The Telephone: Hello, Mobile

Broadway Producer Hillard Elkins was strolling beside Manhattan’s Central Park last week when he got an itch to speak with the man directing the revival of his musical Golden Boy, in rehearsal at the George Abbott Theater some 20 blocks away. Elkins sat down on the nearest bench, opened his briefcase and picked up the telephone. “Hello, mobile. Come in, please. This is JL 5-5035,” he began, and in moments the director was on the other end of the line.

Elkins is one of 30-odd men so far who have bought Portatronic Systems Inc.’s new 19-lb. Portable Executive Telephone (PET), the first wireless, fully portable phone. “It’s there when I need it,” explains Elkins, who believes that it will come in particularly handy when he is driving rented cars or is on location for movies. “The phone is a serious business weapon for me,” adds TV Program Packager Larry Spangler, who carries his briefcase phone everywhere, was glad that he did so recently when he received a long-distance call on an outdoor paddle-tennis court confirming an urgent appointment.

All it takes to play James Bond with the portable phone is 1) $2,160 and 2) a license from the Federal Communications Commission, which is granted once the applicant proves that he is a U.S. citizen and able to operate the equipment properly. Not that the briefcase portable—really a miniaturized car phone—is difficult to use. The user pushes a row of eleven buttons, one after another, until he finds an open channel (on a busy channel, he can overhear the conversation). He then holds down a transmission switch on the hand set and gives the mobile operator his call, which is completed over regular telephone lines. Incoming calls are announced by a buzzer and a light.

The unit, which shares its channels with car phones, operates in the 150-megahertz band. It has an output of 25 watts, which makes it normally serviceable within 30 miles of a mobile operator. No matter how distressing the conversation turns out to be, profanity is not advisable. The FCC prohibits swearing, and mobile operators are quick to interrupt when the language turns blue.