atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Other TDM Phone Systems 1A2 and Comkey Telephones & Systems 1A2 Amphenol in/out Splitter [parts in general]

Hal:

We sold (and continue to service) two national pizza franshise holders, 18 stores total. Both insist upon 1A2 (2564/5 only). The staff was killing any kind of electronic/digital set within a month.

One of them bought 1A2 from us back in the '80s and migrated to electronic key based upon our recommendation and the chain's pressure to buy from AT&T. We were removing it and reinstalling their original equipment within two months.

The other one never let us talk them out of it. Twenty years, and with the exeption of some plastic parts, handset cords and a few dials, almost all of the very same Western Electric sets are still working in their first store.

We refurbish them with a shop vac (to remove the flour), some plastic polish and an occasional replacement part. We keep two phones on the shelf, probably their two that ever failed. We still fix and just rotate them. A helper can go out and replace the set; we just fix them over and over again.

Something to think about. Give (and keep giving) the people what they want. It only fails when it's abused.

One thing about 1a2. There were and probably still are alot of 1a2 systems down around the gulf coast (Galveston Freeport area). The reality was that the old systems were much more robust when standing up to the salty air. Yep, even with all the relays and what not the 1a2 would survive when the electronic systems were dropping like flies. Go figure?

Why do so many people make fun of 1a2? With all the bad experiences I have had with broken keysets, cheap keypads and overpriced components 1a2 is a refeshing change. Also love the choice of bell or buzzer for ringing. The only drawback to 1a2 is the cabling but I am getting better at dealing with it. Western Electric did make a box with one AMP male and six females, I have one hooked up at my parent's house. At my place I just use 66 blocks and wire up female AMPS from there. The way I see it, if you're using touch tone and not rotary there's no problem with 1a2. Personally I prefer rotary dial!

i'dd do it all with split blocks and
3 pair x connects

If there is one thing to be said about 1a2 equipment is that it was built to last and that's because it was owned and rented to the customer by the phone company. The less they had to do with it the better, they just wanted to collect the rent every month. Face it, if the stuff we sell today was as well built and reliable we would be out of business!

-Hal

I feel so silly, I now rememeber how I tied 5 phones together..I used a SCSI ribbon cable with several connectors crimped on! It works great and is still in service. Let me see if I can find an extra one to send you for just shipping.

Don't feel silly. I once saw whole offices and a shop area that had their 1a2 wired the same way with ribbon cable. It was an electronics company and they wouldn't spend a dime if they didn't have to.

-Hal