1950 Ivory Western Electric 302 Party Line Phone - $120 BIN off eBay

[zaphod01]

No dialtone but the line cord had a sketchy RJ11 connector. I finally worked up the courage to open it. Much to my surprise, it opened easily and revealed a 372A electron tube inside! The three wires from the tube had been disconnected and were loose. I don't recall seeing a color 302 party-line phone before. Body dated 3-8-50-X. Base dated 9/47. B3A ringer dated 8/47. Network dated III 47. Handset dated 11/ 9. Elements are both 10/49. Now I need to work on getting a dialtone.

[MMikeJBenN27]

Try running black tube wire to K, red wire to Gnd, and yellow wire to L2Y.  Of that doesn't work, swap red the red and yellow wires.  Let us know how it works.

Mike

[RDPipes]

If memory serves me right WE306's have a two wire capacitor instead of the 4 wire that WE302's came with
so you'll either have to add a ring capacitor or change out the 2wire one for a 4 wire one to get it to ring
with the tube still in the circuit. Below is how it's originally wired.

[Doug Rose]

If you want to get it to work, remove the tube and install a Capacitor from another 302 and it should work fine. I would keep it as is as it is original once. It is a beauty...Doug

[TelePlay]

Keep it original. The tube will work just fine as ling as you have the polarity correct (red/green to L1/L2). If it doesn't ring, reverse the red and green wires.

Here's a simple wiring diagram posted by Kenny C in 2011



RDPipes used good information from Poplar1 to make both of his work/ring using the tube.

https://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=28828.msg274667#msg274667

I think this is the poplar1 wiring post put in in 2011, so it's been around for some time and I used it to correctly wire the last 306 I had on my bench, saved the tube, wired as built and no "extra" capacitor needed.

There aren't many "tube" sets left in the wild and in my experienced opinion, removing the tube and putting in a capacitor just turns the set into "working" scrap. And it's easier to move a couple of wires that to go through the hassle of tube circuit removal and finding/installing another capacitor. Restoring a phone to it's "as last used" condition is a far superior act to convenient modification.

If you've been following along with all posts on the forum, you might have seen this extensive topic

https://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=28828.0

about phone tubes and the B3A ringer installed in those "tube" sets. I can't read the stamp on your ringer but it does look like it's a low impedance B3A ringer installed to match the vacuum tube specifications.

[zaphod01]

This one put up a fight. I replaced the capacitor, network, ringer, feet, hook switch, plungers, line cord, and handset cord. It's finally finished!

[MMikeJBenN27]

I have a tube 500 dated 1951, with the earlier governor in the dial assembly, the 425A network, dial face with the smaller "Operator" script, and, of course, the tube.

Mike