atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Other TDM Phone Systems 1A2 and Comkey Telephones & Systems Project 1A2: Phase I complete.

Thanks for the info
LOL on your last line...

We use 2.5 to wire cross-connects between DSX panels. Tip & Ring (transmit) Tip & Ring (receive) and solid green (tracer lamp lead)

Back in the early '70s we got a job to replace the NY Tel system in a customers house. (We had a key system in his office and a real big Intercom and PA system in his factory and showroom).

Nice house in Sands Point, LI. Real nice. Make that Real, real nice. How nice is that? Live in help nice.

Salesman sells the job as a set for set replacement. "Piece of cake- all 1A2"

NOT.

Was actually 1A. No lamps. KV's and CVWs with 6040 keys. One set has the most wire to it (16 pair). The rest are 12 pair or 6 pair. NY Tel wired the house during construction. A nightmare to recable now.

Oh, and we can't rip down the wallpaper it cost $100,000. (or something ludicrous like that)

We manage to recable a couple of phones - got a cable into the attic, fed a line through closets, the boss and salesman screaming about the cost the whole time (but make it work, so we don't lose the account!). But some of the sets just could not be rewired.

Let's get 2 lines and a dial Icm working with bells, buzzers and lamps on 6 pair.

1st Line - T,R,A,L - 2 pair
2nd Line - T,R,A,L - 2 more pair
DICM - T,R,L,Z - 2 more pair
Internal bell for line 1 and an external bell for line 2 - no additional wires required
Total - 6 pair

But where's the ground?

On a couple of sets we pulled electrical ground from the nearest receptacle and that worked.

But there was one set in a bathroom that the Icm Lamp never worked on.

What a nightmare.

And dealing with the owners wife - worse than a nightmare. Why were we there so long? The salesman promised we'd be out in a day and we're here three! You guys must be morons!

It's 35 years later and I still remember that job.

Perfectly.

Not my proudest moment, but we got it done and it even looked real good. Not that it was appreciated, but that wasn't the point, was it?

Sam

What is a CVW and a 6040 key?

Jeff:

A 6040 key was a box that usually mounted on the wall that emulated a six-button phone. You just wired any kind of single-line set into it, as long as it had been modified for A leads. It had either screw terminals for all connections, or a 25 pair cord to emulate a 2565 set.

I have no idea what a KV or CVW was, but I have an idey. If it's what I think it was, it involved a field-assembled system consisting of 1A1 relay assemblies (KTU's) and a small enclosure with a gray metal (later plastic) cover. There was no interrupter, power supply or line cards. Everything was line-powered.

Oh, and Sam, I can surely sympathize with you on the LI install you mentioned. Northern NJ here; same difference.....Pampered customers for sure. I remember many 66E3 blocks on 6 pair prewire loops. We did pull off some magic for sure!

C = Combined set. The WE 302 model, for instance...the first WE model that COMBINED the handset, switchhook, network (hybrid coil) and ringer.

CV = Combined set with a VARISTOR across the receiver terminals. (the 500-series) A varistor is a little component whose resistance decreases with an increase in voltage across it. It reduces acoustic shock (clicks) caused by switchhook and rotary dial operation.

CVW = As above mounted on the WALL.

KV = KEY set

KVW = WALL key set, aka "Cuckoo Clock"

6xxx keys = a whole family of separately-mounted keys. The 604x series has the same key as found in the KV, in a plastic cover. HOLD, plus 5 pickups.

Do these only apply to key system phones, or also to a 2500 or 2554?

CV is a single-line set. 500/2500 family.

CVW is a single-line wall set. 554/2554 family.

KV is a key set 56x/256x family.

These were abbreviated designations of the 3-, 4-, or 5-digit USOC that referenced the series of phones. Universal Service Order Codes were the million ways that the Bell System categorized its products and services on a service order.

There was also a 9-digit ComCode number for everything ,and I mean everything, that could be ordered through the supply chain. There was a ComCode for a 4 x 8 sheet of plywood, and a ComCode for a long blue handset cord, and a ComCode for a bottle of aspirin, and a...you get the picture.

"If it's what I think it was, it involved a field-assembled system consisting of 1A1 relay assemblies (KTU's) and a small enclosure with a gray metal (later plastic) cover. There was no interrupter, power supply or line cards. Everything was line-powered."

Ed, you are remembering the 105-type apparatus mounting, aka the "cigar box" that held up to 4 single-position 1A series or 2 double-position 1A series KTU's. These were relays on metal angle brackets and they performed simple pickup and hold functions, along with a few other tasks, such as 24 Vdc battery feed for manual intercom or tie-line service, and signaling circuits.


1A used CO power to effect the hold function. Sets were wired slightly differently than those that were used later on 1A1 or its electronic equivalent, 1A2.

The phrase that put the fear of God into the heart of a repairman was being told by the dispatcher that the next job involved "1A with lights" or "1A with FLASH" (Don't get me started.)

Silversam, I once used the metal lath in a plaster wall for the ground at a KV fed by a 6-pair. I just kept screwing a 3-inch woodscrew with a clip lead attached into the wall until I got the lamp to light.

An old foreman of mine used to refer to party lines as "Tip, Ring, and Radiator" service.

Comcodes: Ain't that the truth! 401 836 580, one of the most common ones I ever ordered. I have bags of individually-packaged drive pins (eight per package) with a comcode that was different from the same item in a package of 100. Even the cardboard box that they came in had it's own comcode. I have a lot of respect for the comcode system. You always knew that you would get exactly what you ordered.

Yes, Arthur, I was referring to "cigar boxes" and the 1A KTU's.