A Few Photos of my Collection - benhutcherson

[Mark Stevens]

[Oops! "The upload folder is full."  The photo is 800 x 600, 82K, so it ought to go ... Wassup, Mark? I'll try again later.]

YE GODS!!!  I'm on it...


...fixed! 

[Doug Houston]

Both of the instruments I have are equipped with full size dials. I don't know if I've seen one with a small dial. Now, the next task will be to find out how to insert pictures on this page. It looks easy, but.....

[Mark Stevens]

Both of the instruments I have are equipped with full size dials. I don't know if I've seen one with a small dial. Now, the next task will be to find out how to insert pictures on this page. It looks easy, but.....

Take a look at my post on inserting images into messages, and let me know if you still have trouble.
The post is here.
- Mark

[Bill]

Many years ago, I acquired the butt set in this pic. This is an early Type 1011 Test Set Phone, the one in the rubber case with pins on the dial, not the later BECO one with the larger 500-style dial.

Here's the photo I mentioned earlier. Thanks, Mark.

[McHeath]

Never had a butt set, but I've coveted them since I was about 8 and first saw one in action.  What could be cooler than a James Bondish, well back in the day, gizmo that allows you to tap into the phone lines and make sneak calls?  Someday in a fit of weakness I will seize one.

[mienaichizu]

I also coveted to have one, like you mcheath, butt sets are cool gizmo's back in the days

[BDM]

Have several. Just like the one above, or the later hard rubber models using the #5 and #6 dials. Also the later plastic ones in both rotary & TT. The black hard rubber sets using the #5 dial always remind of Mr Douglas in Green Acres. Remember he had to climb the pole to answer the phone. They had one sitting at the top

[Mark Stevens]

The black hard rubber sets using the #5 dial always remind of Mr Douglas in Green Acres. Remember he had to climb the pole to answer the phone. They had one sitting at the top

I had forgotten about that! It's been years since I've watched that show. In fact, I haven't seen it since the shows initial run!  Better go get a DVD set or two...

[Bill]

They are incredibly cheap on ebay. The same model as the one in my picture went for $12 yesterday. There is another one coming up that probably won't do any better because the dial needs to be lubed.

Bill

[Bill]

This 1011 butt set has not gotten a single bid yet. It is going to disappear at 5PM Pacific time today. It is not mine - I have no connection to this auction or this seller.

230296412464

Bill

[BDM]

Here's another I just pulled out of the woodwork, a working 50AL. I bought this one some time in the late 80s. The number card is for a Detroit area exchange. TYLER

[Bill Cahill]

Nice phone. Is it original??
Bill Cahill

[BDM]

Nice phone. Is it original??
Bill Cahill

Far as I can tell. This is another one of those estate sale finds. Family cleaning out the home of a deceased relative. I think I paid $20. I have the subset with it also, though the coil in the subset seems to be bad. I removed the badly frayed line-cord.

[HobieSport]

Nice collection Ben!  The WE 151AL leaves me speechless.

Couple of questions:  You said the lineman's set comes in handy.  What all do you use it for?  I was thinking of getting an older WE lineman's set and it I'd like ideas of how it could be used.

And, did anyone ever find a source for the foot base (rubber?) for AE 40's?  I need one.  Thanks for any info, -Matt

[benhutcherson]

Matt,

There are a couple of situations where I use my butt set.

One of the most common is in troubleshooting a telephone. Let's say, for example, that I connect a telephone, and don't get a dial tone. I can, using the butt set, clip on to the L1 and L2 terminals inside the phone, and check for a dial tone. If I get one there, I know the problem is somewhere in the phone. If I don't get one, I know that the problem is in the jack or line cord. I can then trace my way from there, and, in some cases, isolate the exact location of the problem with the use of a butt set.

Of course, it's useless past the network, but very useful up to there.

With as many telephones as I have hooked up and working, I'm constantly jerry-rigging ways of connecting them. The butt set is the easiest way to test whether or not a set-up is going to work.

Finally, if you're telephone service goes out, the butt set is the easiest thing to take out to the interface box. Pop the "customer" side of the box open, and clamp the butt set on to the red and green wires. If you get a dial tone, you know the problems in your household wiring. You can then go from jack-to-jack with your butt set, and trace down where the problem is(most newer houses, at least, have the jacks connected in a big daisy chain, so bad household wiring can affect a varying number of jacks).

Also, the service will go out if bare red and green wires get crossed(as can sometimes happen with an old phone connected), so you can unplug your network wiring from the box(via a modular plug), and then check for a dial tone. This sort of situation, incidentally, is where I was first introduced to a lineman using a  butt set.