AE Monophone wont ring

[Karen]

I know this is a common problem, but I cant seem to find the issue online.  I believe its a 50mhz (?) ringer. Maybe thats a problem??  Someone educate me!

[Phonesrfun]

Well, 50MHz would be in thr radio spectrum of 6 Meters and be right on top of old TV channel 6.

However, a 50 Hz frequency ringer is one that is a ringer that was made for the bygone age of party lines and independent telephone companies that used precise and discrete frequencies to ring different subscribers on the same party line in such a way that others on the line would not hear the ringing of the other parties.  To make that happen required a ringer that was very selective and would only ring at one particular frequency and no other.  in this case 50 cycles per second, or in modern terms, 50 Hertz.

These days, ringing current is pretty universally 20 Hz, with some at 30 Hz.  In order to ring, a phone needs what is called a straight line ringer that has a very broad frequency response, and will work well at 20 to 30 Hertz.  The 50 ~ ringer just won't work, and there really is no mechanical adjustment that will do anything other than maybe make the clapper wiggle a little bit. 

Other than adjustments, there have been some pretty elaborate things done by some people to effectively re-make the ringer to produce an actual ringing ringer, but those steps are pretty involved.

Welcome to the forum, and I hope you didn't take offense at my jab at the 50 Mega Hertz reference.

[HarrySmith]

Hi and welcome to the forum. Your ringer can be modified. There has been some progress by adding a capacitor and also by cutting or nibbling the pivot piece or reed. If you search the forum for frequency ringer you should find these posts.

[Karen]

Oh no offense at all, and thanks for explaining that.  You hear terms thrown around all the time, but its all Greek until someone really explains.  So I need a straight line ringer you say.  Where does one find that?  Any good websites?  I wonder if I can even put it in     

[Karen]

I see some people have cut a reed on both sides to lessen the tension... but I dont see anything like that on mine.  Do you?

[HarrySmith]

I cannot see it in your picture and I do not have an AE ringer in front of me but there has to be a pivot point somewhere. If you remove the ringer from the phone and probably also the black bracket you should be able to see it.

[AE_Collector]

I just noticed that you have only referred to your phone as an AE Monophone. That it is and it is a model 40 in case you hadn't determined that yet. A search here on the forum for AE 40 should keep you in reading material for quite awhile!

With all of these oder phones from the "Party Line" era, you have to ensure that the ringer with capacitor in series is hooked "across" the line (green and red set cord leads) rather than from one side of the line to ground (yellow set cord lead). Yours looks to be connected preoperly iinside the phone. In any event, the 50~ ringer is the main problem.

Welcome to the Rotary Forum!

Terry

[stub]

gymcrackery,
                   Welcome to the Forum. On my frequency ringers I don't trim the reed I just loosen the  screws that hold the reed. Start with the easy one on top and then go to bottom. When they are loose enough and it rings, the best I can get it, I put 1 drop of superglue on the back side of the screws . This will hold them in place when it rings. You will still have to readjust the gongs closer to the hammer. Sometimes it works and other times it won't . Mine in the pic is a 30~. It's close enough to ring on 20~.  Good luck ,    stub