What's with the telephone?!

Looks to me like a FM radio telephone handset (can't see if there's a Push-to-Talk in the middle between the ear and mouth), probably hooked to an FM radio buried somewhere on a "company" dispatch frequency. I don't see any controls or indicators for such a radio in that view of the panel, though.
 
Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your Captain speaking. We'll be traveling today at an altitude of 10,500 ft and a ground speed of 148kts. Those of you on the right side of the aircraft can look out your window and see the Mighty Mississippi River....I like long walks on the beach and cool jazz.

I'm thinking a gag prop phone too.
 
I believe DEA had 182RGs for surveillance and sold them off a couple of years ago. This may be one of the former goverment planes with some of the hardware still in place. They had a lot more hours though.
 
weilke said:
I believe DEA had 182RGs for surveillance and sold them off a couple of years ago. This may be one of the former goverment planes with some of the hardware still in place. They had a lot more hours though.
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Probably company frequency or something else.
I think it's unlikely that it was a DEA plane. They install their stuff under public use, and it's not approved (no STC or field approval). Anything installed under public use would have had to be removed to have the plane be airworthy for non-public use.

I know when we surplused our PD choppers, we had to remove a whole lot of stuff to get the aircraft back to its type certificated status. Not being airworthy at time of sale (non-approved stuff still installed) has a significantly negative value on the value of the aircraft.
 
PilotAlan said:
Probably company frequency or something else.
I think it's unlikely that it was a DEA plane. They install their stuff under public use, and it's not approved (no STC or field approval). Anything installed under public use would have had to be removed to have the plane be airworthy for non-public use.
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The DEA planes had some big holes in the passenger side panel when they were sold and some of the regular engine instruments in non-standard positions.

I know when we surplused our PD choppers, we had to remove a whole lot of stuff to get the aircraft back to its type certificated status. Not being airworthy at time of sale (non-approved stuff still installed) has a significantly negative value on the value of the aircraft.
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The federal goverment is not known to be a good steward of the money given to them and may not have done everything to maximize the revenue from the sale. Most of these things get sold in 'lots' and some maintenance shop or dealer does what it takes to make them marketable.

Right now they are selling a 185 on amphibs owned by dept of interior. The engines is bumping up to TBO and every single item on the phase inspection list, SB etc. is listed as 'Due'. Nice plane if you can buy it at the right price and you dont pay retail for the necessary refurbishment. This is the disclaimer at the bottom of every auction: The aircraft you have purchased or received in an exchange may not be in compliance with applicable FAA requirements. You are solely responsible for bringing the aircraft into compliance with 14 CFR Chapter I, or other applicable standards, by obtaining all necessary FAA inspections or modifications.
 
weilke said:
The federal goverment is not known to be a good steward of the money given to them and may not have done everything to maximize the revenue from the sale.
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Good point. You are correct. :redface:
 
Seller's rep said it is part of an old subscription based telephone service, and he recommends its removal.
 
TangoWhiskey said:
Seller's rep said it is part of an old subscription based telephone service, and he recommends its removal.
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Can you imagine how "good" that sounded without any noise canceling?

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TangoWhiskey said:
Seller's rep said it is part of an old subscription based telephone service, and he recommends its removal.
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Good god... that would have to be the old radiotelephone service from pre-cell-phone days. Should'a been pulled over a decade ago, if nothing else, to get the useful load back.
 
denverpilot said:
Good god... that would have to be the old radiotelephone service from pre-cell-phone days. Should'a been pulled over a decade ago, if nothing else, to get the useful load back.
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Yep. My dad had rotary dial mobile phone in his 72 monte carlo. Basically a radio phone patch from south central bell. I still have it. Was a motorola mocomm i think.
 
Some of that stuff since it was duplexed and had the equivalent of what we'd now call a "mobile duplexer" in them, made for decent low-power UHF repeaters once re-tuned into the Ham bands... I don't know about the Mocomm though.

Those things were tanks... radios built when metal was cheap. Weigh a ton, too.

Some guy has one of the old radiotelephones as a repeater on an office building a few miles from here. It doesn't get much use, but it works well. He got the audio, deviation, etc... right... last I listened in to him having a conversation on it.

Sure sounds a heck of a lot better than compressed digital cell phone CODECs or IMBE.
 
Back in the early days of cellular telephony I had this Morrison dempsey cell phone interface that connected the guts of my car's cellular unit to a regular RJ-11 telephone jack. I kept a regular old desk phone in the car on a 50 foot cord. I'd take it out and set it on the hood and make calls. Mine was a beta unit that actually would ring the phone on incoming calls. There was evidentally a patent dispute on that one and the real units didn't have that feature.

I was going to put a 66 block in the trunk and hang a butt set off one of the pairs to annoy the phone guys (I used to run datacomm for the university) but I never got around to that.
 
Going back to the photo, I realized I don't like that setup at all. There's no positive lock to keep that handset and cord from popping out in turbulence and ending up in the rudder pedals. Awful installation. Needs to be gone.
 
The text of the ad doesn't mention the phone:

1985 182 RG LOW TIME!!! • $95,000 • FOR SALE • FIRM.. AS IS... NO DAMAGE... LOW TIME!!! TT 2230, SMOH 730 (1991) SPOH 135 (2009) May Annual King Radios (KMA24, KX155, KY196, KNS80, KR87, KT76A, KAP150 AutoPilot) HSI, WX11, EI Engine Monitor plus Volts/Amps/Flow Interior Good, Paint Good

edit: Nevermind. I had not noticed that TangoWhisky mentioned that "Seller's rep said it is part of an old subscription based telephone service, and he recommends its removal."
 
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I wouldn't worry about the phone in the cockpit, rather I'd be concerned about the long cord that stays plugged into the FBO while in flight.
 
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