Rubber antennas? Is that like the "rubber gun squad"?I was reminded of an early 80's relic
What's next? Return of Rubber antennas?
Actually that phone first appeared on the cover of Popular Science around 1975. But because cell sites were few and far between, even in Chicago, which was the old AT&T's first test area for AMPS phones, those 600mW handheld units weren't practical until the early '90s. By then, Motorola had it's much more stylish and portable MicroTAC:
I had one of these, and it worked great in Chicago. With its slim battery pack, it fit into a jacket pocket nicely. The extended battery pack made the phone look a bit...pregnant, but was actually more comfortable to hold. The stowable steel whip antenna is a feature that's sorely missed on newer phones that are after all, still radios.
BTW, I found a photo of my old 30# luggable:
The Italian styling looked trick, but 2/3 of the base was made up of a very heavy lead-acid battery pack.
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