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Hayes "Government 2400" modem?

S

Soupwizard

Experienced Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2008
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206
Location
Vancouver, WA, USA
I bought a set of 3 vintage modems off ebay, and one of them is a Hayes "Government 2400" model. Looks like a special model of the Smartmodem 2400, but with a sturdy plain beige case instead of silver one, and a big "Government Use Only" sticker on the bottom (and of course on the front is says Government 2400 instead of Smartmodem 2400).

Does anyone know if, other than the externals, it's exactly the same as the Smartmodem 2400? I don't have a power adapter for it yet to test it (it takes 8.5v AC with special hayes plug).

The other 2 modems were a AT&T Dataphone II 2212C and a Anderson-Jacobs 2400T. Does anyone else collect modems? I need to find some sort of PBX simulator to use them with.

Edit: found my camera:

hayes-government-2400-modem.jpg


Jeff
 
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This is completely a guess but a government specific computer device may just be tempest compliant which means it doesn't leak any frequency or electromagnetic discharge from it's components where a bad person could conceivably monitor for the spikes while the device is in operation and create a data pattern or decrypt the data based on the emissions. Just a guess though and they used to actually specify tempest compliant so they could sell it for more.

I suppose it could also have some interesting features or not be truly compliant with any speed limitations etc.
 
Good find! I'll be interested in seeing the output of ATI3 when you get it hooked up.

There doesn't seem to be a lot of interest in communications as vintage objects, but some people here do know a thing or three. I'm not that knowledgeable, but I do collect modems and have quite a few. Externals haven't been particularly interesting to me in the past and now I'm sorry for systematically throwing out Hayes 1200s whenever I came across them. (blush)

I can't remember what externals I have, but one of them is actually one of my favourite modems. I posted about it here, and as you can see people got wildly excited. :) It's a Comsphere 9600BPS trellis multipoint standalone with deluxe diagnostic control panel (DCP), standard DMC diagnostic control, which supports, all in one breath, extended options modem. (phew!) AKA PARADYNE 3440-A2-120.

For some reason I'm in love with 2400 baud internals. That was the first type I got, and I have a soft spot for that generation. Other than old ones, I always hang on to 56.6 USR modems because of their modern day usefulness, but being ISA I guess they too are about vintage by now.
 
I have several early modems for sale and one is a Hayes 2400 original with power supply. I didn't know they made a government model. I have to say, I can't believe the difference in price between now and just a few years ago. I could have sold my Hayes for around $70.00 but now even $30.00 doesn't seem to grab any interest.
 
VintageComputerman said:
I have several early modems for sale and one is a Hayes 2400 original with power supply. I didn't know they made a government model. I have to say, I can't believe the difference in price between now and just a few years ago. I could have sold my Hayes for around $70.00 but now even $30.00 doesn't seem to grab any interest.
Click to expand...

Where are your modem up for sale at?

I think Hayes were of interest a few years ago because they were still used in alarm system (so I heard) and thus they were still needed for commerical use. Or maybe people suddenly got nostalgic and prices rose, then everyone else realized the Hayes smartmodems were worth something and a flood came out of closets and basements.
 
I have a couple of Hayes internal 1200 baud Smartmodem cards (1983 and 1984), and a little while ago I was doing a lot of searching for original software. Indeed, there were a huge amount of links for security systems using several versions of old Smartmodems. I thinks one of the major systems specifies that model for some reason. Presumably installers would go with what was specified to work even though something else "might" be just as good - liability being an issue.
 
Unless that modem is actually better shielded, I'd guess that "Government use only" was more of a label than anything else. Perhaps to ensure that equipment purchased by the government didn't escape into the secondary market. You used to see a lot of surplus boxes of KAO floppies labeled "government use only". There was nothing different about the disks, they were just marked that way so that hopefully they wouldn't grow little feet from the office.

Not that anyone cared though, they showed up at computer fairs anyway. About as effective as "Promotional Copy - Not for Resale" marked on records intended for radio stations.

-Ian
 
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