[Telecom] Seeking info on Model 200 Universal Hold Device

Jan 10, 2008 4 Replies

I was digging through a box thAt had old telephone stuff and found a Model 200 Universal Hold device made by a company called GTI. It looks like it plugs into an A/C outlet then a phone jack. I seem to remember that it would allow you to put a phone on hold and then pick another one up. Anyone know anything about this.


If it's the one I'm thinking of... it let you have multiple single line phones and retrofit in a "hold" function by doing something like the following:

a: have your three (let's say) phones hooked up to three regular rj-11 outlets (or even hardwired).

b: wire this box in as well.

c: when you've got a call you want to put on hold so you can move to another phone:

1: tell the person you're putting the call on hold 2: flash the switchhook ?twice? 3: the box "hears" this, sends a short warble tone across, and places a "bridge" on the line to "hold" it active 4: hang up your phone, walk to second, and lift.

- or I could be totally wrong...

That is indeed what it does. It puts a 1K or so load across the phone line and holds it as long as the line voltage stays above a certain limit. You hold the button down and hang the phone up, and the load from the box keeps the phone off-hook. When you pick another phone up, the additional load drops the line voltage, and the SCR inside the hold box opens up and removes the load.

--scott

That sounds right, I'll give it a try, but there could be problems since I have call waiting and 3 way calling, hitting the hook switch could activate those functions. My Nortel phone has a link button so hitting the hook should not cause a problem. I don't have any real use for it since all my phone all have holds on them. Found a lot of other old stuff including Bell and GTE tech manuals for working on all kinds of telephone. Those I can use.

Thanks for the information

I used to have one and it worked quite well.

-- Tom Horne

"This alternating current stuff is just a fad. It is much too dangerous for general use." Thomas Alva Edison

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