opposed to 0.6 watts that todays cell phones output) which makes them popular for truckers, boaters, and people in rural areas. Because of their durability, many of these phones are still in use today.

The Bag Phones are a derivative of the Motorola 4500X, 4800X, and 5000X that proved popular in Europe, as well the American version, the Motorola "Tough Talker". These phones featured handsets attached to trancievers and battery backs, and had optional carry cases. By downsizing the equipment, Motorola was able to make them more marketable, and hence the Bag Phone.

These phones consist of a handset with a black & white LCD display with InUse (indicating that a call is in progress), NoSvc (cannot receive a cellular signal and is unable to make or receive calls), and Roam (accessing a cellular system other than your home system) indicators, a numeric keypad with other buttons for different functions (depending on the model), and a separate speaker for the ringer and hands-free use. This plugs into the tranceiver (the heart of the phone), which plugged into that is a "rubber duck" antenna, and the power supply connector which plugs into a 12 volt automotive outlet. (A 12 volt lead-acid battery that connects to the power supply, providing 2 hours of talk time and 2 days of standby time, was also available.) All of these parts are conveniently put together in a leather case specially designed for Motorola Bag Phones by Caseworks, inc. of Chicago. These phones can also be permanently installed in a car.

[edit] Cellular system

Because these are analog-only phones, they operate only on the slowly disappearing AMPS network. As for now, this is no problem for the phones' 3 watt output. During the late 90s, though, Motorola produced very few special edition digital bagphones. They were dual mode AMPS/TDMA phones marketed as the "Digital Concert Series."

[edit] Styles and Model List

Although they are technically all the same, Motorola produced about a dozen different handset styles of the bag phone. These can usually be determined by the SCN***** model number on the handset. Each type of handset also had its own version of tranceiver. Random handsets can be used with random transceivers, but some mismatches may result in unusable functions. For example, plugging a 4500 handset into a 3 Button tranciever will result in the Up/Down, one-touch, VOL and STO buttons to be either unusable or perform a totally different function. The handset types are as follows:

Cellular One (SCN2453A)-Also Called the 3 Button. This is a basic, no thrills phone. Numeric display. Called so because of the 3 buttons on the lower part of the handset, the only buttons besides the numeric keypad that are mandatory for making calls: PWR, END/CLR, and SND.

America Series (SCN2476A)-Also called the 4 Button. Similar to 3 button. Comes in grey plastic houseing (instead of the usual black). Adds VOL/CTL button for ajusting earpiece/ringer volume, and accessing functions such as the feature menu and checking the remaining battery life.

Soft-PAK (SCN2497B)- Also known as the 6 Button. The most common of bag phones. Similar to 3 button. Adds RCL button for recalling stored phone numbers and other information, and FCN button to replace the CTL button, making the VOL button by itself.

Series lll (SCN2395A)-Similar to 6 button. Bigger buttons, replaces VOL button with STO button, for storing phone numbers, and confirming feature selections.

Series lll 6 Button (SCN2607B)-Similar to series lll. Smaller buttons, STO button merges into RCL button, with CLR merging out of the END button and taking STO's place, leaving the END button by itself.

480 (SCN2532A, 2705A, 2449A, 2555A, and 2552A)-There were 5 different versions of the Motorola 480, the only differences between the 5 being button placement. Adds MSG button for checking missed calls, up/down buttons for scrolling through stored phone numbers and menu items, and an alphanumeric display to replace the standard numeric display. This Allows name tags to be entered with stored phone numbers, and easier reading of messages the phone displays.

2800 (SCN4057AB)-Similar to 480.

2800DLD (SCN2766A)-Exactly like 2800, aside for a few cosmetic differences.

4500 (SCN2801AB)-Motorola's last and most feature-packed bag phone model was produced from 1994-2000. Adds 3 one-touch dial keys. MSG key is gone. For easier use, all keys have the function fully spelled out instead of abbreviated. Alphanumeric display. VOL button replaced with Up/Down buttons which can also be used to scroll through menu items. Can be used with 2900 tranceiver.

2900 (SCN2500A)-Motorola's low cost (and therefore feature-deprived) version of the 4500. Only cosmetic difference is red one-touch dial keys instead of black. Alphanumeric display. Can be used with 4500 tranceiver.

2950 (Model Number Unknown)-The rarest version of the bag phone. Same functions as 2900, except the 2950 has a Dual-line color display.

Dynasty (Model Number Unknown)-A more feature-packed, fashionable version of the 4 button. Black/Green theme. 8 character numeric display is replaced with a 10 character one. Originally came in a special leather bag noticeably labeled "Motorola Dynasty".

Meteor (52183)-Similar to Dynasty. Keeps 8 character numeric display. Originally came in "Motorola Meteor" leather bag.

[edit] Color Display/Attache Carry Case

A few Motorola 2900's were made with a special color LCD alphanumeric display and a bigger, sturdier leather attache carry case. The color LCD display is backlit using a small incandescent light bulb instead of the usual green LED lights for the b/w screens. This bulb uses more power than the LED's, which is a negative for battery users. The incandescent bulb is also prone to burning out, or breaking in heavy use. The incandescent bulb also heats up the display after a few minutes of use, causing the usually black display background to turn an orangy color. Nevertheless, it provides a brighter, easier to read display than the front-lit b/w screens. The downside to the color screen is when the backlight goes out after a few seconds for battery users, the 4 indicators at the bottom of the screen are completely invisible, unless a very bright light is shining down on to the screen.

The color display indicators show up as follows:

Numbers/letters-orange

Power (Indicated by a dot on the 2900, 4500, and 480)-green

InUse-green

NoSvc-red

Roam-yellow

The leather attache carry case has cardboard inside for making the case sturdy, and inside has the usual pocket for the tranceiver/battery, as well as a pocket for the manual(s), a sleeve for a pen/pencil or the antenna, and a spare pocket for a notebook, etc.