Western Elec. 302 Problem

[nykikos]

Hello all, first time here and would like some help. We have a Western Electric 302 that used to work perfectly. We had a lighting storm and after that, when you speak into the mouthpiece your voice is coming through the earpiece pretty loudly. Person at the other end has no problem hearing our call. Makes it very difficult to enjoy this great phone. Had to stop using it, sure do miss that Ring! Any thoughts as to what may have happened.

[Phonesrfun]

Did your phone line take a hit?  What about other phones on your line?  Do you have a phone line provided by a phone company, or do you have some form of Internet phone service?  Any other oddities after the lightning storm?

[nykikos]

Hello, The 302 had nothing else happen to it. Phone Company service, all other phones are fine.  The "mouth piece" was replaced a couple years ago, after this problem, I replaced the "ear piece", didn't help.
Sorry, I'm not up on the proper names for the phone parts.

[poplar1]

When you push down the button that hangs up the phone, you should not hear a loud click. if you hear the click,  then the most common cause  is that the red wire in the handset cord is bad ("open").

If you remove the transmitter (part you talk in), then if a 302 is working properly, the dial tone will go away, but if you turn the dial and release it, you wil hear momentary dial tone. Also, if another phone in your house is in use, you will hear the dialing and conversation. You can also hear incoming ringing through the receiver but you can't answer the phone.

[Phonesrfun]

I'll bet it's the red handset cord wire.  I have had that happen to me too.  Pretty annoying.  All the DC goes right through the receiver.