Seen it before? (motorola cell phone adapter)

[Appolyon]

Well I finally have gotten around to working on my 80 and was poking around. I found a bunch of aftermarket wiring leading all over the vehicle, and couldn't figure out what it was. I knew it was a cell phone booster, but i didn't know how it was hooked up or anything else.

After a lot of poking, and a little disassembly, i found this!

Has anyone ever seen this thing before? Mine was mounted under the panel that the shifter is mounted through as part of the center console... I was amazed at the size of the darn thing...



Anyway, just another oddity.... It was installed by the first owner, me being the third, so i had no record of it even being in there...



EDIT!
As a second note- it does not have a standard phone line coming out, but a CAT5e Ethernet cable.... it just keeps getting weirder and weirder....

 

[Stone]

I don't know about a cell phone "booster", but the previous owner of my 80 had a car phone with the handsfree thing installed...and it had a rectangular unit vaguely resembling yours that I removed. There was also a microphone on the A pillar, a small speaker on the centre console that were also removed. Unfortunately, he had drilled a hole through my roof at the back for the stubby little cell antenna. I couldn't do anything about that so it's been left in place...luckily it doesn't leak.

 

[Appolyon]

On the nose

You hit it right on the nose... I was disassembling some more, and found a mic, and the antenna's internal connector... When my parents changed the windshield, they didn't replace the antenna connection and removed it...

So it is a hands free device.... kinda wild... Do you know what the Cat5E networking plug is for?

 

[Koffer]

It was the brains of a old mobile phone
The Cat5 connection went to the hand set
Theres most likely 4 holes in your center console that held the cradle for the hand set

You hit it right on the nose... I was disassembling some more, and found a mic, and the antenna's internal connector... When my parents changed the windshield, they didn't replace the antenna connection and removed it...

So it is a hands free device.... kinda wild... Do you know what the Cat5E networking plug is for?

 

[gabepari]

It was the brains of a old mobile phone
The Cat5 connection went to the hand set
Theres most likely 4 holes in your center console that held the cradle for the hand set

Ding Ding Ding, considering the trucks were upwards of 60K and sold in the early 90's before handheld cell phones were common. Corded phone baby

 

[Stone]

Those old car phones had wicked reception compared to the tiny little phones that we have now. Especially nice in the fringe areas.

 

[Koffer]

Those old car phones had wicked reception compared to the tiny little phones that we have now. Especially nice in the fringe areas.

They had real antennas plus analog signal They also put out a full 5 watts .
I really miss my Motorola Ultra Classic II (brick) hand held