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Old dial tone

Started by Phonesrfun, May 09, 2010, 04:39:35 PM

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Phonesrfun

OK, this forum is about Rotary Phones.  Here is something that is relavant to rotary telephones, and particularly the dial tones "way back in the good ol' days".

Currently, in the US and some other countries, the dial tone we hear is one that came about in the 1960's and implemented as part of putting in Touch-Tone service.  It is called a "precise dial tone", and consists of two frequencies blended together of 350 and 440 Hz.  The reason for going to the new dial tone is that the older tones had frequencies and overtones that would interfere with the Touch-Tone (DTMF) dialing.  DTMF stands for Dual Tone Multi Frequency.

If you have a sound card in your computer and a program that can produce two simultaneous tones, you can actually make your computer sound card produce a dial tone.  In fact, with all the DTMF frequencies that are used for the digits 1 through 0, and the asterisk and the pound sign, you can actually program your computer to dial a number if you hold the handset up close to the computer speaker.

But I digress...

As I mentioned, the precise dial tone came into being in the mid 60's as part of the Touch-Tone conversion.  This happened in my neighborhood in 1967 when I was 16 years old.  Prior to the precise dial tone, depending on where you lived and what phone company you were on and what type of equipment was in the central office, there were a whole variety of dial tones out there.  So, if you ask an old-timer about old dial tone, there will be a variety of opinions of what "old dial tone" sounded like.

They were everything from just a buzzer hooked into the circuit to some sophisticated tones that had been developed by Ma Bell after the war.

I have heard both the buzz and the post-war dial tone.  I grew up in an area in Portland, OR where we were on Bell system, but just a few blocks away was the boundary between Bell System and West Coast Telephone, later GTE.  Theirs was more of a buzz.  At home, we had the more modern post-war dial tone that the Bell System standardized on until they switched to precise dial tone.

That post-war dial tone is a 600 Hz tone modulated by 120 Hz.  There is no way I have figured out to modulate a tone with another tone on the computer sound card.  Maybe there is, but my skills in this area are not all that good.  However, with an intergrated circuit chip, it is possible.  Last year, I did a bunch of research into old dial tone, and as a result of contacting a collector named Chuck Richards, I was able to build his circuit.

While I cannot get a computer to actually make the tone, I can, of course record the tone from the tone generator I built.  So without further adieu, here is a .wav file of the dial tone.  How many of you recognize it?

-Bill G

Jim Stettler

My grandparents had the same or similar dial tone. The were served by a telephone CO-OP out of  Burlington, CO. by similar, Theirs may of been a slightly different pitch.

I was always scolded for playing with telephones. In this case I checked the dial tone on their 302-type phone to  make sure it sounded right and it didn't.

I was never allowed to experiment with the other tones.

At the time I wanted to know if the difference was from the phone style or company. My Mom said Company (ex operator). I suspected it was from the phone because I thought all phone co's were Bell. She was right.


Back in the day, most adults frowned on kids playing with telephones. Mom didn't mind me experimenting within reason.
Jim
You live, You learn,
You die, you forget it all.

baldopeacock

I'd almost forgotten that old dial tone, but not quite.   I would have been 11 when Ma Bell made that transition.   Thanks for the revisit.

Dennis Markham

Bill, your posting is very interesting.  I enjoyed listening to the dial tone, but I have to say I don't remember specifically that tone as opposed to what we have now.  I know there is a big difference, but I guess I just never paid attention at the time.

savageje

#4
Bill:

Thanks for the interesting post.  The current dial tone is the only one I remember, although I've heard something very similar to the one you posted in old movies and TV shows.  Prior to the introduction of DTMF, was there any technical reason why the tone had to be a certain way, or could it basically have been anything?  I have heard the old "buzz" in a Bell System film on YouTube, and it seems to be a very nerve-grating noise, to say the least.  Glad that didn't last!

Phonesrfun

Before DTMF, it could have been anything, and in practice, it was almost anything.
-Bill G

bingster

#6
Here are a few that I've picked up around the net.  I think some of them came from the Bell System Memorial site. 
= DARRIN =



bingster

And an old ringback for good measure:
= DARRIN =



jsowers

I recall from childhood that the RE1-2xxx numbers in the small community I still live in sounded different in the ringing tone when called than the other numbers like mine that were RE1-4xxx. The busy signal also sounded strange. This all changed when they brought in digital switching equipment in the 1980s. It resembled the old dial tone and busy signals Bingster posted, but with a little more of a bass note. Almost like the sound a ceramic phono pickup makes when you touch one of the leads. Maybe a 60-cycle hum?

I also remember the busy signal in a small community called Denton after I started working for the school system in 1985 and I had to call the school there. It was a honk-honk-honk sound similar to Hoppy the Kangaroo on the Flintstones. Hoppy was Dino's counterpart over at Barney and Betty Rubble's house, in case you need to know. I laughed every time I heard that. It's gone now too, many years ago.
Jonathan

McHeath

I never knew any but the current tones, but I have heard them in old movies. 

That old busy tone 2 sounds like it should be in a low budget science fiction flick from the 50's.   ;)

Dan/Panther

I go back farther than I want to admit, but I don't recall any of the old versions.
D/P

The More People I meet, The More I Love, and MISS My Dog.  Dan Robinson

JorgeAmely

#11
Quote from: Phonesrfun on May 09, 2010, 04:39:35 PM

If you have a sound card in your computer and a program that can produce two simultaneous tones, you can actually make your computer sound card produce a dial tone.  In fact, with all the DTMF frequencies that are used for the digits 1 through 0, and the asterisk and the pound sign, you can actually program your computer to dial a number if you hold the handset up close to the computer speaker.


Bill: Someone already wrote such program. I use it with my phones and works very well.

http://www.silverstones.com/DTMFDial.html

------------------

EDIT:  the above link works but the download links at that site are dead, so, no longer available

Jorge

AET

I don't remember anything but what we got today, but being born post Bell System breakup, I spose it would make it impossible for me to anyways.
- Tom

rp2813

I do remember the old dial tone and busy, like "busy-old 1" on the list above.  Interestingly, we still had those tones until 1980 or so but in the late 60's a friend down the street got an early version of "modern" dial tone that sounded more harmonica-like.  When the upgrades came in the early 80's and switches were converted to electronic, at home we got optional services available like Call Waiting.  The friend down the street remained on a Crossbar switch for a good ten years and couldn't get any of the new features until the early 90's. 

Is there any recording of the warped siren sound that you'd get when you confused the hell out of the system?  As kids we would do all kinds of crazy dialing just to produce that sound.  There's a particular name applied to the sound, but I can't currently put my hands on my 1945 directory that refers to it.
Ralph

keysys

Quote from: rp2813 on May 13, 2010, 11:39:43 PM
Is there any recording of the warped siren sound that you'd get when you confused the hell out of the system?  As kids we would do all kinds of crazy dialing just to produce that sound.  There's a particular name applied to the sound, but I can't currently put my hands on my 1945 directory that refers to it.

Wrong dialing tone/wrong dialing signal
Vacant level tone
The "crybaby" tone

http://www.wideweb.com/phonetrips/
then select "Supplemental Sounds of Step - Part 1".