The Motorola APCOR (Advanced Portable Coronary Observation Radio) was a 12 watt, paramedic telemetry radio produced by the
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. () was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois. It was founded by brothers Paul and Joseph Galvin in 1928 and had been named Motorola since 1947. Many of Motorola's products had been ...
company during the 1970s and 1980s. The Motorola APCOR could transmit voice and
EKG
Electrocardiography is the process of producing an electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG), a recording of the heart's electrical activity through repeated cardiac cycles.
It is an electrogram of the heart which is a graph of voltage versus time of t ...
simultaneously and was battery operated. There were three or more versions of the Motorola APCOR, the first was similar to the
Biophone, the second was significantly smaller and was white. The third version of the Motorola APCOR was all white.
There was also a 1 watt version used in conjunction with a vehicle mounted repeater. Additionally many units were optionally equipped with a keypad on the right side of the carry handle. This was used to send
DTMF
Dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF) signaling is a telecommunication signaling system using the voice-frequency band over telephone lines between telephone equipment and other communications devices and switching centers. DTMF was first developed ...
tones to the repeater to turn it on and change channels. The feature was known as "steering".
The Motorola APCOR was discontinued in the 1980s and was soon phased out in favor of cellular phones that could transmit EKG and voice. Motorola mistakenly thought that the
LA County Fire Department's code was for the radios to be orange, and created an orange radio for its first version {{Citation needed, date=June 2023. The radio had the
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. () was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois. It was founded by brothers Paul and Joseph Galvin in 1928 and had been named Motorola since 1947. Many of Motorola's products had been ...
MX 300 embedded inside of the radio and had 10 MED channels. It was slightly ahead of the
Biophone, in portability, but both had the same specifications. The APCOR became very popular during the late 1970s and 1980s; it was widely adopted by fire departments and emergency medical services agencies across the United States and had a significant impact on pre-hospital medical care.
Gallery
File:Motorola Apcor (Front).jpg, White Motorola Apcor Paramedic Radio (Front View)
File:Motorola Apcor (close up).jpg, White Motorola APCOR (close up of controls)
File:Motorola Apcor (top view).jpg, White Motorola APCOR (front inside view of controls)
File:Motorola Apcor (Outer front).jpg, White Motorola APCOR (Outside front view)
See also
*
Biophone
References
* https://web.archive.org/web/20111005020443/http://forums.qrz.com/archive/index.php/t-19508.html
* https://books.google.com/books?id=7dlhz8It-LYC&dq=motorola+apcor&pg=PA4
* http://weblink.ci.plainview.tx.us/WebLink8/DocView.aspx?id=8515&page=2&dbid=0
* http://arlingtonfirejournal.blogspot.com/2005/03/first-medics.html
External links
* http://www.usmra.com/guardian/history_of_paramedics.htm
* https://web.archive.org/web/20110711082756/http://www.general-devices.com/files/learning_pdf/From_BioCom_to_Bluetooth.pdf
* https://archive.today/20130414193331/http://www.emsmuseum.org/virtual-museum/equipment/articles/398790-1974-Paramedic-UHF-Telemetry-Radio-Development
Medical equipment
Telephony equipment
Telemetry
Apcor