Bell Antwerp (BTMC) AD51879 railway telephone

[dsk]

I understand what you say, and would usually agree in every word, but this time Arwin gave me the impression of wanting something like what I suggested, he is playing carefully, and does everything here so this may be reversible. I see no risk of harming this nice instrument working this way. I really hope Arwin reads what you say, and considers it well. I will not make more suggestions in this thread until someone asks for it.  I have learned lots from this forum, and I hope I may give something back from time to time. My best fettle (so far) was to make connections between my SXS PBX and IP telephony. It is still not perfect, but it have got more options then it had as new in the 1940'ies. (and I have not soldered or desoldered a single wire in that PBX)

dsk

[Jim Stettler]

Are you trying to better Beethoven?

I have to state, that I am a sharp critic of such experiments, "playing around".  Doing it by oneself in private to learn is one thing, promoting it in public is another.

25+ years ago I found some old phoneco notes in a collection I bought. They showed how to hot-wire 211's ect. (no subset). In my ignorance I did wire some phones like this. They did work however the receiver clicks were painfully loud and you lost a lot of "inherent lightning protection"* that you would have with a subset. From later listserver discussions I learned that this is bad for a variety of reasons. I agree that homebrew circuits should be for experimental purposes only
Jim S.
* "Inherent lightning protection" by this I mean that lightning will dissipate some thru the subset . Without a subset you will go deaf (or worse) if lightning strikes close while you are using the phone. Phone companies designed subsets with sound quality and subscriber protection in mind.


Years later I did experience a close lightning strike (1 house away and across the alley) while talking on a cordless phone. The strike knocked out the connection and deafened me for a few minutes. The phone still worked,but I always hang up during lightning storms now. I wondered what would of happened if I was using an old hotwired phone. maybe nothing, maybe permanent deafness,maybe death.
My Advice: Don't use your home brew phones on regular phone lines except for testing purposes, never as a working extension.

JMO,
Jim S.

[Matilo Telephones]

Easy guys, I am not going to do anything drastic to this phone. I like to keep my phones as original as I possible and change as little as needed.

When I said I doubted it would ring without major modifications, I did not mean to express any ambition to actually do that.

I was just trying to find out if there was an simply way to breathe some life into it.

[unbeldi]

Easy guys, I am not going to do anything drastic to this phone. I like to keep my phones as original as I possible and change as little as needed.

When I said I doubted it would ring without major modifications, I did not mean to express any ambition to actually do that.

I was just trying to find out if there was an simply way to breathe some life into it.

Understood, don't worry.  Did you try to simply connect a 4.5V or 6 V battery directly across the ringer?

[Matilo Telephones]

Easy guys, I am not going to do anything drastic to this phone. I like to keep my phones as original as I possible and change as little as needed.

When I said I doubted it would ring without major modifications, I did not mean to express any ambition to actually do that.

I was just trying to find out if there was an simply way to breathe some life into it.

Understood, don't worry.  Did you try to simply connect a 4.5V or 6 V battery directly across the ringer?

Sorry not yet. I had to move this phone off my workbench, as I should be working on other things.

And I really want to finish this phone I am working on now: a red Fg Tist 282

[Jim Stettler]

That red Fg Tist 282 is pretty neat looking telephone.