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In World War I, British biplanes had wireless phones in the cockpit
- greenyoda 7y agoInteresting article, but the devices would more accurately be described as "radio transmitters" than "wireless phones".
- johneth 7y agoIsn't that what wireless phones are?
- omgwtfbyobbq 7y agoI thought they were transceivers as opposed to just transmitters.
- close04 7y agoThat is just one component of a phone. A phone implies a few more functions, the main ones being the ability to transmit 2-way voice communication, and to dial any other phone. And even modern 2-way radios used today on ships, planes, CB, etc. are still not called phones.
- kube-system 7y agoVoice communication on modern 2-way radios is often denoted as being in a "phone" mode of operation, as opposed to CW, Data, RTTY, etc.
- close04 7y ago> Voice communication on modern 2-way radios Then why didn't you (or the FAA for example) just call them "phones" but "2-way radios"? That undermines the rest of your point. The concept of a modern phone* implies simultaneous 2 way voice and also dialing functionality. A "phone mode of operation" just mimics some of that functionality. Otherwise every 2-way voice radio ever used would be called "phone". But they're not because they aren't. Defending such a clickbaity definition of "a phone" is surprising especially in a community like HN where I expect people to be more precise with terminology. *and that's the concept that matters. Today using a 100 year old definition of a phone is just as inappropriate as a 20 year old definition of broadband.
- kube-system 7y ago"phone", as you are asserting, is a colloquialism for "telephone". Radios don't have a "phone" mode of operation because they mimic telephones. "Phone" does, and always has meant "audio". We don't call radios "phones" for the same reason we don't call them "audio". Likewise, phonographs aren't named after telephones, either.
- close04 7y agoBut you brought the argument that radios have "a phone mode of operation". The "voice" mode [0] is colloquially called "phone" because of the telephone-like functionality. This is why it's also called radiotelephony and not just telephony. To highlight the similarity to telephony but still make it clear that it's a radio and not a telephone. Now the article is written in 2020, when "wireless phone" means only "wireless telephone", something different from the radio presented in the article. And clickbaity titles are all the rage. Which was my point. [0] http://www.arrl.org/voice-modes http://www.arrl.org/voice-modes
- wl 7y agoWireless phones transmit speech. These only transmitted CW which was used to send Morse code.
- PeterisP 7y agoThis article is very much about speech communication from these biplanes.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- chrisseaton 7y agoWhy are they calling it a 'phone'? It's a conventional voice radio isn't it? You can't dial anyone. Nobody calls modern military radios 'phones'.
- simonsarris 7y agoall media sites just really like taking neologisms for a walk back in time for some reason. "the computer that the ancient greeks made" "the ancient egyptian automobile" "the subway of pipes underneath rome" etc
- _wldu 7y agoA lot of phone/fone nets have been operating since the 1920s and 30s. Here's one: http://www.vfn3947.net/ http://www.vfn3947.net/
- mulmen 7y agoTelephone literally means “far voice” in Greek. A device does not require a dial pad to be a phone. The article establishes earlier radio communication as using basically Morse code (telegraphy). This is a “phone” because it uses voice (telephony) instead of some other signaling. It’s not a common use of the word phone today but it is a reasonable interpretation based on the technology of the time and how it was used.
- soneca 7y agoI don't think the Greek roots of the word matter to our understanding of the modern word. It does look more like radio and that the words "wireless phone" are there only for clicks.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- jerrysievert 7y agomy first exposure to mobile phones was through a Perry Mason episode, and I was flummoxed. I was so enamored that I held my first mobile phone that I had purchased in the early 90's with glee. but, I was in no way the first, and it turns out there were over a million mobile phones in cars in the 1960's, with a little more pedigree to what we now have than the biplanes: https://weburbanist.com/2012/09/18/remember-millions-of-mobile-phones-in-the-1960s-you-should/ https://weburbanist.com/2012/09/18/remember-millions-of-mobi...
- doggodad 7y agoBut did they get robocalls?
- pmlnr 7y ago> (Prince published his findings after the war, in a 1920 journal of the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE). If you have a subscription to IEEE Xplore, you can read Prince’s paper here [PDF].) Is this for real? A 100 year old paper is subscription only?
- ebruton 7y agoJust to clarify the use of phone / telephone: this is the contemporary terminology used at the time. Wireless telegraphy = Morse code used electromagnetic (radio / wireless) waves Wireless telephony = voice sent over electromagnetic (radio / wireless) waves; sometimes referred to as radio telephony, although using radio was more common in US and Germany than UK until after the First World War. And as a few other commentators pointed out, dialling is not an essential part of a telephone.