Collecting GPO Phones The Cheap Way

[LarryInMichigan]

I bought this: ebay link last week, and it arrived today.  It is the Israeli version of the British GPO 746.  As far as I am aware, it is nearly identical to the original British version, including the color scheme.  This phone has an electronic warbler ringer.  I do not know if the British ones from this period (1986) used electronic ringers.  The plastic needs some sanding and polishing, but it does not appear to be discolored (which is a welcome change from nearly all of the other plastic phones I have bought lately).  I expect it to come out nicely.  I gave it a quick test, and it works well.

Shipping from Israel is quite cheap compared with most other countries.   According to the postage label on the package, the seller paid under US$11 for postage.  The phone is very light, but I expect that postage for the same phone from the UK would be 3-4 times the amount.

Larry

[LM Ericsson]

All I have is the actual GPOs. Would be cool to compare them side-by-side.

[twocvbloke]

The only GPO phone to have an electronic ringer was the Trimphone, the rest of the models used mechanical bells, goodness knows what foreign companies who bought up the tooling did to the design after the GPO was replaced with British Telecom...

At most, a 746 would have had a buzzer, but that was including the ringer as the buzzer was used on the Planset & similar setups, standard phones wouldn't have buzzers...

[LarryInMichigan]

The only GPO phone to have an electronic ringer was the Trimphone, the rest of the models used mechanical bells, goodness knows what foreign companies who bought up the tooling did to the design after the GPO was replaced with British Telecom...

So perhaps this is not entirely identical to the British design.  How late were 746s made in the UK?  This phone is from 1986.

Larry

[Owain]

The only GPO phone to have an electronic ringer was the Trimphone, the rest of the models used mechanical bells, goodness knows what foreign companies who bought up the tooling did to the design after the GPO was replaced with British Telecom...

The designs were fairly freely resold by the manufacturers (GEC, Ericsson, etc) for both PAX work and overseas/export, with considerable variations to meet local markets, in some cases before adoption by the GPO for UK use.

Anyway, some of the Telephones Special Range had tone calls, eg TSR 1004 Ericofon 700 and 1009 Eiger. Both itroduced 1980 so within GPO ownership even if branded BT.

[Owain]

So perhaps this is not entirely identical to the British design.  How late were 746s made in the UK?  This phone is from 1986.

"early 1980s" for the Yeoman
http://www.britishtelephones.com/yeoman.htm

[twocvbloke]

So perhaps this is not entirely identical to the British design.  How late were 746s made in the UK?  This phone is from 1986.

Larry

I don't think they were made past the early 80's, parts to keep them maintained as part of rental agreements were made into the early 90's, but the phones themselves like a lot of american phones were reclaimed old stock that got converted, tarted up, fitted with electronic transmitters and put back into service where needed, they were usually stamped as "8746", either from new or when refurbished, after that, the various companies that made telephones for the GPO and BT sold off the tooling and focussed on more modern phones...

Looking at that Israeli version of the phone, the base is entirely wrong compared to my 746s, none of the component mounting locations on a real 746 are there, the cutouts are in the wrong place, and there's no gong mounting points, so, I think they just used the upper shell parts to form a phone that looks like the 746 (dial (number plate is a bit off colour), shell, handset, feet, cables (except the Israeli plug), etc. all look right to me), but inside it'll most likely be entirely different, it's like comparing a Face Standard 500-style phone to a WE500, they look alike, but they're quite different on the inside...

Still, I am interested to see what they fitted it out with, and whether any of it actually corresponds with GPO standards or not... 

[LarryInMichigan]

I hope to post some pictures soon and also do some comparisons with an older British 746 that I have.

Larry

[LarryInMichigan]

Here are some poor quality pictures showing the inside of the Israeli phone from 1986 and a British 746 from 1974.  I did a bit of comparing, and I found that the handset caps and the phone shells are interchangeable between the two phones.

Larry

[twocvbloke]

Looking at that Israeli version, I'd have to say they have basically created a highly reduced-cost 746, the components look the same, though laid out slightly differently, on the main PCB (and looking closely at it, I wouldn't be at all surprised if you could fit that inside a real 746!!), and with reduced terminals which have been replaced with push-fit connections, the dial is of a GPO type, the hookswitch bar & lever are the same, they certainly did a good job at cutting off the fat and making a lot of cost savings, reducing the amount of metalwork that went into the 746, quite clever really...

I suppose it's like comparing a WE500 to a Cortelco 500, basically the same but with a reduced cost build...

[LarryInMichigan]

I also have an Israeli 706 equivalent which has much more "fat" inside it: forum link.

Larry

[oldphon]

The electronic "warbler" ringer looks like one made by Floyd Bell & Associates in the US in the 1980's.  It was offered in several versions, some to be retrofitted into sets that previously had mechanical ringers.

[twocvbloke]

I also have an Israeli 706 equivalent which has much more "fat" inside it: forum link.

Larry

Looking at that 706-equivalent, it's basically a fully fledged Mk.1 706, just with a couple of updates (like no large capacitor that may contain PCBs!!)...

I'm kind of curious now, I wouldn't mind getting one of them Israeli phones myself...

[Owain]

This is a slightly interesting one

EBAY

It's a 746 which has been remade into an 8746 with an 8746 Yeoman brown case (84/1 date on base), but retaining a jack plug connection.

[twocvbloke]

I'm guessing that the Yeoman there was altered with the Plug 420 line cable after being converted, as the colour looks like it's Elephant grey rather than chocolate brown (though I don't think they made chocolate brown line cables, officially at least), presumably wherever it was used still needed the 420 for their phone installation...