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80's Sculptura pushbutton does not break dial tone

Started by Janeiac, June 23, 2015, 02:06:12 AM

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Janeiac

I have no idea what to do. I'm not handy. Is there something obvious I can check?

DavePEI

First of all and simplest, try reversing the tip and ring (red and green wires) in the outlet you plugged  the phone in. TT dials in the early phones are polarity sensitive, and this may be causing the difficulty.
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compubit

Do the push buttons when depressed travel smoothly, about 1/4" or are do they have a very short 'click' when pressing them (similar to a desktop calculator)?

If it's the full depress (older keypad), are you getting a very slight "I don't hear anything or sort of barely hear something, but it doesn't break dial tone" or do you hear the tones, but it's not breaking the dial tone?  If you don't really hear anything, then try switching the line wires (red and green) to see if that resolves the issue. If swapping the wires doesn't fix it, the pad may be bad.  If you hear tones, but they don't break, then the coils are mistuned - this can be adjusted, but takes time and patience.

If you have the newer short-throw keypad, I'm not sure if they are repairable, as they are fully integrated circuit-based and really don't have any repairable parts.

Hope this helps!

Jim
A phone phanatic since I was less than 2 (thanks to Fisher Price); collector since a teenager; now able to afford to play!
Favorite Phone: Western Electric Trimline - it just feels right holding it up to my face!

Janeiac

I doubt it's the polarity-- the phone used to work, then suddenly quit, and all my other (very old) phones do work in every jack (first thing I checked.)
It's the old-style full-travel touch-tone pad (n click or stop). I do hear the tones, they just won't break the dial tone.


Janeiac

If this is complicated, I'll put it up for grabs anyone want? (You pay postage).