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German FeTAp phone static

Started by pwps, August 21, 2010, 05:57:08 PM

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pwps

I know this forum is mainly in regards to American phones, but when I searched the forum, I saw a couple of people had previously discussed the Bundespost FeTAp phones from Germany, so I figured it couldn't hurt!

I recently inherited my grandmother's classic FeTAp 611-2a orange rotary phone. It's a beauty. It came with the original cord, but no plug. Just bare wires; white, brown, green and yellow, to be exact. I successfully attached an RJ11 plug and everything still works: voice and ringing. However, there is a good amount of static on the line. I tested the line with other phones, including my good ol' Western Electric red rotary. They all have no static, so I know it's the FeTAp. I couldn't find any loose connections within the phone either.

Anyone know what else it might be? Or does anyone know where I might be able to get replacement parts for this old German phone? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Patrick

Phonesrfun

I have one and when I got mine, the transmitter was bad.  Obviously, on this side of the pond, a replacement transmitter is not exactly easy to find.  Oddly enough, a WE T-1 from a 500 drops right into a FeTAp 611.

If it isn't the transmitter, it could be a bad line cord, a bad handset cord., a bad hookswitch contact or a bad dial contact.

Functionally, the German phone is pretty much the same as US phones.  Also, it is perfectly alright to discuss European, Asian, Soviet, you name it on this forum.  In fact,  not only do we have members from other continents, I think the discussions are very helpful and educational.
-Bill G

dsk

The diagram: http://tinyurl.com/33dbkpr


Try just remove the transmitter capsule, and listen, if the statics are gone...its the capsule.

Until you get a replacement, try to put in a resistor of 220 ohms in parallel.

dsk

pwps

#3
Wow...I unscrewed and popped out the transmitter and the static stopped immediately. Good call!

So a WE T-1 from a 500 will work in the FeTAp? Very cool. You'll have to forgive me, my knowledge of phones is very bare. What exactly is a 500? And any idea the best place to get parts like that? (Edit: ok, a quick Google tells me it's a Western Electric 500...duh. Should have searched first. I originally thought my red rotary was a WE, but turns out it is an ITT. I guess it's too different.  I'll google some more for phone replacement parts, but if there is any "go to" place that everyone uses, that would be much appreciated!)

And as far as putting in a resistor of 220 ohms in parallel...I'm not even entirely sure what that means. My father in law is an engineer...I can ask him for some help.

Thanks very much for your help, both of you. Hopefully I can get this awesome phone working in no time!

Dennis Markham

Patrick, welcome to the Forum! 

Your ITT T-1 transmitter will work just as the W.E. T1. However, I believe (perhaps falsely) that the quality of the older Western Electric stuff is better than the later, I.T.T. stuff.

pwps

Thanks!

I did end up checking ITT transmitter just for the heck of it, and sure enough, on the back it does indeed say "T1". I tried that in my FeTAp, but it does not seem to work. The T1 is flat on the contact side, whereas the FeTAp transmitter has a point to it. The T1 doesn't really want to sit in the handset. There's no trick or anything that I'm missing is there?

Thanks again.

Dennis Markham

I have no experience with that phone.  I was just saying the T1 from an IT&T phone was about the same as one from a W.E. phone.  I'm not much help with regard to the German phone.

pwps

On my second attempt, I did get the T1 to sit in the handset properly. It's a little better, but there's still some static with the T1. And I know that T1 works fine with my the ITT phone. So I'm guessing it's not the transmitter.

Phonesrfun

Quote from: pwps on August 22, 2010, 10:26:11 PM
Thanks!

I did end up checking ITT transmitter just for the heck of it, and sure enough, on the back it does indeed say "T1". I tried that in my FeTAp, but it does not seem to work. The T1 is flat on the contact side, whereas the FeTAp transmitter has a point to it. The T1 doesn't really want to sit in the handset. There's no trick or anything that I'm missing is there?

Thanks again.

Come to think of it, I did have to bend the FeTAP contacts up to work with the T1.  Looks like you figured that out too.  The T1 from the ITT will be identical in every respect to the WE, due to the cross-licensing agreement ITT had with WE.

So, if the transmitter was not the cause of the static, that leaves the cords or the switches to check.  Check the cords out by wiggling them in various places along the lengths of the cords to see if they change the static, and if it gets worse as the cords are wiggled.  Check both the line cord and the hadset cord.

Switches:

One good way to test for switches not making complete contact is to just jossle the phone around or smack it on the side with your hand to see if the jarring will cause more static.

There are two sets of switches.  The hookswitch, and the dial pulse switch.  The contacts of these switches can be cleaned (burnished) by passing a rough-surfaced business card between the switch contacts while the contacts are closed and touching each other.  While they are in this position, pass the card in between, and let the contact's own spring-like pressure create the needed friction for cleaning.  Don't use an emery board or a file or anything abrasive.  The abrasiveness of a rough piece of card stock, like a business card is plenty abraisive for the contacts.  Anything more abrasive than that can damage the contact surfaces of the switches and make them worse.

The dial will need to be taken off its mount to get to the switch contacts on the back side of the dial.

Good luck
-Bill G

dsk

Most German Italian and Swedish telephones uses those smaller, quite flat capsules, a lot of door telephone systems, too. (e.g. Siedle)

Some use a little spacer, a ring between the cover and the capsule, so I guess this because it was designed for a slightly different design.

Bending the contact spring may help too.

dsk

pwps

Both the handset and line cord seem to be fine. No increase in static with their movement. I do have to say that most of the static does seem to be gone. It seems mostly intermittent now. I'll keep fiddling with it to see if I can get the static to reappear and pinpoint what's causing it.

Something else that I found interesting: I moved the phone up to my office and plugged it into a wall jack duplex/splitter. In one side of the splitter I've got the FeTAp plugged in, and the other, I've got our cordless Panasonic base plugged in. When I hit "Talk" on the cordless, I hear a tiny "zzzzt" coming from inside the FeTAp. Then when I end the call on the cordless, after a few seconds I'll hear the same "zzzzt" noise. Likes there's a tiny charge that's being sent to it. Anybody know what that's about? Is it normal?

LM Ericsson

That is the sound of the clapper barely moving and not hitting the bell (basically bell tinkle). My green FeTAp 611-2 does the same thing.
Regards,
-Grayson