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#71

Western Electric Pay Phones / Re: WE Phone Booth with Phone ...

Last post by 5415551212 - April 14, 2026, 07:51:01 PM

Paul Vaverchak died some time ago, before the fall of 2014.

IIRC, someone on the Forum bought his key cutting equipment, maybe "payphone installer." Don't know.

Thats sad to here thanks for the update.

[1-NNY-XXXX]

#72

Technical "Stuff" / Re: Converting old wall-mount ...

Last post by 5415551212 - April 14, 2026, 06:46:04 PM

Oops, just saw this, sorry: yeah that looks like an awesome and impressive project! (You mentioned it on my phone booth thread as well; thanks.)

I run a small company with a friend, called Telehamster. It's a private ATA network, mostly kid-oriented but includes adults too. We get old rotaries and pushbuttons working (thanks to this forum!) and let kids talk to each other without screens/algorithms/spam being involved.

Nice! You have your own Central Office Exchange (COE) running.
Unless your wanting to keep it a walled garden, I encourage you to expand your exchange's reach and connect it to c*net, the goals and purpose are well aligned, you'd just connect your subscribers to the broader hobbyist telephone community.

Head over to ckts.info reserve an Office Code;
Since you are operating as a service provider (COE) with the goal of connecting many subscribers and offering quality service to me at least thats good reason to 'slurp up' a full 10,000-number block (they encourage only 1000's blocks for most hobby COE's);

North American C*net works in the format 1-NNY-XXXX.
Where
N is managed by c*net (digits 2-9),
Y is your assigned code, managed by c*net, (digits 0-9),
X is the numbers your COE manages and assigns to your subscribers (use digits 2-9)

This would allow you to keep your existing 4-digit internal numbering plan completely intact (as long as you don't use 1 or 0 as leading digits). By claiming a prefix like 1-NNY, you can configure your Asterisk so any C*net user dialing those 8 digits would be routed directly to the XXXX number on your exchange.
Just configure your gateway/server to strip the prefix and ring your local extensions. It's a clean way to stay reachable from the outside c*net world while maintaining your local dialing.
Then for outbound calls, just implement a steering digit (I.E. dialing 1 first) to reach other central offices on the c*net network and keep 0 for operator of course.

So for your users calls would be:
    Local: XXXX (4 digits)

    C*net North America: 1-NNY-XXXX (8 digits)

    C*net International: 011 + Country Code + Number
 In Asterisk you'd set   
    Pattern _XXXX: Dial local SIP/DAHDI channel.

    Pattern _1XXXXXXXX: (The 8-digit c*net North American format). The switch performs an ENUM query against the C*net registry (e164.arpa or the private C*net zone) to find the SIP URI of the remote COE.

    Pattern _011.: (International). The switch strips the 011, looks up the country code and remaining digits in the global ENUM database, and routes the call over the internet to the International COE.
Cheers
--Stephen

#73

Technical "Stuff" / Re: Converting old wall-mount ...

Last post by chconnor - April 14, 2026, 03:28:20 PM

Side question regarding your private network are you aware of c*net? C*net

Oops, just saw this, sorry: yeah that looks like an awesome and impressive project! (You mentioned it on my phone booth thread as well; thanks.)

I run a small company with a friend, called Telehamster. It's a private ATA network, mostly kid-oriented but includes adults too. We get old rotaries and pushbuttons working (thanks to this forum!) and let kids talk to each other without screens/algorithms/spam being involved.

#74

Technical "Stuff" / Re: Converting old wall-mount ...

Last post by chconnor - April 14, 2026, 03:23:12 PM

Thanks! I don't think the phone owner is going to put that much effort in, but that's awesome to know.

#75

Western Electric Pay Phones / Re: WE Phone Booth with Phone ...

Last post by TelePlay - April 14, 2026, 03:12:28 PM

A member named Paul Vaverchak has been mentioned in other threads on payphone locks as having a collection of upper keys, or knowing what keys were used in what regions, not sure if he is still around or what.

Paul Vaverchak died some time ago, before the fall of 2014.

IIRC, someone on the Forum bought his key cutting equipment, maybe "payphone installer." Don't know.

#76

Technical "Stuff" / Re: What determines the volume...

Last post by MaximRecoil - April 14, 2026, 03:06:56 PM

Were did you measure the volume? On the line, or on the receiver?

At the handset, using a VEC LRX-35, which connects inline with the handset cord and has an audio cable that plugs into the microphone jack on a PC.

#77

Western Electric Pay Phones / Re: WE Phone Booth with Phone ...

Last post by 5415551212 - April 14, 2026, 01:35:35 PM

It seems upper locks on these Single slot payphones were usually regionally coded so someone may have one for Upstate NY ?
A member named Paul Vaverchak has been mentioned in other threads on payphone locks as having a collection of upper keys, or knowing what keys were used in what regions, not sure if he is still around or what. I wonder if there is thread on these regional keys or a index online somewhere ?

I also found this old thread on drilling the ring of the lock with an "Annular Cutter" seems better than the impact driver method;
Scroll down the the bottom where thankfully TelePlay has saved the photos:
https://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=10065.0

#78

Technical "Stuff" / Re: WE 801C/801CR Automatic Ca...

Last post by rcourtney - April 14, 2026, 08:31:40 AM

Default nose cap work in progress.

#79

Technical "Stuff" / Re: What determines the volume...

Last post by dsk - April 14, 2026, 12:49:37 AM

Were did you measure the volume? On the line, or on the receiver?
The anti sidetone are just slightly different on the 500 and 2500 circuits.
That difference will also make a difference on the signal out to the other party, but I have never measured.

#80

Western Electric Pay Phones / Re: WE Phone Booth with Phone ...

Last post by Westrex - April 13, 2026, 11:50:40 PM

Even if you get the top key, your still going to need a T-Key to open both upper and lower housings as well as the coinbox lid.

You can buy one for $20 (a bit pricey) here at payphone.com, at Triad Universal, or probably on eBay.