Batboard

Motorola MSR-16

Does anyone have any info on this model radio? I picked one up last week, found it covered in about an inch of dust in a retired ham operators house. The moment I saw the rotary dial handset with the moto name on it I knew I had to have it. Sadly, he had misplaced the instruction/service manual for it. He said it operates in VHF low band- and said it worked when he picked it up... about a decade ago.

Google search is not turning anything up, nor is search here.

I'll post some images later tomorrow when its daylight out. Visually, I'd say its in pretty darn good condition. I even got the keys with it...

A dial? Like a telephone? Sounds like it might be an old MTS or IMTS mobile phone or some sort of H.E.A.R. console... Definitely need photos.

Here it is, sans (most) dust.

Oh yes... This is unquestionably an MTS/IMTS mobile telephone (with YJ3-7569 likely being the telephone number it had).

Not sure what you can do with this or if anyone would still have information on it. The fact that it's a Motorola Canada product makes it pretty unique thus more difficult to locate a manual for. Would love to see the internals of the R/T unit... But you've got the big brother of the cellular phone right there. Very cool!

Oh by the way, in case you didn't know, that particular unit is scrap and not for resale.

I agree. Definitely a phone. Probably VHF though there were UHF models. Museum piece or a door stop.

Sure looks like a Pulsar mobile phone.

"Sure looks like a Pulsar mobile phone."
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Yes, with a FACTS head.

FACTS = Fully Automatic Car Telephone System

Too bad you don't live in Reno.

There is a guy looking for one of those to mount in a DeLorean just as a period "prop".

Too bad, I just dumped my 6000 with the addon cellular AMPS interface. It was taking up space in my shed. I saved the keys....

Bill_G wrote:I agree. Definitely a phone. Probably VHF though there were UHF models. Museum piece or a door stop.

The "YJ" phone number indicates VHF. Channel YJ = 152.63/157.89.

It would be AMTS with the "YJ" number instead of a 7 digit direct dial number if it was IMTS.

In the late 80's / early 90's as cellular usage was increasing, and these old phones dropped out of service, we had stacks of these things. Since they were synthesized, I always wondered if they could be reprogrammed for general use. I never set my mind to it though.

The PTT button in the handset means that, at the very least, it is MTS backwards-compatible. If it is IMTS-capable it will have a small duplexer inside the RF drawer that won't be suitable for 2-meter ham use due to the 5 MHz split, but still worth hanging on to. Also, Repeater Builder or one of the other repeater sites had a conversion article for turning one of the 454 MHz UHF units into a 440 repeater.

Lot of good MTS/IMTS info here: http://www.privateline.com/PCS/mobilephonepictures.htm

I found some 1978 parts book info on it but no manual.

The T1682 is a VHF Pulsar mobile.

The control head appears like what is pictured in my book as a "FACTS control head". It does not have the channel buttons and other features of the standard Pulsar IMTS heads.

I can't recall the acronym "FACTS" but I suspect it may be what was used for fixed rural phone services in remote areas of the US and Canada. Canada kept such service active long after mobile use was replaced by cellular in more populated areas.

I just found some more info that says the FACTS control head is specifically associated with the T1682 VHF Pulsar radio.