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Hello from NC. New to this and new to forums

Started by Isobel23, August 29, 2016, 10:42:08 PM

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Isobel23

Feel like I should stand and introduce myself.. My name is Isobel, and I'm from NC and I'm addicted to rotary's! I do not plan on ever going sober and will probably always roam the yard sales, flea markets, Goodwill's and eBay shop in search for my next fix ;) I have never joined a forum as I'm sort of an introvert and usually sit back and watch and listen, but I believe I found a place I'd be comfortable. I will not pretend to know a lot of history, or even the years of most phones, so hopefully y'all won't make me feel foolish and instead teach me. I have (what I call them) a maybe 60's payphone, a space saver, a parlor, and some desktops, that I believe are all authentic and not replicas. Except my candlestick, and that may be a 80s replica, but I still like it. I love them all, and if I like, I buy. I'll try to attach a pic of some if I can figure it out..thanks for having me, and look forward to learning a bit, so when I show them to someone, I know a little more than just..aren't they cool!

oldguy

Welcome Isobel, you must have been looking at this forum for a little while, since you know we like picture. You can learn a lot here, I am learning a lot from these guys & gals.
Gary

Pourme

From one newby NC forum member to another, welcome to the forum. The members do not talk down to less knowledgeable members but are doing this to support others with limited experience and knowledge, to learn and gain from them, my experiences here have taught me that. I will also say that there is a good balance of both novice and expert here, as well...
Ask your questions and this community will respond with considerable knowledge and respect and..... have fun with your phones!
Benny

Panasonic 308/616 Magicjack service

jsowers

Welcome to the Forum, Isobel! If I'm not being too nosy, where in NC are you? It's a pretty big state. I'm from Lexington and lived in NC all my life. We don't have any phone shows nearby. So the Forum is a blessing and a good source of information. There are eight years of posts to search and many people have had the same questions you might have.

Do you have any of your phones connected to the phone line? I think one of the best things is using the phones, though with the 10-digit dialing we just got in the 336 area code, it makes maybe too much of a good thing dialing all those digits.  ;)  The sound of an older phone dialing and ringing is like music and cleaning and polishing an old phone can be therapeutic.

Don't be afraid of asking questions, and as you already know, pictures help a lot.
Jonathan

Isobel23

Thanks everybody, and I could see that this is a great forum with friendly and considerate people- I for sure looked around and read a bit on here before deciding to join.
Jsowers, I was born in Kenosha WI, and moved here to NC when I was in the 4th grade (to lil Washington for 2 years) then in 89 moved closer to the mountains and have been here ever since. Didn't think I'd ever get used to the heat here lol, but if I went back to WI now, I'd surely feel like I was turning into a freeze pop during the winter.
These three phones are my newest in my collection. With the parlor ph I hooked up my wires to my phone line and it does work good, but doesn't ring (hope to fix that) and I tested the space saver and it does have a dial tone, but didn't test the ringer..looking for a bracket for it before I hook it up. My payphone..I have no idea but I just feel certain it will work. It dials beautifully and money goes in good and hear a lil bell ring when inserting the money-hope that's a good indication that it will work. But the back of the payphone has no wires comin out so I have no idea what to do .. this is my first payphone. Thanks everybody for the welcome..


Pourme

I see you live closer to the mountains...I live in Caldwell County little community of Sawmills/Hudson. Maybe we are scrounging around for the same old phones?...Ha!

Welcome again!
Benny

Panasonic 308/616 Magicjack service

dsk

Welcome to the forum!This is a forum for "normal" people, among those we have a few real experts, but the most of us learn something here every time we read a new thread.

I am living in Norway, but this is the best telephone related forum in the world, just because we are welcome as we are. 
Since Norwegian payphones are rare, (the telco would rather destruct them than let others get them) I have got my finger into 1 single slot telephone and one 3 slotter, they do work but I had to fettle a little to get working. Could you please post a picture of the instructions on yours?

I am sure we may help you getting the payphone working (as a regular phone), and if everything's goes well maybe we may control the coin collecting.  The fine option with these are, we may start with getting it working, and maybe when times comes, control at least collection of the first coin. Just taking one step at the time, and when you feels for to do so!   

And you should not be afraid to ask about anything, if I may help someone, I feel good, and I will probably learn even more, and it is many other members her who have the same joy of helping others.

dsk

jsowers

Quote from: Isobel23 on August 30, 2016, 08:10:32 AM
Thanks everybody, and I could see that this is a great forum with friendly and considerate people- I for sure looked around and read a bit on here before deciding to join.
Jsowers, I was born in Kenosha WI, and moved here to NC when I was in the 4th grade (to lil Washington for 2 years) then in 89 moved closer to the mountains and have been here ever since. Didn't think I'd ever get used to the heat here lol, but if I went back to WI now, I'd surely feel like I was turning into a freeze pop during the winter.
These three phones are my newest in my collection. With the parlor ph I hooked up my wires to my phone line and it does work good, but doesn't ring (hope to fix that) and I tested the space saver and it does have a dial tone, but didn't test the ringer..looking for a bracket for it before I hook it up. My payphone..I have no idea but I just feel certain it will work. It dials beautifully and money goes in good and hear a lil bell ring when inserting the money-hope that's a good indication that it will work. But the back of the payphone has no wires comin out so I have no idea what to do .. this is my first payphone. Thanks everybody for the welcome..

The NC mountains are so beautiful in the fall and the weather there is almost always several degreees cooler than where I live. I have a cousin who lives near West Jefferson and he likes it a lot.

Your space saver, or hang-up handset as sometimes it's called, didn't have an internal ringer or network, so you'll need what's called a subset for that. Yes, you do also need a bracket and they sell repro ones, but they're not cheap and neither are the subsets. You may find a subset cheaper in your travels if you look at flea markets or auction sales. They're usually a plain black box with bells inside, but be sure there's also a network and that it's not just an extension ringer. A network would be a small matchbox sized block with screws on top inside the box. We can help you connect the two pieces.

Kenosha--that's not too far from Forum member Christian. He's in Waukesha. You should see some of his drone videos of the Wisconsin countryside.

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=16650.msg172174#msg172174

There are several on the Forum who know payphones and AE (Automatic Electric) products, so they should be able to help with the payphone. It may not have a ringer. The phone you call a parlor phone I think may be a Coquette. Western Electric sold them at phone center stores in the era when you could own your own phone so usually they don't need to be rewired for the ringer to work. But yours could just be disconnected or something. Open it up and take some pictures and start a new post and we will see. On second look, yours could be earlier since the handset isn't a modular one (with the clear click-type connectors on each end).

If you want some telephone eye candy and lots and lots of info, look at this site:

http://www.paul-f.com/

The Coquette phone is under Design Line. More telephones than you can shake a stick at.  :)
Jonathan

Isobel23

Pourme, Caldwell county, why yes, your not far from me at all. I'm in Wilkes County! Never know, may have bumped elbows somewhere :)
Sjowers, (man, my phone is insisting I call you showers! Autocorrect will one day be the death of this phone) the Autumn here is absolutely stunning! I love it here, and if I move, it will only be to go further up the mountain. West Jefferson is not far from me at all. Beautiful place! Thank you so much about the info you shared with me. I didn't think the "space saver" would have a ringer. I unscrewed the bottom to a makeshift bracket in hopes to rig it up for the time being, but only succeeded to put a drill bit hole in the meat between my thumb and pointer finger (I have talent like that)  and didn't think the guts looked like it'd support a ringer, but to be honest I was only focusing on getting it hung up and didn't really look much. Not in a rush to get a subset yet, so I'll educate myself on what they look like and look around.
Dsk, thank you for your info on the payphone. I am so excited to have one..that beautiful piece of work is what I'll be focusing on first. And the coquette .. it just makes me feel fancy, so I'd like to get that lady ringing for sure! I'll check out the links you posted soon. And I must admit, I know I need to take them apart to further investigate, but I'll be nervous..I've always been lucky and what I bought did work, and didn't have to take anything apart..pray I don't mess nothing up! I snapped a pic of my other 3 phones. Thought my candlestick was a 80s but it says American telecommunications Corp ©1973.. I took a snapshot of the bottom of coquette ph also, and instructions on payphone. Thanks so much again everybody..this is fun!!

jsowers

Isobel, please call me Jonathan. My Forum name isn't really a word, just my username from years and years in IT. When I picked it, I didn't know I wouldn't have to type it endlessly to login to the Forum like I did at work. It remembers the login on the Forum.

Your aqua blue Trimline or Slenderet--I can't tell from the picture who made it or how old it is--has a little sun damage. That happens often with phone plastics. Some people have had success using this Sally Beauty Supply Creme peroxide stuff to bring the plastics back to the same color. I have some but haven't tried it yet, so I can't offer anything but the link to the section of the Forum that describes how to use it and what their experiences are.

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?board=23.0

The light beige phone is a 500 set from the late 1970s or 80s. It's modular--meaning the cords detach. If it's made by Western Electric, you will find dates on many of the pieces including the plastics. The ringer on that phone is one that will bring back memories for many people. Those are the majority of what I collect, but I collect the 500s from the 1950s. I had to specialize because my storage and display space became limited. As you will find, if you haven't already, the phones multiply at an alarming rate and you run out of storage room if you're not careful.
Jonathan

Isobel23

The aqua blue is a ITT phone. Def. has sun damage, I'll have to try the peroxide stuff. The 500 does have a beautiful ring! I unhooked it to put the coquette in its place and was bummed when the ringer didnt work.
Go glad to know what they are called..i'll have to start writing down all this valuable info

poplar1

You can probably get the Coquette to ring.

If it has the original round, white hardwired cord, then connect the yellow and green wires together at the wall.


If it has the newer modular cord, try moving the black ringer wire from G to L1. The yellow line cord wire is probably already on G, and  the green line cord wire already on L1.

Since the handset wire is hardwired, the phone is probably pre-1975, and it originally had a hardwired line cord as well. The telephone man who installed the phone would have connected the yellow and green wires to the same screw terminal on the wall connecting block (or 4-prong plug).

"C'est pas une restauration, c'est une rénovation."--François Martin.

Isobel23

It does have the white  hardwired cord. I wish I would've came here before hooking it up, but this weekend, I'll undo the wiring and try what you recommended. The cord actually wasn't long enough to reach the jack, so I cut my longest phone cord and wired the hardwired ends into that (hope that'd be ok? I had a dial tone so figured it was a-ok.) Surely wiring it that way and not to the wall, won't affect if it rings or not, will it?
(Last mechanical question I'll ask and I'll start a new thread for other questions. I know this is just a introduction thread.)

poplar1

Maybe the easiest thing will be to move the black ringer wire from G to L1 inside the phone.
"C'est pas une restauration, c'est une rénovation."--François Martin.

Isobel23

I'll try that tomorrow and see how it does. Thanks for the input