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We have the pictures, how about the SOUNDS

Started by Dan, July 08, 2009, 09:21:08 PM

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Dan

I would like to hear files of various ringers. We all know how a  WE 500 sounds. How about an AE80, 40 or 34? How about a starlite or princess or ericophon? How about a British phone or an austrialian rotary?Anyway, you get what I mean. I am unsure how to post a "wav" file or mp3 but it would be cool to hear them. I would love to hear a 202 with a subset, since I don't have one. Thanks
"Imagine how weird telephones would look if our ears weren't so close to our mouths." - Steven Wright

JorgeAmely

Before posting sounds, we should suggest a recording standard, such as mike distance to the phone and "above the phone" or at the "same height" recording. Just my 2 cents.
Jorge

Dennis Markham

#2
Experiment:  I'm going to upload a wav file and see how it works with forum software.

It looks like it will open in whatever default music program one has on his/her computer.

Dan

Worked great  for me. I love the sound of an AE40 or it's wall phone counterpart jukebox phone.
"Imagine how weird telephones would look if our ears weren't so close to our mouths." - Steven Wright

Dennis Markham

Here is an AE40 that I recorded ringing some time ago.

Dan

"Imagine how weird telephones would look if our ears weren't so close to our mouths." - Steven Wright

mienaichizu


Dennis Markham

I will upload a couple more.  These are files that I recorded in the past year or so.  The first one is a North Electric "Galion" phone.  The second file is a 302 Ringer.

jsowers

That's a great idea, capturing the sounds.

One sound I bet nobody has is the sound of a frequency ringer in a party line phone. I'm referring to AE equipment here. I grew up with that sound. We had a party line my entire childhood (1960s and 70s) and so did my grandmother next door. The ringers rang on a different frequency than a regular private line phone. Ours had a distinct thrumming sound--very low-pitched with a lot of vibration. It was an AE40 sitting on a pine countertop. You could almost compare it to a pager set on vibrate, but with some bell sound added. If the phone hadn't been as heavy as it was and had that rubber gasket on the bottom, it would have walked off the counter.

It's not a pleasant sound and I think my mom was pleased when it left. My grandmother's was a little nicer sounding, from an AE50 jukebox phone on the wall. If there are any old phone guys out there, they may know the frequencies of all of them. I do know that a private line ringer never worked on our line--I tried it when I was a kid.
Jonathan

JorgeAmely

Jonathan:

I am not an old phone guy, but frequency ringers were available to operate at:

16, 16 2/3 and 20 Hz using a 0.47 microfarad capacitor,
25 Hz                         using a 0.27 microfarad capacitor,
30, and 33 1/3 Hz      using a 0.18 microfarad capacitor,
40, 42 and 50 Hz       using a 0.10 microfarad capacitor,
54 and 60 Hz             using a 0.07 microfarad capacitor,
66 and 66 2/3 Hz       using a 0.05 microfarad capacitor.

As indicated above, 20 Hz frequency ringers (not straight line) work nicely on modern lines. They don't have a bias spring. I believe that only independent companies used these ringing frequencies. Ma Bell used only 20 Hz to ring their phones (Bill, please correct me if I am wrong).
Jorge

jsowers

This may be a little OT since it's not a ringer, but here's a sound I captured two years ago of Jane Barbe doing the time and temperature. Sunday, Jane will have been dead for six years, but her voice lives on, at least at our local telco. They didn't install Time & Temperature until the 1990s and she did the ads, the time, temperature and weather for the first few years. I could tell her voice was older sounding near the end. Then when she retired, they replaced her with other anonymous voices doing the ads, but Jane is still doing the rest to this day. Today's forecast is the same as the recording, but with different temps. If anyone has free long distance and wants to hear it, it's 336-CHestnut 3-2351.

Here's a picture of Jane and her Wikipedia bio. I'm reminded of a story she told once. When her mother would get that unique voice on a recording over the phone, she'd always say "shutup Jane!"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Barbe
Jonathan

HobieSport

#11
Dennis, thanks for the recordings of the ringers on a 302, 500, AE 40 and Gallion. Do you have any more ring recordings? And thanks again Brinybay for the 202 recording. They are indeed fun to compare.

To me the 500 sound brings me right back to my childhood, and makes me imagine that one of my buddies is calling to see if we can go out and play. The 302 sounds similar, though maybe a little "harsher" than the 500. The 202 sounds nice and soft, but maybe that's because the gongs are facing down during Brinybays' recording. The AE 40/50 sounds higher on the musical scale, light and a bit "delicate", in a pleasant way, and the Galion sounds rather "clattery", though that may have been a function of how the clapper and gongs were adjusted during Dennis' recording?

As Jorge pointed out, to really compare the tones one would have to use a recording standard and I would add that of course the various clappers and gongs would have to be optimally adjusted.

The amateur musician in me wants to learn the actual musical frequencies (notes) and harmonies of the various gong pairs. Maybe I can temporarily remove each gong on the various phones and hook them to my musical instrument tuner, or just try to match the notes on the piano. I'm guessing they are mostly major (cheerful) harmonies, but was just thinking how strange it might be to have a phone that rang in a minor harmony. It might sound ominous or even sad whenever it rang, like the start of an old Irish ballad...

Or maybe I should just get really carried away and hook up a set of different phone gongs and clappers to a set of switches, like a crude electronic keyboard, so I can play Mozart... ;)
-Matt

foots

"Ain't Worryin' 'Bout Nothin"

Dennis Markham

I just finished some work on a 634A Subscriber Set (Ringer Box).  I thought I'd upload another sound byte from that ringer.  For your listening pleasure........

dsk

Quote from: JorgeAmely on July 09, 2009, 11:56:39 AM
Jonathan:

I am not an old phone guy, but frequency ringers were available to operate at:

16, 16 2/3 and 20 Hz using a 0.47 microfarad capacitor,
25 Hz                         using a 0.27 microfarad capacitor,
30, and 33 1/3 Hz      using a 0.18 microfarad capacitor,
40, 42 and 50 Hz       using a 0.10 microfarad capacitor,
54 and 60 Hz             using a 0.07 microfarad capacitor,
66 and 66 2/3 Hz       using a 0.05 microfarad capacitor.

As indicated above, 20 Hz frequency ringers (not straight line) work nicely on modern lines. They don't have a bias spring. I believe that only independent companies used these ringing frequencies. Ma Bell used only 20 Hz to ring their phones (Bill, please correct me if I am wrong).


This was a great info.
we have never used frequency ringers here, but it seems like this combination of tuned ringers and capacitors should be able to work as an other bell just by putting in a cap of greater size.

How does it ring on 20-25 Hz with a cap of 0.5-1 microfarad in parallel with the existing one?

dsk