Wiring 151AL Candlestick with #5 Dial and a 534A Subset

[gands-antiques]

Hello,

I'm wiring a 151AL with a 706A receiver, a Bulldog transmitter and a #5 dial with a 534A subset using a 4 conductor desk stand cord.

I've always used 684 and 685 subsets but I have this one 534A so I decided to use it with this candlestick.

I wired the phone and subset using TCI library diagram 2136-desk-stands-151-tl....151AL or 152AB anti-sidetone desk stands (Manual or Dial).

After wiring it, the candlestick will dial out and transmit and communicate, but it will not receive a call and the ringers will not ring.

I'm wondering if anyone has a simplified diagram for this combination that I could use to check my wiring?

Thanks a lot,
Gary

[poplar1]

You have one ringer wire on GND (Ground), which would be correct for a party line, but not for a regular line. The ringer should be connected to L1 and C.

Also, when connecting an anti-sidetone telephone (151AL, 152AL, 202) to a sidetone subset (534A, 295A, 584A), the black wire from the phone is not connected inside the subset. It needs to be taped and stored.
(In the photo, you have it connected to C in the subset.)

The wiring inside the 151AL is  the same whether used with a 684A, 634A, or 534A; it's just that only 3 wires of the cord are connected inside the 534A.

[gands-antiques]

Thanks a lot....really appreciate it. 

If the black subset wire isn't connected to the subset, is it connected to BK on the dial?


Thanks,
Gary

[poplar1]

You can leave the black conductor connected to BK on the dial. Thus, the 151AL will be ready to be connected  either to a sidetone subset (with 3 wires connected) or to an anti-sidetone  (using all 4 wires) without having to modify the telephone.

[gands-antiques]

Thanks Poplar. 

I made the ringer connections you recommended and also taped the black wire to the subset and the phone works perfectly now.

I have always used anti-sidetone subsets with anti-sidetone candlesticks but this combination
(151AL & 534A subset) seems to have good quality reception and transmission. 

What should the quality of communication difference be between the a sidetone and an anti-sidetone combination?


Thanks again,
Gary

[poplar1]

In a sidetone circuit, your own voice will sound louder in your receiver. The mechanical sound of the dial picked up by the transmitter (i.e., traveling through solids) will also seem louder to you. The less efficient sidetone circuit also means that less volume will be transmitted to the other end, though this may not be noticeable.

Also, the AST (anti-sidetone) effect causes the user to talk louder, which also helps...On cell phones, many people talk louder because they don't hear themselves through the receiver (no sidetone at all).

[unbeldi]

Thanks Poplar. 

I made the ringer connections you recommended and also taped the black wire to the subset and the phone works perfectly now.

I have always used anti-sidetone subsets with anti-sidetone candlesticks but this combination
(151AL & 534A subset) seems to have good quality reception and transmission. 

What should the quality of communication difference be between the a sidetone and an anti-sidetone combination?


Thanks again,
Gary

If you had a brand-new transmitter that isn't 80 years old and a more typical subscriber line of the day, the difference between sidetone and anti-sidetone operation would likely be much more pronounced than your perception shows now.  Even the performance of receiver elements may have deteriorated somewhat due to loss of magnetization, either by the effect of time or by growing DC leakage of old condensers during the time the set was still operated.

When you state "good quality", this is subjective relative to the current operating conditions, the reality and experience may be far different in more stringent operating conditions of the time.

[unbeldi]

In a sidetone circuit, your own voice will sound louder in your receiver. The mechanical sound of the dial picked up by the transmitter (i.e., traveling through solids) will also seem louder to you. The less efficient sidetone circuit also means that less volume will be transmitted to the other end, though this may not be noticeable.

Also, the AST (anti-sidetone) effect causes the user to talk louder, which also helps...On cell phones, many people talk louder because they don't hear themselves through the receiver (no sidetone at all).

The sidetone circuit was actually more efficient than the AST circuit.  The anti-sidetone correction came at a loss in efficiency of the circuit, but engineers tried to strike a compromise between that and the benefit.

It is also not categorically true that cell phones don't implement sidetone. Sidetone has certainly been incorporated in many designs.  I think the primary reason for this often stated confusion is that cell phone services often use voice activity detection (VAD) to stop packet transmission, and therefor save transmission bandwidth, when no speech is present.  The line sounds dead when you stop talking in these cases, but a remedy exists as a feature codec called "comfort noise", which avoids the transmission of background noise as audio, and replaces that with a digital signal to generate some noise locally in the handset to the user.

[gands-antiques]

Thanks Unbeldi,

The sound level and quality with this 534A subset actually sounds as good or better than 684 and 685 subsets I have had.

Thanks,
Gary