atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Other TDM Phone Systems 1A2 and Comkey Telephones & Systems curious about 1A2

Yeah, it is kind of cool learning how this old stuff worked. It looked scarey, but in all fact, it was kind of simple technology. I just wish I could impress someone now with my new found knowledge! Maybe.....it's like Ed said, this stuff is making a bit of a come back.

Ok, I learned on a 10 button set they still used a 25pair line cord. What did they do with the 20 and up sets? Two 25pair cords?

They used a common ground on the A lead, so you only needed one wire instead of two.

Twisted:

20 button sets had a 50 pair line cord and 30 button sets had 75 pair. Call Directors had 100 pair, but it was five 20 pair binders instead of the traditional four 25 pair binders. Same 25 pair connectors, just no violet pairs.

Hey, Ed, are we having fun yet?

KLD

Anyone remeber the old rotary dial auotodialers you could connect to a 1a2 key telephone . They looked like a old rolodex file and the numbers were stored on magnectic tape ?

I have seen them only in books and have never worked with them. I bought something similar to that that I got at a yard sale back in the 1970's. It used a continous mylar loop with little dots you filled in with pencil for each phone number. You slid the pointer on the cover to the appropriate entry and pushed the start button. The sheet moved across a set of contacts which picked up the number of dots you filled in for each number creating rotary dial pulses. It actually worked, but it was a piece of junk! I guess it was technology from the 1960's or so.

How about tape readers for the teletypes? Ok I know it has nothing to do with 1A2, just checking out Ed's age factor.

The 1a2 key phones I disliked working on the most were the Stromberg/Carlson models . The line buttons would break/stick , the faceplate would never stay on correctly , the 25 pair cable would pull loose from the phonebase housing and if you dropped one the bell would jam first time every time . Anyone else have one model they thought was junk ?

I do agree with you on that. S/C (Comdial) sets were the most problematic of all brands. The thing I disliked most was their new electronic dial that wired completely differently than any other brands. And those damned push-on spade tip connectors on everything!

Now if you want a truly ugly 1A2 phone series, then Automatic Electric (GTE) phones win hands-down.

Bill, yes, I have used a teletype with the paper tape reader. It was during my junior year in high school in 1977 for a computer class. The mainframe was at the school on the other side of town. They had NJ Bell run a 1,200 BAUD point-to-point data circuit to our "computer room". We wrote our programs using BASIC language and stored them on tape. The bigger your roll of tape, the more elaborate your program was. Wow, how times have changed. There, I said it. Now you can guess at my age!

:dance:

Re-perferator and all ---- yep, and with radio relay it could "burst" allowing for code privacy.

How abnout the 1A2 auto-dialer that looked like a square credit card machine and used credit card like punch cards --- one for each number. Insert it , go off hook, and punch the start button. The card would rise up the slot and dial the number. That's how I used to order my supplies from SWBT and WE.

KLD