On Wed, 02 Dec 2009 23:52:16 -0500, mm
wrote:

On Wed, 02 Dec 2009 20:28:15 -0800, Jeff Liebermann
wrote:

They didn't PTFE when Bill Lear invented the first "Motorola" car
radio.

Well, much of this thread is over my head now, sort of, but ftr, I was
40 years old before I realized why it was called "motor-ola"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Lear

In the land mobile biz, it was called Rotomola.

Search Google Patents for "William P. Lear" in order by date:
http://www.google.com/patents?q=%22william%20p.%20lear%22&btnG=Search%20 Patents&scoring=2

There were radios fitted to vehicles before Motorola. However, they
were big and bulky adaptations of console type radios. Together with
the A, B, and C batteries, the radio usually more than one passenger
seat. The antenna was usually a square loop about 4ft in diameter. It
worked, but I wouldn't exactly call it practical. There are photos on
the web, but I'm too lazy to look. By the late 1930's, components had
shrunk sufficiently that to make a small radio. What Bill Lear did
was make it fit in a package that was small enough to be practical in
a car, which included the then unusual minimal rod antenna design.

Here's the original car radio (mounted on the steering column):
http://www.google.com/patents?id=YeZ9AAAAEBAJ
http://www.google.com/patents?id=OkluAAAAEBAJ

Incidentally, many police departments used AM frequencies at the top
of the AM broadcast band for dispatch up to the early 1970's. In Smog
Angeles, listening to the police on a tweaked AM car radio was common.


--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558