WWii German field exchange and 6 Field telephones

[dsk]

I observed an ad for a lot of 6 field telephones and a field exchange, Not many pictures, and not any detailed description, but I knew someone living in that area so I got it picked up and payed.

Not 100 % sure what I got but here they are in the back of my car + some from the ad.


I hope this will be attractive to swop against a SB22PT, witch is wat I actually not have, and wish I had. (Used the SB22PT  when I served)

dsk

[AL_as_needed]

wow nice find! Not sure if they are all original or period correct, but they still look like they are in great condition. Going to set all of them up?

[Number, please!]

Ganske gode, meget interessant!  Great find, Dag.

[shadow67]

My sister in law lives in Germany and gave me one of those phones for Christmas a few years ago. It is in working condition. I have tested it with a couple of D cells and wired it to another magneto phone.

[Sargeguy]

Those do not look military. German military equipment of the period did not have the manufacturer's name on it, instead they used a three letter code.  This was to hide the whereabouts of factories involved in war production. For example, Swarovski binoculars were marked  "cag".

[rdelius]

Those appear to be the real thing. Later production was more likely to have factory codes but earlier  before the war started did not. These are FF33? sets introduced in 1933? The German railroads might have used them to .Look for the eagle acceptance stamp on the handset where the hang up loop is.This might be ground off after the war or  captured and reissued (Chech).This design inspired similar sets to  be built in soviet block countries and China.Looks like a good deal and worth more than a common SB22 by itself

[dsk]

I am sure these are real. The Norwegian forces used these for at least 35 years after the war. They has been used in war and piece peace. They have had a kind of maintenance to be kept in working order. Officially they were out of service since about 1980, but since you never get enough of new equipment in the forces they were kept in use in fixed installations like fortresses etc for some time.  They are all in working condition, but I have to look at them before l tell you anything more.

dsk

[AL_as_needed]

Can field phones be modified to connect with POTs? I know they cannot dial out but more as an extension set.

[dsk]

That is a question I can answer pretty well:
These field telephones needs an additional unit for that purpose, you may make the adapter yourselves by having a suitable box with a ringer capacitor (1uF will be fine) in series with the phone, on the c.o. side of the capacitor you need a switch (hook-switch or on/off for a suitable holding coil across the line) and a coil. The coil could typical be a relay with a coil having a DC resistance between 100 and 400 ohms. (approx)

On the other hand US telephones like EE-8, Ta43/tp and TA-312/tp are made for CB too. So are lots of other field telephones too.

dsk

[dsk]

I will use lots of time on these to find out what I have got, and the oldest phone dated 1937 is a type with a circuit abandoned in 1939. Never seen a LB telephone with such circuit, but it works OK.

As you see of the picture of the handset it has wear and tear, but the capsules and cord is new. The Norwegian forces did the maintenance as long as they could get parts, and the the handset shows that it could be close to the end.


The 2 pictures of the inside of the phone may interest some, and the fact that it has only 1 capacitor (and the soldering on the induction coil) proofs it is an pre 1939 version.



dsk

[dsk]

The next I loooked at is a 1940 made by Vereinigte Bayerische Telephonwerke AG München 25, Hofmannstr. 51

The photo shows that now the gongs are galvanized steel.

dsk

[Sargeguy]

I thought they might be Swiss or something but the inspection stamp indicates that these were used by the military. 

[19and41]

I have 3 field phones that are Mfr. stamped and Waffenamt stamped as well.  I think the coding system was primarily for arms and military exclusive equipment, to get by the Versailles restrictions.

[dsk]

Back from holiday, here is a list of the 6 phones:

[dsk]

Her are 2 interesting links regarding the German war telephones

http://www.rkk-museum.ru/vitr_all/exhibits/docs/FS_FF-33.pdf

http://der-fernmelder.de/info/hersteller-feldfernsprecher-33/