Using a 608

What memories I have on a 608. I was in high school and happened to find a newspaper ad for a telephone operator in a large city hospital. Since I had always been fascinated with switchboards and telephone equipment this was a job that I had to have. I was only 16 and this was 1979 so when I was called for the interview I just knew that I was going to encounter a "PABX" console type board. I was elated to find a 608 when I went in. 8 position board with 1 call director for paging. I was the youngest they had ever hired but this was run like a CO and I learned telephone etiquette at its best. We kept this board until 1983 and went to a system by the trade name of "Dimension". The level of service dramatically dropped and I went off to college and would periodically go back to reminisce with some of the gals I worked with. Being a young kid I had more fun when the supervisors were not looking I would depress a "talk" key and hold it down while I depressed the others along the board. All of the talk keys would light up and then I would depress the "release" key and they would all click off making all of the relays in the board rattle. I learned quickly that if there were a connection on the board it would quickly disconnect the parties. We also learned that we could take a front cord and connect it to an extension jack then depress the "ring front" key and we could almost press out a tune. I could go on and on. I miss that service and the days of switchboards. I was lucky, even then that 608 was considered very dated but since we had it doing very advanced things (tandem lines, long distance billing, conference calls) the powers that were decided that the 608 was the only acceptable board for us until 1983. From what I could tell they spent a lot keeping the board up and parts were becoming very scarce. I never will forget the day we converted to Dimension and all of the 608 positions were removed. Was like they had taken a part of my heart. Michael Sakowitz Twomey, Director Morrow Tourist Center

6475 Jonesboro Road Morrow, Georgia 30260 Phone/Fax 770-968-1623 snipped-for-privacy@cityofmorrow.com