Advanced Mobile Phone Service: The Cellular Concept

The preceding paper in this issue1 noted that Bell System planners were already looking ahead to a more economical and widespread form of mobile-telephone service when early mobile telephone systems were being installed in the 1940s. Since then, system designers have recognized that a substantial block of radio-frequency spectrum, equivalent to hundreds of voice channels, is a prerequisite for a large-scale mobile service. This spectrum was provided by the FCC's reallocation of a portion of the former UHF television band for mobile service in Docket 18262. This paper cites the system objectives adopted over the years, explores the cellular concept which evolved in response to these objectives, and describes many aspects of a practical embodiment of the cellular concept--the Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS) system.