C6JA9
(drew Roberts)

I said mobile operator
This is C6JA9
And I need to place a call
To a girl I have in mind
I want to ask her for a date
So if you would be so kind
Could you call her number for me
I've been waiting here in line



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More to come...

History:

I used to live in a nice house on the sea shore
But it was out in the boonies
Besides being in the back end of nowhere
The last mile was a brown dirt road
With green "grass" growing between the two "tracks"
When it rained, we had "lakes" in the way.

We had no electricity service
We had no water service
We had no phone service
We ran a generator pretty much 24 hours a day
We caught water on the roof and ran it to a rainwater tank
We pumped water from a brackish well when rainwater was scarce
We had a mobile phone.
The mobile phone was somewhat like a Cb radio
It was in the kitchen turned on all the time
You kind of kept an ear tuned in all the time
You heard everyone's phone conversations
Well all the other mobile phone users
You had to listen to your number being called by the operator
She would call your number for incomming calls
Ours was C6JA9
For outgoing calls
You would listen for silence
then call the operator and give her your number
When she responded, you gave her the number you wanted
She would place the call and you would hear the ringing
After that it was pretty much like a normal phone call
Except
You could not speak and listen at the same time
You had to key the mic to talk
And
Everyone with mobile phone service got to hear your call

Not the best way in the world to try and make dates for a young man...