Soviet TA-1158 "TONE"

[rdelius]

Bought this on Ebay.Manufactured by Red Dawn in 1983.Origional price 110 Rubles .Plug made in Poland. Cannot locate any information on the set

[LarryInMichigan]

That phone looks quite big and heavy.  It must weigh a ton

[unbeldi]

You should probably search for  тон   not  TON in Cyrillic, the Russian word for tone.

[unbeldi]

Ok, that strategy works well, I searched in Cyrillic for  "ТОН ТА-1158"


Телефонный аппарат «ТОН» ТА-1158

http://old-phones.ru/telefonnyj-apparat-ton-ta-1158/

[unbeldi]

Here is another diagram from a different site:
http://alltlf.narod.ru/retro.html

[unbeldi]

Your phone was actually made in August 1985, if I read that correctly:

Дата                           Date
08-85                          08-85

ЦЕНА 110 РУБ             Price 110 Rubel
СДЕЛАНО В СССР        Made in USSR

[unbeldi]

"Red Dawn"  refers to the Russian telephone maker  Krasnaya Zarya (Красная Заря). The company was set up by Ericsson in St. Petersburg in 1900 and later renamed to Krasnaya Zarya.

[twocvbloke]

August 1985? It's as old as I am...

[.....]

August 1985? It's as old as I am...

I could only wish I was that old again! 

CDN Doug

[rdelius]

I did not see the diagrams when I searched on the internet.More electronic than I would have expected from the USSR.The dial is based on a German dial.I do not see how they could have sold many when the Rouble was officially valued about 1:1 to the Dollar at the time.Expensive.Looks more like 83 than 85 when looking close

[unbeldi]

I suppose one, if not the most, interesting aspect is the tone ringer shown in the lower box of the diagram.  Have you hooked it up?  How does it sound?

After all, it is named the "Tone Telephone Apparat 1158".

The exchange rate really didn't matter at the time, the price was what the government permitted it to be, and that's why they molded it into the plate.

[andre_janew]

In order to hook it up, it looks like the plug will need to be changed unless you got a jack with it.

[rdelius]

The telephone has good voice transmission. The electronic ringer is adjustable with a large knob on the back of the set.I think the electronic transmitter is noise cancelling also.Still rather expensive for Soviet citizens.I never saw this set in Soviet Export magazine and wonder if it was made in other colors.Set was bought from an Ebay seller in Bulgaria.Corrected the subject heading.

[unbeldi]

Yes, 110 Rubles was higher than the poverty line by monthly income, even during Glasnost, and this probably was not a 'consumer' telephone. Not that there was much consumerism at the time; most people probably would get a simple old-style black desk set if they even had enough to order telephone service.
Perhaps the color indicates some kind of official use, and red would certainly be quite fitting.

[rdelius]

I have many other Soviet telephones and this is the best sounding one.None of the others have a price on them,mostly to old to have been sold.The color is more of a burnt orange than red