Factory or Add-on

[bigel]

Looking for information on this funky little antenna on my '87 Targa.


I was thinking it might be a cell phone booster antenna. I haven't seen anything like it in any of the Porsche parts catalogs, but I can't imagine someone drilling out a body panel on of one of these cars to install an aftermarket product like this.

There's also this legacy part installed just behind the center console. I'm thinking either there was a printer installed in the car or this is also something related to an old mobile (bag?) phone.



Does anyone out there have something similar?

Any information would be appreciated.

[86 911 Targa]

Cell phone add-on.

Gerry

[tobluforu]

LOL, in the 80's people were doing all sorts of crazy things. I had a really cool blaupunkt radio/cassette in my 510, and an arm just like that one that had an equalizer and volume control on it. It was so I didn't have to reach an extra foot to adjust the volume on the dash, lol. Those were the bomb back then. No way in heck the factory was drilling that out and adding a really cool Luke skywalker antenna, but then again....
Does it have a Wink mirror as well?

[matthewb0051]

That may be an old Soviet antenna, al a Sputnik

[theenico]

Yep, 80's cell phone garbage. Those doctors and lawyers had stay connected back in the day.

[McLovin]

Originally Posted by bigel

I can't imagine someone drilling out a body panel on of one of these cars to install an aftermarket product like this.

People did a lot of unimaginable things to these cars in the 80's. Many of them unfortunately involving drills.

[tdw28210]

Originally Posted by McLovin

People did a lot of unimaginable things to these cars in the 80's. Many of them unfortunately involving drills.

My Targa had the old "pig tail" style antenna smack dab through the middle of the Targa bar. Despicable.

[bigel]

Thanks all...I guess it's time to remove the 'nub' of an antenna and the wire harness.

It's just a piece of history...

[McLaren-TAG]

Originally Posted by theenico

Yep, 80's cell phone garbage.

That 80's cell phone garbage likely cost the original owner 5 grand... yeap, you heard right.

Out of curiosity is the car a cab? Those antennas were made by a company called Ora, they also made the for Hirshman, they were all the rage because, I mean just look at it. They worked better in cities but didn't have the db gain for the country but people like them because they were "stealth".

The gooseneck between the seats was probably where they had the cradle and handset, they were connnected to a transciever that would be at the other end of the that cable goes to. Follow the antenna wire or that cable and you may still even find it there. Probably a 12X12 box or bigger, that may weigh about 10 lbs. Yank it all.

It's installed in a horrible location though, whomever put it in had no business installing cell phones. Thanks for the pics, brought back massive memories.

Back in the day I used to drive around the NYC area doing cellular phone installs. I had a used VW GTI that I'd payed 4k four and I had a Oki cellular phone that was over 5k, needless to say, I got weird stares from people.

EDIT: scratch that, I see it's a Targa, same thing, not too many options for an antenna on topless car. Shame they drilled the hole, a glass mounted antenna would have been much less of a headache to remove today.

[Hendog]

We sold those antennas as a distributor where I worked in the 90s. I was technical not sales. It's an Allgon 3129 antenna. I used to install cell phones in the 80s and 90s too as they became part of the 2way radio biz.

I had a phone in my company truck before cell phones came out: it was a IMTS phone (Improved Mobile Telephone System). Basically an updated and automated dialling scheme on the decades old VHF operator assisted phone system MTS (Mobile Telephone System). The old MTS system required you to squeeze the PTT (Push To Talk) button 5 seconds to get an operator. She (yes, it was always a "she" back then) would answer and you'd give her your phone number, something like "this is XJ2-3895, and I'd like to call 306-584-5282" and she would connect the call. Whe the IMTS system came out it eliminated the operator and now worked like a "real" phone.

Man times have changed!

[bigel]

Henri - that's a great story. My wife was in the mobile network business in the 90's as a nonionizing safety engineering for AT&T Bell Labs where she would provide expert testimony at planning/zoning board hearings on siting cell base stations. She had an old 'bag' phone that weighed about 10 lbs. that she would carry around to meetings/etc. The 'times have changed' indeed.

TAG - yes it's a pain for me now but I realize that someone spent a nice chunk of change on the equipment back in the day. Thanks for the walk down memory lane! If one thinks about today's mobile technology (e.g., iPhone, etc.) as compared to what was available in the 80s-90s, it boggles the mind.

Anyone remember the company Nextel, started off as a trucking mobile radio system that was eventually expanded to the cell phone market. Their service included the 'push to talk' feature similar to a 'walkie-talkie' radio. Seemed like the wave of the future and did last a while in the business sector...I work at Princeton University and most of our facilities employees carried them. Convenient way to communicate quickly and eliminates the need to carry a phone and radio. Not sure what happened but the technology never really caught on.

Funny stuff...

[trader220]

Add on

[86 911 Targa]

Didn't R2-D2 have one of these?

[964TargaC2]

it was Robby the Robot

[Radioactive]

NEC TR-5E transportable amps cellphone with hirschman/ora antenna,

[Canada Kev]

Originally Posted by Hendog

I had a phone in my company truck before cell phones came out: it was a IMTS phone (Improved Mobile Telephone System). Basically an updated and automated dialling scheme on the decades old VHF operator assisted phone system MTS (Mobile Telephone System). The old MTS system required you to squeeze the PTT (Push To Talk) button 5 seconds to get an operator. She (yes, it was always a "she" back then) would answer and you'd give her your phone number, something like "this is XJ2-3895, and I'd like to call 306-584-5282" and she would connect the call. Whe the IMTS system came out it eliminated the operator and now worked like a "real" phone.

Man times have changed!

Yeah, I remember those. I grew up in northern BC and my dad had one of those VHF radio telephones in his truck in the early '80s. It was a useful tool to be able to make a call to a telco land line back in those days WAY before cel phones, especially if you were in a really isolated and difficult to access area. But you had to remember it was like a mobile party line where everyone else could listen in on the conversation unless you requested "privacy" when originating the call. Then one side of the conversation would be scrambled but the other would still be intelligible.