VEF TA-65X

[LarryInMichigan]

I received this phone (ebay link) several weeks ago.  The seller conveniently forgot to show or mention the damage to the shell where the handset had bashed it.  I was awfully busy at the time that it arrived, so I didn't pursue the matter. 

I eventually decided to restore it, and it came out halfway decently, as long as one doesn't look at the damaged side part.  All of the electrical contacts in the phone, including the dial, were very dirty, so I gave them all a good brushing with the rotary tool.  I gave the discolored handset cord some bleaching with hydrogen peroxide and then with chlorine bleach in sunlight, so it came out a bit better.  The ends of the cord which had been protected inside the phone and handset were not as white as the phone shell, so I expect that the cord was originally more ivory than white.  The phone came with a dirty flat modular line cord with a plug with a broken tab, so I replaced it with a new white flat modular cord.  The transmitter worked better than any of the eastern European transmitters that I have encountered (though the sound quality is not great), so I kept it but added a 1K resistor in parallel with it to shunt some of the current.  I dismantled the dial and gave it a good cleaning.  The phone works pretty well now.  Overall, the quality of this phone is slightly better than I have seen from other Soviet phones.  The styling is rather nice and a bit cute.

It is interesting that the diagram glued to the inside of the shell is in English.  The model number shown is TA-65AX.  I am assuming that this phone was made for export beyond the socialist workers' paradise (probably to the decadent western imperialists).  The ebay seller was in Manhattan, NY, and a sticker on the bottom of the phone was from a telephone restorer in Flushing, NY.

Does anyone here know anything about these phones?  Were they made for use in cheap private systems? 

Thank You


Larry

[LM Ericsson]

It looks wonderful after the restoration despite the damage, however, it is hard to find these particular phones without damage. I have purchased some Soviet telephones knowing full well that they were damaged.

[LarryInMichigan]

I know that the various Soviet and other communist country plastic phone models were made of very brittle plastic.  Most of the ones I see listed for sale have damage.

Larry