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120 B setup question

Started by akamoe, December 31, 2017, 08:09:57 PM

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akamoe

I have a 120B that was supposed to be set up for home use by the ILEC when it was retired (I got it from a retired ILEC guy). From the pictures I've seen in this forum, it seems to be intact.  When I connect it up (I'm using tel from my cable company from an Arris adaptor), it seems to work, but I don't hear any DTMF in the earpiece.  Sometimes after pushing a few buttons, it tells me to hang up and try my call again. if I hang up, and lift the handset again, I just get a grinding noise from the earpiece. any suggestions?

also, it doesn't ring. there's a black wire with a spade lug coming from the ringer board that's wrapped in tape. I suspect it's from when they disabled incoming calls. maybe needs to be grounded?

thanks in advance.

TelePlay

Please post pictures of the phone and its wiring.

AE_Collector

It's been a long time but I think the 120B all had the black wire hanging there with tape to insulate it. Ringer should work but in later times many installers would prevent incoming calls to the phones (and thus reduce the drug deals) by disconnecting the ringer which may have been done by removing the ringer capacitor. Ringer leads are almost certainly green and red.

Terry

akamoe

I have the tip and ring connected at the terminal block at the bottom. I've tried reversing the polarity.

Thanks in advance..

AE_Collector

#4
Can you hear the other party you are talking to, just no dtmf feedback in the receiver when dialing? Or is the receiver dead?

Just for the fun of it try lifting this flag (circled in red) on the coin relay up vertical. It is normally kicked up vertical by a coin making it through the coin acceptor and the trigger switch between the acceptor and hopper.

Terry


dsk

My 120B is polarity sensitive.

dsk

akamoe

Quote from: AE_Collector on January 01, 2018, 12:43:59 AM
Can you hear the other party you are talking to, just no dtmf feedback in the receiver when dialing? Or is the receiver dead?

I did have it working briefly, it sounded like it was blocking out the earpiece during dtmf. also took me a few times to get the call to go through. I got intercepts telling me either my call was long distance, or to hang up and try my call again after a few buttons.

I'm going back into really hazy memories, having not used one of these in service for 20ish years, and I seem to recall that buzzing, but not the conditions under which it happened.

Quote from: AE_Collector on January 01, 2018, 12:43:59 AM
Just for the fun of it try lifting this flag (circled in red) on the coin relay up vertical. It is normally kicked up vertical by a coin making it through the coin acceptor and the trigger switch between the acceptor and hopper.

it was already vertical. I did fiddle with it, but it didn't help. I also tried disconnecting it, and that didn't help either :(

akamoe

#7
Quote from: dsk on January 01, 2018, 06:23:22 AM
My 120B is polarity sensitive.

I've tried reversing the polarity several times too. EDIT: It looks like the polarity needs to be reversed to get it to work on a standard line. I'm trying to remember with a lack of success, but I think the polarity went reversed when the call was completed by the switch.

AE_Collector

Have you tried pulling the plug to the coin relay and the trigger switch leaving just the line input to the chassis board connected? There are long option plugs on the chassis that can be moved to set various operational options. Prepay / Postpay type options I believe. I have never played with them before but maybe ensure they are properly connected.

Terry

akamoe

Quote from: AE_Collector on January 01, 2018, 02:05:15 PM
Have you tried pulling the plug to the coin relay and the trigger switch leaving just the line input to the chassis board connected? There are long option plugs on the chassis that can be moved to set various operational options. Prepay / Postpay type options I believe. I have never played with them before but maybe ensure they are properly connected.

I did, and none of that helped. When I got it, the pricing swtiches were still set for $0.25 (20+5), and I didn't change them, but turning them all off seems to have solved it. and I found an unhooked spring in the mech for the ringer, so it seems to be working ok now. 

the only thing I can't figure out now is why I can't hear DTMF in the earpiece. it almost sounds like pushing the button defeats the earpiece connection.  it does transmit DTMF properly, IE I can dial, and can interact with my voicemail; it's just giving me OCD shakes because I want it to work authentically  ;D ;)

Thanks for everyone's help, it's greatly appreciated  :)

AE_Collector

Ahh, the usual everyday phone ringer type problems! Nothing to do with it being a payphone.

Interesting that setting it for an initial deposit of "0" made it work properly, I have never tried that as I didn't think it would affect anything to do with normal "at home" use. That could be related to it maybe being set for post pay rather than Prepay operation?...I have no idea really.

Of course the receiver is always muted somehow on dial or tone phones so that you don't get blasted in the ear while dialing. Usually you can still faintly year the tones but maybe something is a little different in yoursfor some reason.

In the end...It Works!

Now the next question....where are you located? I see a "Shaw" TV remote control in one picture. I'm on the outskirts of Vancouver....Coquitlam to be exact.

Terry

akamoe

Quote from: AE_Collector on January 01, 2018, 05:51:52 PM
Interesting that setting it for an initial deposit of "0" made it work properly, I have never tried that as I didn't think it would affect anything to do with normal "at home" use. That could be related to it maybe being set for post pay rather than Prepay operation?...I have no idea really.

I got it from a retired Telus guy, he retired at the end of the 90s when these units were being phased out. I can count on one hand, back in the day, when I saw the chrome units. most of them were pebbled black that I recall.  He told me that "the girls on the line set them up for home use."  it did have an RJ11 cord on it, but it got damaged when it was in storage.   I ran cat5 back to my furnace room and hooked it to my Shaw Phone adaptor.

Quote from: AE_Collector on January 01, 2018, 05:51:52 PM
Of course the receiver is always muted somehow on dial or tone phones so that you don't get blasted in the ear while dialing. Usually you can still faintly year the tones but maybe something is a little different in yours for some reason.

I remember sticking in a quarter, and dialling, and being able to hear the DTMF in the handset.  I'm wondering if it's a grounding thing (or a loose wire lol), because I had the upper sitting on my desk when I was fooling with it, and and now that I've mated the upper to the body, the DTMF is in the handset just fine.  Old stuff, who knows!

Quote from: AE_Collector on January 01, 2018, 05:51:52 PM
In the end...It Works!

and that's why we're all here :)

Quote from: AE_Collector on January 01, 2018, 05:51:52 PM
Now the next question....where are you located? I see a "Shaw" TV remote control in one picture. I'm on the outskirts of Vancouver....Coquitlam to be exact.

I'm in Maple Ridge, not too far from Haney Radio (if you're a long-lines geek).

We should grab a beer sometime and talk phone....

-Ray

AE_Collector

#12
10 miles apart. Ah so we likely know the same Retired Telus Guy. I'm one too. I worked payphones in the Westwood compound covering Tri Cities and Maple Ridge / Pitt Meadows but in reality worked anywhere from UBC to Hope. I love driving so it was a great gig for several years. 1997 to about 2003.

Chrome ones were not easy to locate but surprisingly many of the panel phones at entrances to stores like Sears at Metrotown had chrome 120's inside them. It took me a long time to find a Rotary 120B as well as a 120A which is a chrome Touch Call.

120's were also available in Beige but to the best of my knowledge BC Tel never used them in that color. However I knew an engineer who had a beige one in his bench at the Boot likely used for testing before they began phasing out the three slot phones. Never managed to get it from him though.

I was only at Haney Rafio once. Always wanted to see the Autovon switch located there but got there about 15-20 years to late!

Terry

akamoe

Quote from: AE_Collector on January 01, 2018, 06:34:41 PM
10 miles apart. Ah so we likely know the same Retired Telus Guy. I'm one too. I worked payphones in the Westwood compound covering Tri Cities and Maple Ridge / Pitt Meadows but in reality worked anywhere from UBC to Hope. I love driving so it was a great gig for several years. 1997 to about 2003.

I know a couple. I happened to find this phone on CragisList, but my father and my uncle worked for BC Tel, and my uncle for Telus for many years.  I haven't been to Westwood for awhile, as it's a Tier 1 site, so they have their own dedicated team to manage it.

Quote from: AE_Collector on January 01, 2018, 06:34:41 PM
Chrome ones were not easy to locate but surprisingly many of the panel phones at entrances to stores like Sears at Metrotown had chrome 120's inside them. It took me a long time to find a Rotary 120B as well as a 120A which is a chrome Touch Call.

I don't think they're there anymore, but I remember them by the restaurant (at the nw corner of the store, now a presentation center for something Concorde Pacific is doing near Brentwood, and I know there are still a couple (not sure if they're chrome or black), upstairs at the Bay at Coquitlam Center.

Quote from: AE_Collector on January 01, 2018, 06:34:41 PM
120's were also available in Beige but to the best of my knowledge BC Tel never used them in that color. However I knew an engineer who had a beige one in his bench at the Boot likely used for testing before they began phasing out the three slot phones. Never managed to get it from him though.

I remember the 3-slots, but mostly from pictures, although I remember using a chrome 3-slot rotary, with a beige handset and pvc coiled handset cord (not chrome/armored) at VGH ca 1989.

Quote from: AE_Collector on January 01, 2018, 06:34:41 PM
I was only at Haney Radio once. Always wanted to see the Autovon switch located there but got there about 15-20 years to late!

There's not much left there now, they've turned down most of the hardware from what I understand. They added a bunch of floor space there a few years ago, to be the head-end for TTV, but ended up putting it at MUTL instead. There's still a mobility site at the back of the building, plus I understand that EComm's new 700mhz site is going to be colo'd with Telus instead of Metro Vancouver.

Unrelated to Haney, I grew up a few blocks from CYPS, always wanted to see it, back when I was a kid.  Missed all the step-switches, etc, now there's not much to see there :( I work for Telus' facilities vendor, so I get to see a lot of the sites.