Progressive Electronics Tracer & Inductive Amplifier

[marty]

Hi All;
What are the following, I know they are for testing of Phones and/or lines, But wouldn't know the "how or the way" or "what for" of these instruments... the yellow instrument says -- 139B Test Set...
THANK YOU Marty

[Adam]

They help you trace pairs of telephone wires.

Say you have a bunch of unmarked pairs of telephone wires.  You attach the clip leads of the little square box to one of the wires, then you go to the other end of the wires and use a butt-set to find the continuously warbling tone that the little square box is feeding into the line.  When you find the tone, you've identified a continuous pair of wires from one end to the other.

The probie thing attaches to a butt set or you listen through its little speaker.  It works by induction, it lets you find the pair of wires with the tone thing on the other end just by touching the outside of the wire (even through the insulation).  This makes it easier to find the pair of wires you're looking for if you have hundreds or thousands of pairs to try, you just run the probie thing over the pairs until you get close and hear the tone.

The little square box also has a continuity setting.  In this setting, you attach the clips to a pair of wires, if there is a short on the wires, the little LED lights.  Nothing happens if the wires are open.

The bigger Yellow box is for testing Party Lines and it's very confusing to use, IMHO.  Different combinations of clip plug-ins in conjunction with the indicator light test which party the line is identified as.  There are instruction sheets for it online.

[Doug Rose]

Marty...these a phoneman's best friend. You put the toner on one side of the pair or wire you are looking for. You use the Wand with the metal point on the other end. You hit the wand on the toner  and you get an audible..BEEP! You have found your wires on the other end. The yellow and the block with the wand are both toners, they send out the tone, the wand picks the tones up. Simple!....Doug

[Jim Stettler]

You can also set the toner to continuity and you have a continuity light (lights on a compleate circuit) . You can also use it fopr a quick source of talk battery.
Jim

[marty]

Hi All;
THANK YOU All for the information... I got these from the Guy who I got the D1 from.... So THANKS..
Marty

[AE_Collector]

Don't forget the two LED's in the "Tracer 2". Plug the phone cord into a jack and no LED means the jack isn't connected to a phone line at all.

A Line 1 green LED on means the jack has a phone line (or at least a connection to the CO which *could* potentially be out of service but CO battery is there. Red LED means the same except the polarity is backwards.

The test clips can be used in place of plugging into a jack. Line 1 LED's indicate the same with respect to the clips as they do if it is plugged into a jack.

A Line 2 Led indicates there is a line connected to the 2nd pair in the jack. Green vs red indicates polarity. So if you have both Line 1 and Line 2 LED's lit there might be 2 lines in the jack.

When toning out a "pair" remember there is lots of induction so to prove that you have the right pair short the pair briefly at the end opposite where the toner is which will kill the tone to the wand if the pair is correct AND both sides of the pair are good.

Terry

[TelePlay]

Marty...these a phoneman's best friend. You put the toner on one side of the pair or wire you are looking for. You use the Wand with the metal point on the other end. You hit the wand on the toner  and you get an audible..BEEP! You have found your wires on the other end. The yellow and the block with the wand are both toners, they send out the tone, the wand picks the tones up. Simple!....Doug

Doug,

I just picked up a 139B NIB for $19.95 with free shipping. Good deal or not? I have several uses for this so I thought it was worth it but did I pay too much or get a good deal?

And anyone, what is that wand shown in the online available WE 139A instruction PDF which is attached to the lineman's handset made of or how is it made. Can I make one or is there something special inside that would make it difficult to make. Is it just an induction coil with a point or something else?

Thanks for help with either or both of these.

[Doug Rose]

A working toner and wand for $20 is a good deal. For a technician, this combination is a God send. Toning out risers or improperly marked cables, these are huge time savers. Continuity testing is also fantastic! I just used mine at my father in laws home last weekend....Doug

[HowardPgh]

I use my tracer all the time when working on phones.  Continuity is great for checking contacts and transmitters.  I use the toner beep part to test recever elements, I don't like applying DC to them if I can help it.
Howard

[TelePlay]

A working toner and wand for $20 is a good deal.

Just got the toner, new in box. No wand. Also have a handset. Where do I get a wand and what's a good price for one? Don't even know what model number WE assigned to it. Help!

[DavePEI]

A working toner and wand for $20 is a good deal.

Just got the toner, new in box. No wand. Also have a handset. Where do I get a wand and what's a good price for one? Don't even know what model number WE assigned to it. Help!

You have several options for wands. Of course there is the139A, the yellow banana shown in the drawing above - disadvantages - you required a butt set to use with it. It included an inductive pick-up, and a small amplifier to boost the signal. Max. you should pay for it is $20, I would guess. You can often find these on eBay for a song. The problem with the Banana, is that your handset leads will continually slip off.

The better option is shown at the top of the page, the Progressive Electronics model 200. When you depress the button, it picks up the signal,and amplifies it,and has its own built-in speaker. See eBay item280957812454; also 350597178354

For one of their tone senders, see Ebay# 300744940069.

I have several types of toners from the older buzzer driven style,to the most current, and the Progressive Electronics is my favorite, so much so that I keep mine in the museum workshop, and not on display with the other toners. I also have subscriber loop testers which include a tone sending option, which can be used to send tone to the Progressive receiver.

Both the PE sender and receiver use 9 volt batteries for power. The battery for the older style "Banana" can be quite hard to find, so that is a definite advantage in favour of the newer style.

You can also find toners on Sandman's site for reasonable prices.

They are a must in anyone's tool kit. Incidentally, the receiver is useful for electrical work - with out the need to use a tone sender, you can trace electrical wiring inside a wall just by listening for the 60cycle hum as you sweep the surface with the wand. It will tell you exactly where the wire runs by following it up, down, and around the wall.

I can't even imagine not having a toner.

Dave

[poplar1]

Adam, there is a different gray tester for party lines. The one shown is not the one with plugins for various tip+ tip- ring+ and ring- parties.

[poplar1]

Here's the party line toner: (Ebay item# 290772319789)