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Can anyone identify the equipment that A1 Telephone uses?

Started by bellsystem, June 28, 2017, 01:37:42 PM

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Vacuumlad1650

Andy R...

Vacuumlad1650@gmail.com

My grandfather spent 40+ years at Illinois Bell. Thanks to him, I'm a nut for real telephones! Another breed of Phone Phreak... D. Lipp, 1938-2018

Sigmaz

Every one of his videos are exactly the same in that he follows a certain format/script every time.

And with each production he annoys me with his CB radio lingo.

Whistling and saying "Modulation" as he tests the transmitter is a tell as is his collection of 10/11 meter SWR meters that appear occasionally on the top of his stack of seemingly inoperable test equipment.

Vacuumlad1650

Quote from: Key2871 on April 15, 2018, 06:01:30 PM
What I want to know, is what he is referring to when he works on payphones, when he says "my own parts, to make it work". I have noticed he makes it seem harder to "fix" a phone, any phone with how he cuts out the actual process to acheve what he wants to do.

I spoke to him once with a repair question. His response was "We are NOT a How-To service. The only purpose for the videos you see online is to allow the telephone owner to see the telephone, and how it works to ensure it is to their standards before we ship it out."

Andy R...

Vacuumlad1650@gmail.com

My grandfather spent 40+ years at Illinois Bell. Thanks to him, I'm a nut for real telephones! Another breed of Phone Phreak... D. Lipp, 1938-2018

Sigmaz

I don't mean to bust on the guy.

Clearly he's got his own ideas on what he should relay to the viewers of his videos..

I'm just personally not impressed with his work or with the way he relays said information.
Maybe I'm just a jerk and I suppose I could always just not watch his videos.

But in my defense, I thought originally it was an educational series.

I learned quickly that it's anything but.

A big stack of worthless test kit... show off.

Sigmaz

Note to Admin:
Just to cover my butt, I'm not trying to be an elitist.. I was just pointing out some things I noticed in A1's videos that errk me..

I know the thread is old and the horse has been dead for a while, but something compelled me to post..
Please accept my apologies if I'm out of line or my remarks seem too disparaging.

I definitely don't want to be banned.

compubit

I see the videos as more advertising his services than helping the community out.

I have no idea how much he charges, but there are probably enough folks out the with a phone that's been in the family for a long time that they want to work again and are willing to pay. 

I do like some of the more unique ones just to see what the innards are like (especially some of the Design Line phones).

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!

tallrick

There are several things I find annoying about A1 electronics. He disables comments, he always stressed the MODULAR port which is something I would NEVER put in any pre 1976 phone. The phrase "wire the way we want to" really bugs me. The icing on the cake is how he "converts" COCOT payphones by removing the circuit board. The whistling and talking about 100 percent modulation is just a minor annoyance on my part  In my phone lab I have the usual equipment, oscilloscope, TM 504 rack with DMM, DC power supply and signal generator, as well as AC 90 Volt 20Hz power supply. All phones are tested through my Asterisk PBX I have used a similar pick up coil design by connecting a salvaged AC compressor clutch coil to the input of my PA system.

Key2871

I used those displacement connectors before, but after a while I found them to be very clunky.
Not to mention expense. So I bought solid wire RJ12 ends, and they did the same thing, and any quad wire you could put new ends on. I actually like using the solid wire ends much better. And I started off using the five port modular Jack thing, but again it was clunky. So I stopped.
I think having a four pin to modular is a good idea because if testing an older phone, with that type of end is easier than pulling wires off and using jumpers.
I pretty much make my own adapters that I find I can use.
Like a standard box Jack, I put in a small slide switch I can use to switch lines on multi line phone's for testing. Works great, and it's cheap to make. But oh so handy for testing two, three and four line phone's.
Yes, the 100% modulation is annoying for me as well.
But even though he's entitled to make a living fixing phone's, I'm not convinced he adds some "other ingredients" to spice up his videos. Single slot payphones for instance, unless they had a protel, Ernest or other chassis and he had to change that out to get the phone to operate as a regular phone. Why doesn't he just say that.
But he makes it a mystery, like trade secrets he can't divulge because some may figure him out.
And the only thing not available over the counter is that amp ring, but easily made with an amplifier.
I don't think he wants to answer questions about his work either, so he turned that off.
Granted for John q public, this guy is a god send. But for us who know phone's it's all in a days play.
KEN