Is this a military WE 302? I think so...

[shortrackskater]

I may just disconnect every wire and start over again, but not yet.
Still inclined to believe this is a wiring issue.
I did check each connection again and it looks correct although the diagram I'm using shows the ringer RED wire to ground and it doesn't work that way.
One thing (for Alex G. Bell) is that now, if I remove and add the transmitter piece, it disconnects and reconnects the line.
What I'm wondering is if that diagram is correct for that dial?

[poplar1]

Did you check these dial wires?

The black handset wire and the black capacitor wire should go either to the same screw terminal on the dial, or to each end of the metal strap. It looks like the black capacitor wire may be on the screw that Alex designated as "R" on the dial. Red-slate wire from L1/should go to the "R" equivalent terminal on the dial.

[rdelius]

Check that dial impulse cam.As I see it is in the wrong position and when you dial it will drop out and not connect.The spring should not rest or stop on the lobes but in between the lobes.Some diagrams are on this forum somewhere. Poor scan of a similar dial

[shortrackskater]

Black cap wire and black handset wire are going to BK as in the diagram and the Red/Slate is going to L1.
I'll rotate the cam now.

No change.

[Alex G. Bell]

Check that dial impulse cam.As I see it is in the wrong position and when you dial it will drop out and not connect.The spring should not rest or stop on the lobes but in between the lobes.Some diagrams are on this forum somewhere. Poor scan of a similar dial

If the dial pulse contacts were open when the dial was not off normal he would not hear dial tone at all when picking up the handset since the line would be open.  So I doubt that's the problem.  OTOH, removing the transmitter should drop dial tone and if it does not that's a clear indication probably of a wiring error.   

I didn't see a path whereby a properly wired phone, even one which does not drop dial tone when the transmitter is removed, would not still be able to dial but the fact that it does not drop dial tone when the TX is removed suggests a dial wiring error. 

And sidetone should not be faint.  Faint sidetone suggests that something is providing a path around the transmitter which is diverting most of the DC current and also provides a path to keep the line seized when the transmitter is removed so that it does not drop as it should.  If that bypass path connection is ahead of the dial pulse contacts you would not be able to break dial tone either.

[TelePlay]

Check that dial impulse cam.As I see it is in the wrong position and when you dial it will drop out and not connect.The spring should not rest or stop on the lobes but in between the lobes.

Yes, the cam is out of place but it looks like a gap between the out of place cam and the pulse spring. It also looks like that thick, black, sticky wire (yellow arrow) is wedged between the leaves keeping the pulse spring from touching the cam at all, anytime.

[shortrackskater]

Here's a current picture of my dial wiring I made sure wires are clear of the contacts.  I adjusted the cam as well.
And I can disconnect/reconnect the line by the transmitter.  And I have nice and loud side tone.

[Alex G. Bell]

Yes, the cam is out of place but it looks like a gap between the out of place cam and the pulse spring. It also looks like that thick, black, sticky wire (yellow arrow) is wedged between the leaves keeping the pulse spring from touching the cam at all, anytime.

In the second photo of the quoted message it appears that the crimp of the lug connected to the 4th terminal is touching the jumper which connects the 2nd terminal to the 3rd.  I have not tried to analyze what that would do but it should be cleared if touching.

The reason the cam position does not matter at least for the moment is that AE dials have an off-normal cam arm which lifts the inner (2nd) contact spring to prevent an extra pulse being produced at the end of run down.  That's why the contacts are closed regardless of the DP cam position.  You can move the fingerwheel off normal slightly and watch as the two pulsing contacts are lowered towards the cam. 

If removing the transmitter broke dial tone as it should and sidetone was normal I'd focus on the dial pulse cam but IMO at this point it's irrelevant.

[Alex G. Bell]

Here's a current picture of my dial wiring I made sure wires are clear of the contacts.  I adjusted the cam as well.
And I can disconnect/reconnect the line by the transmitter.  And I have nice and loud side tone.

Does that translate into "Eureka!  It works!!!"?

[shortrackskater]

Darn...no.
I made sure that no lugs  were making contact.  As of now I have loud side tone  and I can connect and disconnect the line using the transmitter.
I still cannot dial out or disconnect the line using the hook switch.

[Alex G. Bell]

Darn...no.
I made sure that no lugs  were making contact.  As of now I have loud side tone  and I can connect and disconnect the line using the transmitter.
I still cannot dial out or disconnect the line using the hook switch.

Unfortunately there are too many people trying to get 302s working and after a while it gets difficult to keep them straight without reviewing the whole thread, which I don't have the patience for at this moment.  With that in mind, I thought the cradle switch was working earlier.  Was it?  Did it stop working or did it never work "on your watch"?

Let me repeat a previous question since now that you have made changes, anything you said in answer before may no longer be true:  Are there loud clicks in the receiver when operating the cradle switch or dial?

It would expedite solving the problem if you compiled a list of the questions asked about what it did and did not do at various points (such as clicks in the receiver, removing the trans. cutting off dial tone, etc.) throughout this thread and revisited those questions and recorded new answers each time any change is made, reporting whether the answers changed or stayed the same.

[shortrackskater]

The cradle switch was working so I must have done something... but I'm taking each step very slow in tracing the wiring.
No loud clicks.
I will start a log and see if I can trace my error.
PM sent. 

[shortrackskater]

I'm sure everyone's getting frustrated with this novice! I can fix slot machines but this phones challenging me.
Thanks for all your patience.
I backtracked to exactly where the hook switch started working and I tried to duplicate the phone as that time - nothing.
Still doesn't hang up with the switch. I KNOW it did at that time, because the phone rang when I called the number.
I looked at every connection to make sure there were no shorts. (best as possible and using my ohm meter)
I removed the ringer to make sure the wires underneath weren't grinding against something.
I disconnected the jumper from L1 to dial R since that was the position it was in when the hook switch worked - no change.
When checking continuity, I did see only 600 ohms between BK and R on the dial. Is that "normal?"
The only thing I have not done is to return the dial pulse cam to the original position.
As of late last night, the phone still has nice loud side tone, NO clicks when depressing hookswitch and NO line disconnect with hookswitch. And it DOES disconnect/reconnect with the transmitter making and breaking contact.
I hope this all makes sense. It's as orderly as I could describe.

[shortrackskater]

Ok after a day off, I got back to the phone.
I recalled now, for whatever reason, I had removed the RED wire from the handset where it was attached to R on the induction coil (or A on the wiring diagram).
So I removed it again, plugged the phone in, got dial tone,  and the hook switch now disconnects the line. The clicks ARE a little louder. The ringer now rings again when I call the number.
I can dial but I get a busy signal after two numbers.

[Alex G. Bell]

Ok after a day off, I got back to the phone.
I recalled now, for whatever reason, I had removed the RED wire from the handset where it was attached to R on the induction coil (or A on the wiring diagram).
So I removed it again, plugged the phone in, got dial tone,  and the hook switch now disconnects the line. The clicks ARE a little louder. The ringer now rings again when I call the number.
I can dial but I get a busy signal after two numbers.

Strange that the diagram says "A".  That's an error.  It should say "R" like the actual coil.

With the R handset cord lead disconnected and no other faults you should get loud clicks in the receiver.  With it connected you should not get any.

It looks like the crimp on the R-S lead at the dial is touching the screw to which the BR-BL lead is connected.  Are you sure it's clear of the screw head?  It seems to me you would have better clearance by bringing the R-S lead in to the dial screw terminal from above.  If that's not possible I suggest inserting a strip of file card or clear insulation cut from a disposable food package over the top of the bottom dial terminal row screw heads before attaching the R-S lead to prevent contact & shorts.

Busy tone before dialing is completed is probably due to a misadjusted dial: unacceptable speed or impulse ratio (duty cycle). 

First you need to get the phone to the point where the cradle switch operates properly to release the line, transmit, receive and sidetone are proper, there are no clicks when the cradle switch is operated and released nor when the dial is turned slightly off-normal and released. 

Once you are at that point we can revisit why dial impulses are not acceptable.