1948 Federal FEM 804-A

..... · September 06, 2015, 10:12:09 PM

I have this 1948 Federal FEM 804-A and I trying to decide what to do with it. Do I leave as is or restore it? Leave as a desk or make it a wall phone. It's an ugly phone, but has some charm. Any thoughts?

Jim Stettler · September 06, 2015, 10:22:55 PM

That looks to be the textured finish. I have seen them with smooth finishes as well. I vote for Restoring it with an interesting spray can finish (maybe one of the hammered finishes). I would probably leave it as a desk phone.
JMO,
Jim S.

G-Man · September 06, 2015, 10:32:42 PM

Quote from: Autonut on September 06, 2015, 10:12:09 PM
I have this 1948 Federal FEM 804-A and I trying to decide what to do with it. Do I leave as is or restore it? Leave as a desk or make it a wall phone. It's an ugly phone, but has some charm. Any thoughts?

Incredible that as ugly as it is, the Bell System installed them in their magneto exchanges.

NorthernElectric · September 06, 2015, 11:04:39 PM

Didn't you get a manual D1 with a magneto subset at an auction recently? Bet you could make a cool intercom from the house to the garage with that and the Federal. Just sayin'.

..... · September 07, 2015, 07:48:08 AM

Quote from: NorthernElectric on September 06, 2015, 11:04:39 PM
Didn't you get a manual D1 with a magneto subset at an auction recently? Bet you could make a cool intercom from the house to the garage with that and the Federal. Just sayin'.

I wouldn't even know where to begin. I don't have a clue on how these crank phones work, but my wife thought it would be cool though. The way we do it now is she uses the Magic Jack Phone to call our Land Line. It's possible as I have a 12 Pair Direct Burial Shielded Telephone Cable from the house to the garage. A friend of mine had a spool of this wire, so I ran it to the garage when I was building it. I have 2 subsets actually. One N515H with a 202 and a 295A with a 302. I guess I'll have to do some reading.

NorthernElectric · September 07, 2015, 11:06:14 AM

Quote from: Autonut on September 07, 2015, 07:48:08 AMI wouldn't even know where to begin.

Firstly, I have never done this, although I have connected various phones to my N300K magneto subset to ring them.

Here are a couple of links to topics on this forum where others have done this:
Trying to piece together two phones for an intercom
WE 250 AA1 and WE 307 H7 phones as intercom

From what I can gather, It's really quite simple; all you need to do is wire the 2 phones/subsets together using a pair of wires on L1 and L2. Cranking either magneto should ring at both ends. For the talk circuit you need to connect a battery (or DC power supply) to each phone or subset. 3-4.5V DC should suffice. One of the posters in the topics I linked to says that polarity doesn't matter. I see your Federal has a wiring diagram so it should be easy to figure out where to connect at that end. I couldn't find a wiring diagram for your N515H, but I got one for a 400K which is also a local battery anti-sidetone subset and may be similar enough. Your N515H should have a terminal labelled 'BATT' that has the yellow mounting cord wire connected. Hook one side of your battery here. I think the other side should go to the terminal that is connected to 'BL' on the coil as in the 400K diagram. It will probably be easier to mock this up side by side using a short piece of hookup wire before connecting them to an unused pair on your buried cable.

NorthernElectric · September 07, 2015, 11:57:02 AM

PS. It may just be the perspective of your photo, but I can't say if your N515H has the same terminal labels that mine has. Mine was missing the magneto when I got it and I bought it intending to add a modern network, which I have done. To do that, I removed the 104 coil so I can't tell you which terminal 'BL' was connected to. But in case yours is not labelled, you can at least see the 'BATT' terminal.

andre_janew · September 07, 2015, 12:09:33 PM

I've heard people use a 6--volt car or motorcycle battery with two magneto phones used for a intercom system. The 6volts is for both phones and not just one. Of course, that was a long time ago. They might use something different nowadays.

..... · September 07, 2015, 06:50:47 PM

Thanks Cliff, for the info. I'll get some reading in. I will try and hook up the two phones in the garage first. Once I get the wiring figured out, I'll hook the up the wires that run from the house to the garage and see how the wife likes it.

Doug

Jim Stettler · September 07, 2015, 07:44:04 PM

3 volt works fine for talk battery.
You can use a toner, set to continuity to power the talk circuit between a pair of buttsets (or phones). I would use a separate pair for signaling.
JMO,
Jim S.

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1948 Federal FEM 804-A