My love affair with my Apple iPhone continues unabated … in fact, it has accelerated! I probably spend more time using my iPhone than any HF rig I've owned in the past 5 years.
I had posted a comment about the iPhone on my Facebook page, noting that the only thing the phone needed was a police scanner and ham radio. “Wonder if there's an App for that?” I asked.
Turns out there IS an app for the police scanner function! For 99 cents, I download an app that gives you up to 100 different streaming audio files from public service radio channels. This basically is an app that gathers the content from the web, as many larger police departments put their radio audio streams on the web. While there's nothing very local on it, its fascinating to hear scanner audio from police, fire and EMS departments around the country.
My latest addition to my iPhone is shown at right. It's an accessory courtesy of (approrpriate) the Think Geek web site — a Bluetooth “retro” telephone handset.
Yeah, its very, very retro. It's Bluetooth compatible, and it works great with my iPhone. The audio both ways is much better than any headset I've used to date.
The retro Bluetooth handset is simple to use. It charges up with a USB cable. It has a push button that turns it on. You have to pair it with your phone, but only once. I don't leave the handset on all the time in order to conserve battery power.
The only problem is that I don't have a handy place to hang the thing right now. On the Think Geek web site, some folks have purchased old dial phones to hold and display their high-tech bluetooth handset.
The next accessory I'm going to buy is a shoulder cradle for the handset. I haven't used a corded phone in more than four years, and the shape of the handset back makes it a little harder to hold it with your shoulder. I'll pick up a shoulder cradle for it someplace cheap.
The most enjoyment I have gotten from the handset was the reaction from my wife and daughter. My 16-year-old daughter — who has been begging for an iPhone or iPod Touch — was aghast: “Daddy, why did you buy something that so OLD to go with your cool iPhone???”
My wife looked at me and said “You're kidding me, right?” I'm still not sure she believes me that this is a fully working Bluetooth headset. I told her it would work with her cell phone too … she was less than impressed.
The retro handset is very lightweight, due mostly to the fact that it doesn't use the old carbon mouthpiece and heavy speaker in the receiver. It uses an electret mic and a good size speaker mouthed in the handset.
The retro Bluetooth handset is available on eBay, but its quite a bit higher there. Think Geek has it on sale, which is why I bought the thing.
The handset works very well, and the reactions are priceless! It's the best money I've spent on entertainment since I paid admission to the new Star Trek movie.