Unclassified Army Western Electric Phone fun!!!!

[rp2813]

Allen, it sounds like you've described a polarity issue. I've run into this same thing with model 2500 Touchtone sets on occasion. Reversing the wires either on the L1 and L2 terminals inside the phone or at the wall jack will usually fix the problem.

I know what you mean about turntables! I was out junking with a young friend recently . . . and we came across a record changer turntable. I instructed him to give the turntable a spin to see if the mechanism worked properly and the stylus would lift, shift, and set itself down where an LP would normally be. Then I showed him the trick where if you wanted the same record to automatically play repeatedly, you would move the changer arm all the way to the right and lock it in place. He thought that was pretty cool.

 

[lordkenmore]

"...I wonder how many people are out there today that wouldn't know how to make a call with a rotary phone!"

I have heard stories about people with rotary dial phones who have a teenage relative come, stand, stare, and ask: "What do I do?"

The first time I heard something like this, I felt incredibly old and over the hill!

 

[rp2813]

It seems weird that any of today's youth wouldn't know the first thing to do with a rotary dial. The percentage of them who watched Lucy, Ethel, and the whole Brady family along with Alice do it many times is probably very high.

 

[washernoob]

Ahaha

Ive always known how to use one since I always used to play with all the rotaries in my grandpas home when I was little. I would pretend to call others. I have always had a fascination with old phones. Its only recently that I can say I proudly own one!

To throw things off a lot. I found out this phone is a 1966 model! Have good word of it, since the innards are stamped with IV-66. The fourth quarter of 1966.

Have no idea why it says 1964 on that front logo! Must have made a transfer. perhaps the original phone broke so they put it into a new phone.

What I thought was "63" is actually G3, the style of the receiver I believe.

 

[cornutt]

"UNCLASSIFIED ONLY". Well of course. It's black.

 

[washernoob]

Well my adaptor cord arrived today!

And as always expected, the phone works!

There is a constant fuzzy sound in the background when a call is connected. Perhaps due to the new style phone lines. Someone gave me a tip on how to fix that issue.

Still haven't connected up the ringer yet. I've made probably 6 calls today on the phone. Its so much fun! I enjoy hanging up by setting down the receiver, rather than turning the phone over and pressing a little button. More official.

 

[rp2813]

Brandon, just wait until somebody at the end of a call tree (aka Bangalore) frustrates the hell out of you by reading from a script. That's when slamming the handset into its cradle will prove to be most therapeutic.

That fuzzy sound on the line isn't because you need a DSL filter, is it?

 

[whirlcool]

I am not surprised that young'uns today wouldn't know how to use a rotary phone. I can't even remember the last time I used a rotary.

But I DO remember when push button touch tone phones came out. One of my aunts had one when touch tone came to her area. It was 1964. I marveled at the fact that there was no dial. I think Ma Bell charged you a $0.75 premium each month over rotary.

Those Western Electric phones were indestructable. They could take anything. I remember the building in Chicago's west side where they were made. A HUGE city of a building. Thousands of people worked there each shift.
Here is a photo of the old building. It was at least 5 times longer then it was wide.

 

[lordkenmore]

How long did the surcharge for Touch Tone last? I seem to recall someone in the 80s went Touch Tone, and said they STILL charged a surcharge.

It has been years since I even saw a rotary dial phone in service, let alone used one. No one in my outside AW.org life is likely to have one, except me--and I'm so cheap I've switched to a cell phone. ("HMMMM, $20+ a month, vs less than $4. Well, that decision was easy to make!")

 

[lordkenmore]

After posting my last response here

I realized I should have done things differently. That post was my post count of #556. If only I'd thought/planned better, I could have had #555 appear on the phone thread. (Think: TV shows with phone numbers like 555-0199.)

Of course, even thinking this, might prove one of two things:
-Simple minds, simple pleasures
-I need to get out more

 

[lordkenmore]

"That fuzzy sound on the line isn't because you need a DSL filter, is it?"

DSL filters do seem to be very important. But (at least on the one system I had experience with), they seemed to matter more for the computer. I remember the Internet not working. Tech support said to check filters, and installing a missing filter fixed the problem.

Of course, that was one phone company DSL system, and--frankly--the system was questionable. One HUGE problem I had was something (or things) along the chain did not support IPV6. Meanwhile, almost every system I wanted to IPV6. I got royally sick and tired of manually editing configuration files to kill IPV6, especially since I tended to change software so much.

 

[dirtybuck]

In Case You've Forgotten

Here's a brief tutorial on how to dial a telephone. THERE WILL BE A TEST AFTER THE VIDEO, so make sure you pay attention.

 

[lordkenmore]

Bring rotary dial fun to your iPhone.

Link:

http://www.iretrophone.com/apps/iRetroPhone---Rotary-Dialer.html

 

[rp2813]

Many members on my dad's side of the family worked at that WECo building in Cicero. During that time, the plant was probably still cranking out candlestick models.

It's a shame the building wasn't saved via some type of adaptive re-use.

 

[polkanut]

Here is a tutorial film clip on how to use a dial telephone from 1927. It is a silent short. My late mother-in-law was born 8/7/1927, 41 days after direct dialing in the Fresno area went into effect. [this post was last edited: 10/27/2010-12:48]

 

[dirtybuck]

Polka:

I like that one and the animated characters hair.