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"Concorde Blue" 700's

Started by gpo706, August 17, 2010, 08:45:15 PM

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Tribune

I'm running a red GPO 746 (February 1980) , no mods at all, just the standard British Telecom line plug (4 conductors, 3 used) into a BT mastersocket that I ordered from the UK on-line.  That feeds out to a regular RJ-11 modular connector (4 conductors, 2 used) for use here in Canada. Would dearly love a concord blue 700 series though, specially if it was a birthday phone, lol. March 1976 - seen any?  ;)

GPO706, do you have any pics of your blue 746 and 706? Would love to see.
Mark Furze - TCI, ATCA

To miss-quote "Bones" McCoy . . .
                     "darn it Jim - I'm a doctor, not a telephone engineer!"

gpo706

Tribune - I'm working on getting some pics done this weekend, I have borrowed a USB cable from a guy at work to get my brothers camera to dump onto the computer.

The 706 is still sans dial surround although I'm looking...

I also got a repro blue finger dial on it now, although I have to admit it makes it look rather boring compared to the contrasting clear one.
"now this should take five minutes, where's me screwdriver went now..?"

Tribune

Quote from: LarryInMichigan on August 19, 2010, 10:55:54 PM
McHeath,

What were the modifications?

Larry

Hi Larry, you could probably rewire to the BT Plug & Socket system as introduced in the UK in 1979. www.britishtelephones.com provides a great overview and instructions here. You'll probably need a new BT plug line-cord for that. Then you'd need a BT NTE5 master socket to plug in to and wired up to your normal ring & tip two conductor system. You can find them for sale from UK outlets on the internet including this site. Note that technically, wiring one of this in yourself in the UK is illegal! This is the route I went, though I didn't have to convert to the Plug & Socket system as it was there already.

I'm sure though that there's a far more elegant way to do this, Perhaps cannibalizing the components from the master socket and internalizing them in your phone.
Mark Furze - TCI, ATCA

To miss-quote "Bones" McCoy . . .
                     "darn it Jim - I'm a doctor, not a telephone engineer!"

Tribune

Well, after closely loosing out on e-bay yesterday in my bid for a dial-less Kellogg 925 :'(, I needed a bit of retail therapy. So, I've joined the Concord Blue 700 club  ;D! Found a good looking 1974 set on e-bay, strangely listed as green, though I made sure the seller sent me extra pics. Handset looks a little browned, but we'll see what we can do with a bit of polishing.
Mark Furze - TCI, ATCA

To miss-quote "Bones" McCoy . . .
                     "darn it Jim - I'm a doctor, not a telephone engineer!"

McHeath

The modifications were pretty simple, as I recall.  I had to wire the line cord to work with an RJ-11.  I added a resistor in the circuit to quiet the clicks when you dial.  And I had to change some of the jumpers on the circuit board to make the phone ring.  I think that was all, but perhaps GPO recalls more as I think he was the fellow who gave me the info. 

gpo706

Standard setup:

Handset: white - 10, red - 1, green - 2, blue -3. dual diode rectifier fitted between 1 & 2.

Line: green - 15, blue - 6, red - 8, white - 10, 3.3k resistor between 4 & 5.

Only things strapped should be 5 & 6, 16/17/18/19.

"now this should take five minutes, where's me screwdriver went now..?"

Tribune

As I suspected, a far more elegant approach than mine, lol!
The beauty of having a home-built BT mastersocket adapter is that if you acquire a  British phone with a modern (post late '70s) plug on, you don't have to change anything inside.
Mark Furze - TCI, ATCA

To miss-quote "Bones" McCoy . . .
                     "darn it Jim - I'm a doctor, not a telephone engineer!"

gpo706

#22
Tribune - I find "if it aint broke, dont even try to fix it", just leave as is, bloody weird as some sets I have are not wired up anthing resembling the above set-up, but they work fine.

Mind you this 710 clone / Plessey N1905 is doing my head in...
"now this should take five minutes, where's me screwdriver went now..?"

gpo706

Quote from: gpo706 on August 29, 2010, 09:45:14 PM
Trbune - I find "if it aint broke, dont even try to fix it", just leave as is, bloody weird as some sets I have are not wired up anthing resembling the above set-up, but they work fine.

Mind you this 710 clone / Plessey N1905 is doing my head in...

Tribune - cracked it, took all night, T6 to T4 on blue.

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=3163.msg42215#msg42215

Don't ask me how its wired that way, I just know it works now!  ;)
"now this should take five minutes, where's me screwdriver went now..?"

Tribune

Great job! Nothing beats good old fashioned trial and error.

Interesting phone that too.
Mark Furze - TCI, ATCA

To miss-quote "Bones" McCoy . . .
                     "darn it Jim - I'm a doctor, not a telephone engineer!"

gpo706

I mamanged to source a dial surround from one of my regular suppliers, however just add a touch of the unusual to it its an Arabic surround, never seen one of these before, gonna make a very conversation inducing set, I can always get a plain one or an alphanumeric if it becomes TOO tiresome to explain!

This might become a 10/706 wall mount if I cant find space anywhere else.

"now this should take five minutes, where's me screwdriver went now..?"

Tribune

Very nice.
Similar to the dial surround on my Italian-made Lebanese ITT 500 look-a-like I got recently. Would look great on a shiny black 706.
Mark Furze - TCI, ATCA

To miss-quote "Bones" McCoy . . .
                     "darn it Jim - I'm a doctor, not a telephone engineer!"