Re: [Telecom] False Preliminary Pulse (was 11X vs. N11 Codes)

In the '70s, NPA 716 had 716-221-1111 assigned to the "time and temperature" Audichron device in downtown Rochester, NY. Our running joke in elementary school was to dial 2 twice and "hang up" five times to get our #5XBs to load 1s into the originating register.

With the NPA split of 2001, maybe Buffalo should reassign 221-1111 for those purposes, say, the Talking Phone Book, instead of the current

844-1111.

Back in the 70s, a friend's roommate thought he had discovered a way to make free long distance calls by flicking the switchook. The roomies girlfirend lived a few states away and he was on the phone for hours every night. I think it took him a year to pay off their first phone bill.

There was recently something in the TCI Bulletin that confirms your statement. Perhaps the way people held the stick in their hands or lifted off the handset caused an extra 'flick' of the hookswitch. The hookswitch of a 'stick' extends out as opposed to the button hookswitch of later model sets. Maybe as the used grasped it they flicked it. Because it sticks out, it acts as a large lever and doesn't need much pressure to engage it. (I just checked one.) When I used my stick phone in service I had no problem with it. (The associated network broke, I need to get it fixed.)

"Dialing" anything more than a 2 is actually quite tricky Your hand pressing a hookswitch is not precise enough for dial pulses. The chance of error increases with the digits to be dialed. Even an easy number like that can be tricky with the twos and particularly the five.

I used to get around dial locks by doing just that, pulsing out the number by hand.

Can still do it too! I remember one time I was in a store with a COCOT style phone and a desk phone tied to it with no dial. I showed the owner how to dial out on it. Too funny!

***** Moderaotor's Note *****

When I was a kid, the barber down the street had a calendar hung next to his wall phone, which wsa an "answer only" instrument tied to the pay phone line. If he picked up the phone and tapped that calendar, he could make a call: it seems that someone had run wires from the ring and ground leads to a position behind the calendar.

BTW, please put [Telecom] (The brackets are important) in your subject line, unless you're willing to wait a few days for me to read it.

Bill Horne Temporary Moderator

"male bovine excretement" applies.

All it takes is a moderate amount of practice. circa 40 years ago, I routinely "dialed" (on a 500-type desk set with a dial-lock engaged) 288-9175, getting a 'mis-dial' on maybe 1 attempt in 50.

It _was_ harder on wall sets (or -old- 'upright' desk sets) that had the big moving parts for the swith mechanism -- it wasn't as easy to tell _where_ the "make/break" point was, and the inertia of the larger mass did limit the pulse repetition rate. HOWEVER, my experience was that the C.O was

*amazingly* tolerant regarding the speed of the pulses, as long as it was fairly consistent across all the pulses in a single digit..

I found a write up on the Panel switching system. It described that a stick phone user could accidently "jog" (the document's word) the switchhook, sending out a false pulse. For that reason, exchanges in the panel system were designed not to include the digit one to avoid errors.

I remember in old movies people would hold the stick in one hand while talking or moving around; they didn't use it while it just sat on a desk.

Looks like I'll have to get my old stick fixed and back into service to see if I send out pulses. My has the "bulldog" features which means the original old components were upgraded with F type elements; this was done to extend the life of sticks and 202 sets. When I used it before it did get tiring holding the receiver. Something happened to the network I have with it and the phone doesn't work anymore.

When the Bell Design Line came out, I knew someone who bought a modern era candlestick (this had a thicker base with the ringer and network built into it; old sticks had a separate bell box for that stuff.) I asked the user if he liked it and he said while it was decorative for his business, it was a pain to use and he didn't recommend getting it. Bell made them in black and a Bicentennial guady look; I wonder how much they go for today. The one good thing is that they're a modern phone.

Anyone have any candlestick stories to share? Thanks.

[public replies, please]

snipped-for-privacy@bbs.cpcn.com wrote in news:d8c44213-851d-4244-8acd-b5e870f92842 @d70g2000hsb.googlegroups.com:

When I was a kid (maybe 5-10 years old) my father had set up several old phones with battery, etc., for play. There was a wall-mount magneto crank and a candlestick among them.

The separate tansmitters and receivers on each might be useful today to give telemarketers some "positive feedback!"