Last Bt/GPO rotary - Contempra and a fixer upper

[gpo706]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120500960745
( dead link 08-09-21 )

Last dial phone from BT before all em fiddly buttons, dont have any browns, and I like it looks weird having no visible dial or buttons looks like a CB phone, also desk or mount on the wall (probably wall knowing my desk space), same model and colur on another auction £40 minimum so well chuffed.

I know Stephen has a nice red one of these.

Another sick puppy:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110463744063
( dead link 08-09-21 )

I have a box full of 706 grey cases in varying states of decay, so easy fixer-upper.

And finally folks:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220512689413&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT
( dead link 08-09-21 )

another buttinski, (280) a mating pair for the other one (hopefully), pretty much perfect no cracked rubber, switch works without much crackle, and screwed 2 terminal lugs into the test soapdish and it works fine, so this one stays as is, not chaffing my hands pulling it apart, dial is slightly slow but works on the line, also its matt black, unlike 1st TLC one which had chromed alpha-numeric sectioned face.

[McHeath]

I like that brown Contempra, nice clean lines and color and a rotary dial to boot.  The beat up 706 is a sad little puppy, it certainly had a hard knock life.  Probably would work as well as they seem pretty solid, my 706 surprises me on the thickness of the case so someone must have wacked this broken one pretty hard to do that. 

[gpo706]

Aye McHeath, this is one I dont worry about if if it turns up with case in bits, I already have a nice shined up replacement for it and can use the dial on another "long-term care" resident, have a wee project to use this with a blanked off dial and the "discreet" dialler screwed in a drawer or something as I managed to get to 5 wire dial cord ages ago.

The Contempra is reallly intriging, tiny wee dial in the handset, and utterly anonymous (weird even) looking when the handset is down, maybe Stephen would swap for his gorgeous red one! LOL

[gpo706]

I forgot to say McHeath, probably depends on the vintage and year of manufacure how thick your 700 series case is, personally I have never seen one as thick as a 500 series, they are built like Panzer tanks.

[McHeath]

My 706 is from Israel so I don't think it was made in the UK.  It's an odd combination of both of the marks, but mostly seems to follow the pattern of the mark I.  It's a late 70's unit, and it has the later transparent fingerwheel and numbers only dial bezel. 

[gpo706]

This was a relist and buy it now for £5.

The seller obviously has bugged my room/phone/internet, because he knew I couldn't resist.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290380365987&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

Seriously, its an ivory 711 or 741 (wont know till it gets here), nice wee fixer upper, bid on these before and usually go for £40 plus, I actually got a cheap 711 grey CB which I was going to convert to a dial but the post office had been playing football with it and the body was like a atomised jigsaw puzzle when it came, seller refunded most of the cost as I said I could use the chassis and the blanking plate.

That's still sitting in my spares box, waiting for a donor body which I was quoted £15 & P&P for, so this ivory was too good to miss.

[McHeath]

Cool phone, I've not seen a wall mount GPO like this before, it certainly resembles the 706.  I assume that the inner works are the same as the desk model, like our Western Electric 554s and 500s.

[gpo706]

McH, not sure till it gets here, but could be a 711 or a 741, cases are fairly similar.

All the gubbins are pretty much interchangable, as you say a 706 base, new cradle set, new case - its a 711, same as the 746/741.

BTW read somewhere that GPO had even numbered for desk phones and odd numbered for wallphones, makes it a bit easier to spec them up don't it!

[gpo706]

The Contempra arrived today, weird and wonderful thing.

It looks like a cheese board when reclined, and weighs more than a 500, between the base and the handset, no chance of it slipping around the desk like a trimphone.

So it came with a BT PST plug (this original in white, I might change it for a brown one - (not original but it will look better, and its my phone so yah boo!)

You pick the handset up and lo and behold - A MINI DIAL!

Gets better, if you look at the pics, there is no room for the finger stop to possibly accomodate a rotation from the figure 1 hole.

Wrong.

The finger stop slides leftwards when you dial about 30 degrees then stops you dialling a 360!

I'm absolutely gobsmacked with this machine, I want a red one now.

I've not opened it up as its worked straight out of the box so to speak.

And here's a test phone I managed to get with same mini-me dial, but its yet to arrive.

[McHeath]

Fab looking test phone.

The behavior of the mini dial in your Contempra sounds like the way the dials work in our Trimlines.  The fingerstop slides along, which is pretty nifty, I remember being impressed by it when I first ran into one back in the 70's. 

[gpo706]

It's absolutley mad McHeath, why didn't they just shunt it along!

This one will really get kids confused - "what do you mean the finger-stop doesn't move"?

[gpo706]

Historical info:

http://www.britishtelephones.com/tsr1002.htm

I want a red one!

[gpo706]

Actually seems was originally supplied with a grey line cord, so will leave as is. At least it works unlike most of my bits.

[LarryInMichigan]

Were the UK Contempra phones the same Canadian made used in North America?  I remember seeing them around in the late 70's.  I wanted one back then, but never got one. 

Larry

[gpo706]

I had a quick look Larry, they look very similar, anyone know for sure?

The Contempra is mounted on the wall with just 2 screws, one lateral adjust and one horizontal.

The 741 was a bit scuffed about, but plenty of elbow grease and disifectant cleaner brushed up just dandy, even the handset cord has a nice coil and not faded, its actually a really pretty light ivory colour unlike most of other "ivories" which range from near white (bleaching experiment) to cream coloured.

It needed a good wash as the earpiece (and for some reason) a bit of the mouthpeice were encrusted with ear-wax, lovely jobs we give ourselves eh?

The mouthpiece wont budge so cleaned all the seams/speaking holes with a toothbrush, in the absentia of a hairdryer to heat the cap up and slacken it off for a full clean.

2 original dial cards were found under the dial cap, both "Bridlington 673382", curiously the more modern looking one was at the back (?).

The mechanicals proved a very taxing exercise in logical thinking.

The chassis has 2 rubber feet at the bottom, but none on the top, I have another 741 CB chassis identical, so clever clogs here thinks it's missing two rubber feet from the top, - WRONG.

To get the purloined feet on I had to take the left hand bell out to get into the grommet hole, one screw and out it all came, the bell, a washer from nowhere and a staunchion from underneath that supported the bell, Ok I can deal with that, but no, then the whole cradle hookset arm and the linkage to the hookswitch come apart as I try to wrestle the rubber foot into the mounting hole.

Now I have 5 bits of disassembled metal, 4 bits of a bell, and a phone that didnt even get a dial tone anymore, not even when I rocked the switch with my by now very tender fingers.

So first the extra rubber foot is taken out after you spent 35 minutes forcing the darn thing in, then some brute force and a screwdriver gets that pesky bell back in the right order, screw/bell/washer/staunchion.

Then the other bits of the hookswitch, lying in a jumble on your desk.

Now is the time you waste hours thinking you can crack it putting it all back together by yourself, because obviously someone had to put it together in the first place right?

Then you surrender and dig out the other 741 out (the very bottom box of the pile naturally) and line them up to see how the hell it all goes back, then the "eureka" moment, - it all goes back in a certain order, switch rocker with tiny TINY spring, push rod to handset cradle, make sure the locking latch is in right position to lock cradle, (this baffled me for 6 or 7 attempts), hook cradle from right to left and it all secures with and is adjusted for tension with - you guessed it the bloody bell screw you took off in the first place.

As I was trying to do this I was imagining being some lass on the assembly line at GPO Cymbran or wherever and some gaffer in tan overalls, pipe hanging from his mouth saying "now ladies, when dis-assembling a 711/741 cradle switch - DO NOT start here - with the bells..."

Of course the body didn't like the new cord, so I had to twist it round to make it tight and secure with a cable tie (inside, can't see it) to make sure the case wanted to talk to the chassis again, I left the line grommet inside as another cord securer.

The electrics I did through a step by step rewire, and it works fine, curiously (and no doubt a familiar story to most on here) I test wired it to round ivory PST plug and it worked, to mount it I thought I would save the round one for another machine and rewired it exactly the same way with a thicker flatter grey cable, and darn thing did nothing but a click and hum.

So now it has the round ivory line (and it's staying there), so just need to figure out where to mount it now.