Advanced Mobile Phone Service: Introduction Background and Objectives

The potential for communicating with nonfixed points over the horizon without the use of wires was soon recognized following the invention of radio in the late 1800s and its development in the early 1900s. The first major use of this potential was to vessels at sea as an aid to navigation and safety. Since those early days, the use of mobile radio (as it is now called) has spread dramatically. Today it is used to communicate not only with ships at sea but with land vehicles, aircraft, and even with people using portable equipment. The expanding need and concomitant growth have led to the development of the newest mobile system for common-carrier offering to the public, the Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS),* the subject * Known during developmental stages as High-Capacity Mobile Telecommunications System (HCMTS).