List of Australian Modem Manufacturers

Cheers @EdS. I had a quick search and came up with an advertisement for the Cicada 300T. Made by, or at least available from, Centre Industries, I’ve added them to the list.

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It turns out we already had Centre Industries on the list for the Commodore modems. Looks like they had modems on the go under several brands, similar to the Electromedical Engineering/Sendata.

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I found an old pic of my spirit cobra 33600 at page 78 here

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I’ve still got my sprit viper. Great piece of tech at the time.

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I actually found the old spirit modems website

https://web.archive.org/web/20001203212500/http://www.spiritmodems.com.au:80/modems.htm

image

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Nice! There’s a history page:

Amongst MBE’s early projects was the development of the beeper device at traffic lights for the assistance of visually impaired people, (now deployed worldwide) followed shortly thereafter by a personal computer based text-to-speech synthesizer. The next step was modem technology, simplifying and automating the connection and interchange of data for personal computers, via the telephone line.

By 1991, with the Internet yet to cause an impact, high speed fax/modems had already become very popular and the industry fiercely competitive. At this time MBE sold its BIT modem business to the present day Banksia Technology in order to make way for a new Australian modem brand.

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Here’s a full-page ad for Modem Superstore from Your Computer (Australian), February 1996, page 47. It has prices for a good range of modems including Banksia, Netcomm, Avtek, Spirit and Maestro. The Spirit Viper external modem is priced at $499. When we started the ISP, a few months before this edition was published, Mike Boorne sold us our first batch of Spirit Vipers at $399.

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Hear is a list on Modems available in Australia back in 1987. You can also add the SAM MODEM from Pulsar to the list if its not already.

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Sorry, site doesnt allow a PDF ( :frowning: ) and converts A3 pages to the point they cant be read. So go to Page 29 at Communication World - 1986 to 1990 : Computerworld Pty Limited : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

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Nice list - 14 manufacturers (or perhaps some are only resellers?) in that table, with quite a few product lines and models. Direct link to first page and second page and third page. Some transcribing needed - the IA’s text version has missed a fair bit (search for Gillian Sidebottom to find the article.)

Here are my notes:
J N Almgren Pty, Smith St, Chatswood, NSW. Codex (6 models), AX, AS(5), AX(5)
Case Communication Systems Ltd, Rodborough Rd, Frenchs Forest, NSW. Case Quattro, RV228, SD1222, SB2426
Date Bridge Electronic Communication Pty, Cary St, Drummoyne, NSW. DSP (four models)
Datacraft (Australia) Pty, Maroondah Hwy, Croydon, Vic. 5xx (4 models), 5xxx (6), Concord V22, V22bis, V23 (7 models total) and 2 more
Dataplex Pty, John St, Lilydale, Vic. Dataplex (2 models)
Datasat, Lachlan St, Liverpool NSW. Dataset V1275, Vtex (3 models)
Netcomm (Australia) Pty, Paul St North, North Ryde, NSW. Modem (3 models), Automodem (5), Smartmodem (5+3), Datalock (2), In/Modem (5), Trailblazer (2)
The Nice Computer Company of Australia Pty, Rawson St, Epping, NSW. Nice Modem 2, Modem 3, Inside 1, Inside 2
Pulsar Electronics, Catalina Drive, Tullamarine, Vic. Sam Modem
Rosser Communications, Pacific Hwy, Pymbie, NSW. Cunningham CE DATA (3 models)
Scitec Communication Systems Ltd, Lane Cove NSW. Business 2200, 2400, 2123, Tristar, Olympic
Sendata Communications Pty, Nicholson St, St Leonards, NSW. 15 models
Shuttle Datacomm, St Kilda Rd, Melbourne. Cicada, Shuttle (6 models), Race (4), Rally
Telecorp Pty, Tepok Rd, Terrey Hills, NSW. Fastcomm 96, Fastcomm Plus 2496

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Thank you so much @ChickenMan for these links. I can’t believe so many manufacturers had gone unnoticed for so long - 6 new to the list. I’ve update the top post with all the new companies and added more details to others. Hopefully modems from these companies make their way to the museum too.

Kind thanks to @EdS, I mostly copy and pasted from your notes.
Also big belated kudos to Gillian Sidebottom for the well-researched article

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There’s an advert on the previous page, from Rosser, showing a stack of modems. I think that says Rosser was retail or distribution, without their own product. But I notice they labelled one modem CEL - maybe that’s another one? (Or maybe that’s already mentioned - forum a bit slow, so difficult to check.)

I’ve added the ability to upload up to 8mb PDFs. Maybe this will help

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Here is a later list of Modems available in Australia Dec 1988 with no mention if there are Australian made or just imports.
modems_cw_88_09.pdf (344.1 KB)

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A new year and a new Australian modem manufacturer to add to the list. There’s a 1200 baud modem for sale on eBay [1] branded with “Consolidated Electronics.” The sticker on the back suggests it was re-sold by Rosser Communications (might also have been a repair?). Interesting that it has the power supply built in.

[1] 1200 baud Modem from 1985 | eBay

Here’s a few screenshots of the photos from the listing:

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And another new to our list Australian modem manufacturer has popped up on eBay:

  • Manufacturer: Automatic Ice Company
    • 10 Smith Street, Charlestown, 2290, NSW
    • Apple IIe internal modem
    • 2400 baud, circa 1985
    • auto answer, auto dial
    • Onboard battery pack holds two AA batteries to power a real-time clock that can be programmed to initiate calls

Here are some screen captures of the photos from the listing:

Has anyone heard of Igitur Software Pty. Ltd.? There is a Modem Card for sale on eBay with an Australian Made logo silkscreened on the circuit board.
The description is “MODEM CARD MARK 3” with a copyright date of 1984.
It is an internal expansion card but the form factor wouldn’t fit in a PC. Do you recognise what system this card would suit?

Screen capture from eBay:

I found a reference to Igitur Software on page 80 of APC, November 1983. It’s for a product called “Dataline” and even after reading the ad, I’m still not quite sure what the product was for :slight_smile:

DATALINE is a new, Australian designed and produced
communications system which drives Modem
Technology’s UDM — 1200 Modem and Novation Cat in
the popular U.C.S.D. Pascal Environment and gives the
user a wide range of capabilities for communication with
databases and other computers. The range of functions
provided by DATALINE include …

AUTO-DIAL: Numbers can be fetched automatically
from DATALINE’s Phone Directory and dialled by the
system. All you need remember is the name of the person
you wish to ring.

FILE-HANDLING: Pascal files can be sent and
received onto a disk and/or printer. All incoming and
outgoing information can be shown on the screen so that
it can be checked.

PHONE DIRECTORY SYSTEM: You can create an
unlimited number of Phone Directories (using extra
disks if necessary) each of which can contain up to 127
entries in the following formal:

NAME; New Generation Computer Store
ADDRESS: 93 Longueville Road,
SUBURB/CITY: Lane Cove. NSW 2066
PHONE: (02) 427 4780
CONTACT: Mike/Georqe Sales

I’d be guessing that the missing chip from that board is a trusty AM7910. Looks like that and a bunch of TTL signals (control for dialling/etc?) are routed to the DE-9 Female connector on the right side of the board, which I’d guess was either run for an acoustic connection, or for a box that did the connection to the phone line.

Not sure what system this was for though. Something with an 86 pin card edge connector at any rate.

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Banksia MyInVoice - 336 (also written on the back side as Myinvoice336)
I wonder if the serial number was burnt into the chipset as the stickers front and back match.
There is only one external port - PSTN line in

Screenshots from eBay ad: