Thanks, everyone..

An example of the type of helpful posts I received>>
"My phone had much of its capabilities disabled by Verizon, but I was able
to
get a USB cable that plugs into the charging port and a program called
BitPim that generally bypasses their blocks.
If you do some googling you can probably find hacker sites specific to your
phone as well.

Cya,
Robert"<<

  As suggested above by Robert, the answer is (hopefully) right there in the
Google search.  This is almost exactly what was suggested by posts on the
subject that the Google search turned up for my Katana II phone from Sprint.

 I don't know if I'd call them "Hacker-sites" exactly.. The term "Hacker"
seems to have a somewhat negative meaning but the sites I found were more on
the positive side:  Some people worked out ways to allow phone purchasers to
utilize their phones to the potential for which they already paid without
being forced to subscribe to a bunch of extra and expensive services that we
don't want or need, giving a "double bump" to the various wireless phone
companies.  It seems each phone company has worked out a slightly different
way to make it difficult to transfer your pics and then to double charge you
back for the 'priviledge' of doing so, even though they all get the same
phones from the instrument supplier.

 So with a little Googling you can find the specific fix for your own phone
(they are pretty similar) and re-enable your phone to communicate directly
with your PC or Mac and exchange your data without paying an additional $15
a month (Sprint's 'ransom') to get your 'digits' from widget to
widget..(sorry)

  It is really amazing how helpful Vanagon list is.  Hopefully, some others
will benefit from this off-topic thread and we'll all get to see more
Vanagon/Cell Phone pics now as a result.  I know I will soon be able to
document more since I often travel with my phone but without my fancy
camera.

 Thanks all
Don Hanson