"Plan-set" GPO 706 black (and now also in Ivory)!

[gpo706]

BIN 15 quid, 8 quid postage.

I've bid on planset bases went for more than this, I get a whole unit - NICE!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330480014957&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT
( dead link 12-07-21 )

Look at the thickness of the cable coming out of it!

its like one of those "lengthened" 500 sets with the buttons on the bottom, the GPO solution was this, a separate base with the gubbins mounted underneath.

http://www.telephonesuk.co.uk/phones_1960-80.htm#625

http://www.telephonesuk.co.uk/images/Planset-A_inside.jpg

http://www.telephonesuk.co.uk/images/Planset-A_under.jpg

I had a slight pay rise so don't fret...

Anyone selling a big desk for all my tat?

[bingster]

That's an elegant solution.  It certainly would have saved stocking multiple phone shells for different numbers of keys.  Just mount a standard phone on the proper base, and you're good to go.  Must have been a great money saver, too.

[Wallphone]

The base unit looks nice & neat and well designed too. I've seen where they did that with the bell boxes for the older GPO phones, kind of like the Leich 90.

[gpo706]

Aye wallphone, the 232 type models can be mounted on bellsets, though I think they look a bit "clunky".

This set gets more interesting, I assumed you would need another matching set to get it to work, but its for up to 2 only standard-ish extensions.

I'm surmising from what I read here:

http://www.britishtelephones.com/plans625.htm

and here:

http://www.britishtelephones.com/gec/plansets.htm#105

That it needs only to be correctly wired up to 2 other phones, and acts as a "master-station", the fat cable I assume is off 3 x 4 core for the comms and another 2 core for 12V DC to power the lamps etc.

This is gonna get interesting...

Here's the instructions:

[gpo706]

It arrived today, it is rather heavy with the base and all, I have hooked it up to the trusty 704B linesmans set and it RX/TX OK through the handset, and rings OK when I connect the bellset, apart from that not done anything more as yet.

It's slightly scuffed about, but nothing horrible, this is the 2nd phone in 2 days that has a sticker dial label.

"LEICESTER 862331"

And the dial is quite resistant to dialling (ie - clockwise) but the return seems to rush back fine.

Oh, and the pic doesn't reveal the blanking button was missing, as its black its not really visible in the picture.

I was worried by a rattling noise when I took it out the box, out comes two halves of the retaining clip for the blanking button, unfortunately the button wasn't present in the packaging, I think its been long gone as the clip was in two bits inside the casing.

I have put a grey from a scrapper to plug the hole, easiest solution is to paint it gloss black, as an ebay search for a black blank threw up nothing.

And the second phone in as many days with one of those cheap and nasty BT sticker dials, so pic and destroy if I want to get the fingerplate off.

[gpo706]

Luckily this came with its 17 core cord attached to the base, so I stripped back all the wee fiddly wires and attached them to an electrical strip block connector.

Next I put a 2 wire adaptor from the PBX to every single combination of terminal, 3 or 4 combinations actually get it ringing, and it wont stop ringing when you pick the handset up, you need to press the "SPK TO EXCH" button and the contacts in the base stop the ringer.

Yet to figure out how to answer a call, as it only stops the ringer, and on the Pana prop phone you still get a ringing tone through the loudspeaker.

I've got all week to crack it, ideally I would like to use it as a normal set utilising some of the piano key buttons, but 17 wires is a lot of combinations...

[McHeath]

Looks like it will certainly keep you busy!  It's a sweet looking rig, like those buttons on the bottom row a lot, they mean business and then there is that super fat line cord! 

My sole 706 is a nice conversation piece and always ends up in the rotation on the desk at some point.  It's so very British feeling compared to all my WE stuff.  That probably sounds odd to you but UK stuff has always had a very different feel about it to me, going back to my brother-in-laws TR6 back in the 70's with it's curious smell of the interior and totally different mechanicals from the Chevy's I was used to.  (wish I had that car now!)

[gpo706]

McH, mate of mine is a Triumph nut, he has a Herald, Vittesse, Spitfire and a yellow STAG!

He also worked in the US for a while and imported some big American machine back here, imagine the shipping on that!

No don't ask me what it was, I haven't a clue about American autos...

[gpo706]

Only bidder - 16 quid.

NICE!

Pic 4 gives you some idea of what's inside these beasts...

[gpo706]

Actually the pictures above would be a perfect illustration of how different makes of plastics age don't you think, the keys, the fingerwheel, the dial surround...

[bingster]

I wouldn't even know where to begin figuring that out.  There's an amazing number of things going on in there.   

[Tribune]

Hey GPO, if you're looking for a reproduction black blanking button check out http://www.gpospares.co.uk/, unless of course you know them already  

BTW: very nice units, specially like the ivory one.

[gpo706]

Mark, thats an excellent site and resource for me, I hadn't come across this guy before, he even does dark grey line cords which I haven't seen before, I was only able to find light grey ones before.

I usually use abdy antiques or neil carpenter's shops.

[gpo706]

Like buses these things, you don't see any for ages, then 2 come along at once.

The auctions were ending so closely I hedged my bets and bid on the complete one above and this base below, (not a great picture).

Again no-one else interested, my bid of 5 quid secured it.

The black and the ivory have thankfully intact (17 wire) line cords, so I can try and set up a working system at some point, this base will have one of my many underused ivories screwed on top and the standard 4 wire cable passed through the base entry and wired as a bog-standard 706, the base being purely for ornamentatation, even though it has all the bits and the connections labeled up according to the seller.

This at least lets you see the top of the base anyway.

[Tribune]

Another black 706 plan-set on eBay now
Item No: 320621713516
A bye-now of best-offer deal for £24.99