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Another GPO 746 with a difference...

Started by twocvbloke, December 02, 2012, 04:51:42 PM

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twocvbloke

The main difference being, it has a handset clamp and it's actually an MOD Mk. 28 telephone, and not technically a GPO 746... :D

Been watching this one for the past month or so, started off at a much higher price, but this time round they relisted it at something more reasonable, and lucky for me, I was the only bidder, and as it's apparently NOS too, even better cos you don't often get such finds, so, I'm happy... ;D

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/321029108748

And looking at the pictures, it's still grey for the most part, rather than being turned into two-tone brown as most of that colour have done over the years, well the dark grey parts are still browner than they ought to be, but it's a natural evolution of the plastic used... :)

The handset clamp is handy for a wall conversion, as it doesn't need the adaptor to hang the handset from, heck you could probably hang it on the ceiling and it'll stay on-hook, but I won't try that, yet... :D

Anyways, I've looked at the pictures of it and one pictured on telephonesuk, and I'm not sure if it has Handset No. 6 (or 6A-2), which has the Push to Talk switch on the receiver end of the handset, but I don't mind either way, I'm just pleased to have won it... ;D

And auction pictures, not entirely too clear, but you can see it's a phone... :D
(oh, and last pic is another pic borrowed from www.telephonesuk.co.uk, oddly listed with the non-GPO 706 based phones, to show the rear of the phone and it's handset clamp)

LarryInMichigan

It looks like you got quite a deal.  The handset cord appears brown from here.  If the brown plastic are really supposed to be dark gray, some careful peroxide bleaching should restore the colour.

Larry

twocvbloke

I've been thinking about trying out peroxide treatments, and that Retrobright treatment too, but at this time of year, there's so little sun over us brits that there's not enough to make it a viable option until the summer, or I'd have to acquire or construct* a UV light box of some description to expose the thing to the right light to assist the de-yellowfication... :)

Still, have to see the phone in person before I decide, most 700 series phones are recognised as being that colour these days, and I'm not sure how people would react if it was the original French Grey (Light tone) and Elephant Grey (Dark tone) colours it used to be, we shall see though... :)




(*not hard really, just a blacked out box on the outside with reflective innards, and a fluorescent light fitting fitted with pure-UV tubes (not Blacklight tubes), with some safety switch system to shut off the light to prevent exposure to skin and eyes)

Owain

Quote from: twocvbloke on December 02, 2012, 06:10:15 PM
I've been thinking about trying out peroxide treatments, and that Retrobright treatment too, but at this time of year, there's so little sun over us brits that there's not enough to make it a viable option until the summer, or I'd have to acquire or construct* a UV light box of some description to expose the thing to the right light to assist the de-yellowfication... :)

Take it down the local sunbed shop for ten minutes?

twocvbloke

Quote from: Owain on December 03, 2012, 03:26:44 AMTake it down the local sunbed shop for ten minutes?

Nah, don't think I'd feel comfortable in there with all the chavvy people turning themselves into David Dickinson colours... :D

twocvbloke

I just found an 8746 (80's PSTN model) on ebay, they must have used different plastics in the 80's as this one hasn't suffered the fading that the Two-Tone Greys (starting with the 706) usually suffer, and I presume that many moons ago that the original colours were meant to be like this one... ???

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/130813624235

twocvbloke

#6
It's arrived, seemed arrived yesterday and a neighbour took it in for some reason... ???

Anyway, it's greyer than it looks in the pictures, it's seen very little daylight for sure... :)

Looking about inside of it, it's basically a 70's spec 746 (1kOhm ringer, uses internal ringer caps, non-PSTN config, etc.), but a lot of the parts are from the mid to late 80's (so definitely military, as they seem to like using old stuff that gets refurbished multiple times over the decades!!), I'd guess that like the one on TelephonesUK that it too was assembled by Dennis Ferranti Meters (Manufacturer code; DFM), as their code appears on the PCB, shame there's no manufacturing date though, but I guess that's just military practice, or something... :D

The handset is a No. 6, with the little switch/button (can be altered to be either) that shorts the transmitter when released, no line cable, just two loose wires, looks like they were pre-prepared to be hard-wired to something like a desk or something, not really sure (military stuff again, probably all restricted info, of course!!), haven't tested it out yet, but being a virtually indestructible mechanical phone, I'm sure it's perfectly fine... :)

And I like that they pasted a wiring diagram inside, not a usual feature from what I've seen... :)

Anyway, enough waffling, some pictures to look at... :)

twocvbloke

And the base & innards... :D

Forgot to mention, the dial needs sorting out, but has a slight issue, the dial card is a sticky label, so it'd be destroyed if I tried to remove it annoyingly, but I could always just make up a replacement one on my computer to print out I'm sure... :)

twocvbloke

#8
It's funny how it seems to change colour depending on the light conditions, forgot that I didn't do a "beauty shot" of the phone, but here it is after giving it a wipe down and cleaned the whiteish stuff off the handset cable... :)

Still not wired it up to test it yet though... :D

Oh, did find a defect, there's a crack in the fingerwheel by the no. 7, and examining the photos from the auction, it was pre-existing, so, no bother really, it's just a mild nuisance... :-\