Museum Reno

[DavePEI]

Hi Everyone:

When I had my heart attack a few weeks ago, a renovation of the museum's old kitchen area had just begun. I had hired contractors to change the old kitchen to an office/workshop. They did a wonderful job, and the job even came in under budget, but I was unable to help them at all due to my health. They did a great job on autopilot, I think you will see.

This reno will open up another room to use for display by eliminating the use of two rooms for office and workshop.

I would have loved to do this myself, but alas, the heart attack and my general health got in the way. However, once I got out of hospital, it was great watching them work!

Here is a photo of the poor old room before the work - pretty sad, wasn't it?

Update, July 26th - Below that, you will find photos taken July 26th n4 new photos, updating those I had on previously. You will note the shelves on the other side of the room are completed and have been populated, among many other changes. See other message below showing the room freed up for display by combining the office in this room.

[Dennis Markham]

Dave, the room looks great.  Welcome back.   We all hope that you are continuing to improve and you will be back to 100% soon!

[HarrySmith]

Welcome back Dave, glad you are doing better an here's to more improvment.
The room looks great! Also looks like you got a chance to organize stuff too. Way too neat! How long will it stay that way!

[DavePEI]

The room looks great! Also looks like you got a chance to organize stuff too. Way too neat! How long will it stay that way!

Hi Harry:

I put my cords and spare parts in containers this spring to keep them dry and clean. So, it was just a matter of moving them back in when they finished. I am ashamed to say, it took 5 days or so to move it all back in - I have had to pace myself. I just finished labeling all of them today, and changing the batteries in all of my test equipment.

However, I expect to keep it that clean because museum visitors can see it too, and it is much easier to use a clean, organized workshop. Nice to have the open shelves rather than the old kitchen cupboards to store stuff - it is much easier to find anything I  need :-) Better than having to open half a dozen cupboards!

The water cooler, cup dispenser, and coffee maker was a nice touch, too. My wife asks me when I am going to move my bed over to the museum

[AE_Collector]

Looking good Dave! So you gain a room to set up  more displays in as well?

Tell everyone about the Aliant Telco installers visit to install your ADSL.

Terry

[DavePEI]

Looking good Dave! So you gain a room to set up  more displays in as well?

Tell everyone about the Aliant Telco installers visit to install your ADSL.

Terry

Hi Terry:

Yes, I gain a room because before I used the kitchen as a workshop, and another room as am office. Now, by combining both in one purpose-built room, I am able to open up what was the office previously as display area. It will be a while before I can do that. I have to get everything out of it including the desk built-in, and paint it, but it will be added real estate badly needed!

Yes, the DSL! Now, that was a funny one!

Wednesday, Bell-Aliant came to install DSL here. Now previously, we were on ISN Wireless/Ruranet, but because Jeff is leaving the company to go back to school, we will soon be without the wireless, so I decided it was time to make the move over to DSL.

Ok, simple. Well not exactly. Back when my parents left this house to go to the nursing home, we moved in to the front house leaving the back house to become the museum. As an expedient, and a means of keeping the same phone number for both the museum and this house, we simply ran a line over to this house from the museum, and had the previous service disconnected here.

Ok, thing number one which completely confused the installer. He had to disconnect the museum, and connect the front house to the our pair at the pedestal. Doing so meant he had to find the disused underground pair from this house at the pedestal.

Being a DSL installer only, it was the first time that he had ever had to do that!

He had to install an NID on this house in place of the old can entrance, and because we didn't want to have to use a filter on every phone, he installed a POTS splitter in the new NID. Both the line to the back house then had to be connected to the splitter, and the line to the 66 block downstairs as well, and a line ran in for the server downstairs.

Second and third thing entirely new to him! He had never worked on an older house with a 66 block used for connections - used here so each phone can have its own line back to the entrance point where they there junction with the line. Common sense and better than daisy chaining them through the house.

Third was he was used to connecting the DSL to either a single computer or to a wireless router. Not so in this case. We have a server in the basement dedicated to a number of chores including fire-walling and other things as well as distributing the internet to other  computers around the property. This includes both wired and wireless from a router down there. Then in my home office, there is a wireless router, and a line is run over to the museum for its internet, with another wireless system located there. Complicated, and that completely threw him for a loop! He just couldn't understand that the DSL connection had to go from the DSL modem directly into the server! Finally, I told him to get it running into his laptop, and than I would connect the activated line to the server, which he did.

Then he just had to see the museum! He was totally fascinated, and says he will be back to show it to some of his co-workers.

Anyway, it was an interesting experience, and one that threw a few unusual challenges at him. He did get a kick out of a home owner who knew exactly what needed to be done :-)

Dave

[DavePEI]

Looking good Dave! So you gain a room to set up  more displays in as well?


Hi Terry and all:

The  new display area is on the way. It was previously the office in the museum, made obsolete by the combination office/workshop just finished.

So far, the old built-in office desk has been removed, walls cleaned and patched, Jeff took the filing cabinet upstairs where it can still be accessed but will be out of the way, old miscellaneous hardware removed, and I am now awaiting the painters, again, a job I would have normally done myself, but now can't any more.

Cabling through the room has been tidied up, and the Norstar set moved up off the desk to the wall.

So, things are proceeding nicely despite the fact it took almost three weeks to get it to this stage with Jeffery and Linda's help with any heavy work. I could only work at it for a half hour or so at a time. But, it got done, and I guess that is what matters, and didn't result in my having to go back to hospital!

Another teletype is on the way for the museum  this one a Model 15, like the one I had back in 1985 which I used on RTTY. Lacking foresight, I gave that one away, and have regretted that since as I had no Model 15 to add to the museum collection. It, like the Model 28 ASR, the ASR-33, KSR-33, and the military high speed teletype
will be completely refurbished and put in the display in operational condition for demonstrations.

It is coming from Boston, thanks to a site user who is picking it up in Boston, and transporting it here to PEI.

Dave

[AE_Collector]

Hi Dave:

I think you need to move into the Motel down the road and convert YOUR house to the Teletype Museum of PEI. That way you can keep both museums side by side.

Glad your still making slow but steady progress there. Just remember to take it nice and easy yourself.

Terry

[NorthernMan]

Dave, nice job on the museum. When i was reading your story on the Bell Aliant tech it reminded me about the good old days when everything was new and learning about your job as you went was so much fun. These techs today have to know so much more than us old time telephone installers. It must be even a better and more exciting job now.

P.S. Keep on trucking !

[AE_Collector]

These techs today have to know so much more than us old time telephone installers.

Well yes & no. Try ot find one of the new guys who can fix a phone on premises or anywhere for that matter. Or one that knows how to up a line as a party line. But yes the technolgy is changing and with all the quirks of ADSL and TV now there are lots of new things to learn. Myself, I'm tired of learning and just want out!

Terry

[DavePEI]

Update, July 26th - Below that, you will find photos taken July 26th, updating those I had on previously. You will note the shelves on the other side of the room are completed and have been populated, among many other changes. See other message below showing the room freed up for display by combining the office in this room.

As promised, here are a couple of photos showing the room cleared up for display by combining the office and workshop into the newly renovated room of the museum. This gives me much more display area before I open up the Museum's upstairs!

This room used to house a large built-in desk, computers, etc. It has had the desk removed, the walls repaired and painted, rail on stairs has been repaired, and upstairs chained off until the upstairs is needed for display.

The gals doing the painting finished up yesterday.

Dave

[DavePEI]

Hi Dave:

I think you need to move into the Motel down the road and convert YOUR house to the Teletype Museum of PEI. That way you can keep both museums side by side.

Glad your still making slow but steady progress there. Just remember to take it nice and easy yourself.

Terry

Hi Terry:

But then, where will I put the Telegraph Museum of PEI?

Maybe a better name would be the Communications Museum of PEI, but I am not about the change it now Better name than Dave's Boat Anchor Emphorium and Playground, too!

On that note, does anyone of the Forum also collect Telegraph keys, sounders, and relays? Not here yet, is an interesting item I am waiting for; an Electro Manufacturing Company bug, similar to a Vibroplex bug.

http://www.islandregister.com/phones/new.html

Dave