Thanks, introducing myself (and my phones) "mattman"

[mattman]

Hello,

First off, I'd like to thank the members of this forum for keeping this wonderful piece of modern history and technology alive.  You are doing amazing work, and your enthusiasm is contagious--so much so that after reading through the board for a few days I caught the phone bug as well!  My initial foray into this world is small (see the photo below) but I forsee it growing...this stuff is addictive!

Allow me to introduce myself.  I'm Matt from the SF Bay Area.  I grew up in the WE500 era, though remember relatives with 302s.  I've always enjoyed the tactile sensation of a rotary dial, and love the sound of a genuine bell.  I've missed those things but had thought them incompatible with modern systems.   When I recently bought a house that has a very mid-century style to it (an Eichler home for those who are interested) I decided that it had to have phones that looked like they belonged there.  That initial search is what brought me to you.  So...hello!  Thanks again for all your help so far--the collective knowledge here is quite impressive.

As you can see from the photo, I have acquired a nice Sculptura of undermined age, a 554 dated 9/71, and to make them play nice with our VOIP service, a Panasonic 308.  The phones work great, and  when hooked up to the 308 I can call between extensions and everybody rings and dials just fine.  I can also call out when connected to the 308 on both phones--kinda fun to have to dial "9".  What I cannot seem to do is make the 308 ring either phone, nor can I make it ring our modern (read: soulless) phone when attached to the 308.  I can hear an incoming call "clicking" inside the 308, but it won't ring anything.  

Is there anything I need to do to the 308 to program it?  Everything I've been able to find on this board and elsewhere speaks of it being an out-of-the-box sort of arrangement--plug the incoming line into CO1, the phone you want to have ring into EXT11, and incoming calls should ring away.  But for me--click, click, click.  Do I have a bum 308?  Any help or guidance would be most welcome.  Even though I am not a phone guy by training, I am a tinkerer by nature and work in the trades, so am quite comfortable taking things apart and putting them--correctly--back together.

Thanks in advance for your help--I hope I can someday return the favor.

Cheers!

[dsk]

Welcome!
Nice phones you got there, the 308 should ring the modern phones too.
does it ring when you plug it directly in to the line from the voip adapter?
If yes, it may depend on the programming of the 308. It may have been programmed to only ring on some extensions. If one of the yellow rings, the red one should ring when plugged in to the jack the yellow was plugged into.
If you have a telephone cord with only 2 leads it would be the best to use when doing that testing. The Panasonic use 4 wires for the special programming telephone. For my old 616 the programming telephone is a KX-T7130E.

I'm an expert, but you may get a hint of just unplug the 308 from the mains, then unplug the backup battery for a few minutes, plug it all in again, and you will get factory settings on the 308. That is right, but: when I did so, mine was factory set for pulse dialling, and this will not work on most voip lines, so be careful.

Good luck and again welcome.
dsk

[mattman]

>>It may have been programmed to only ring on some extensions.

EUREKA!!! That was it.   You solved the mystery, dsk!

CO1 wasn't ringing on EXT11, but it IS programmed to ring on another extension.  Here I thought it was hard-coded to ring on 11 (based on the sticker on the front) but it isn't.  Trial and error on the remaining extensions and brrrrrrrrrrriiiinnngggg!!!

Thank you thank you thank you!!!  What a wonderful sound!

Now...does anyone know where I can get ahold of a wired yellow WE G3 handset?  Mine has a bunch of hairline cracks--please see below.

Thanks!

[HarrySmith]

Hi Matt and welcome to the madness
Those 2 phones will quickly multiply and phoneitis will set in. It is incurable and progressive.
I am sure someone here will have a handset for you although I do not have any Yellow ones at the moment. We also have a Panasonic expert here who I am sure will answer any questions you may have.