There was a time when the phone equipment was tightly controlled. There=20
was only one phone in the house and we were fortunate to have a line all=20
to ourselves. It was called a private line.
I had a pair of wires in my basement workshop that led over to my=20
workbench from the telephone entry point. Taking no chances, a dpdt=20
knife switch made and broke the connection to an ancient handset. I=20
could now answer the phone from downstairs. Later I learned to dial=20
numbers with a wire in each hand. It helped that numbers were only 6=20
digits then. The last time I tried it pulse dialing from home it worked.=20
It ought to be easy with my Morse Code Paddle.

On 9/18/2013 6:46 AM, alan.b.pearce@stfc.ac.uk wrote:
>>> I think one of the hardest concepts for people who have never used a
>>> rotary dial phone is that you need to let the dial return to the start
>>> position on its own.
>> Anyone recall the old phone locks?  It mechanically locked the dial from
>> turning -- you put it in the 1 finger hole in the dial.
>>
>> That didn't bother a friend of mine.  She could actuate the switch hook
>> (where handset lives to hang up phone) fast enough to dial a number.
>> Phone company can't tell if the rotary dial is doing the make/break or i=
f the
>> switch hook is doing it.  She had about 90% accuracy (dialed number she
>> wanted about 9 times out of 10).  She is a programmer and still an incre=
dibly
>> fast typist.
> The technicians at Radio New Zealand used to have telephone numbers they =
could call from a call box using this technique. The 0 and 1 numbers (remem=
ber these are the ones Russell was describing with the 1 beside the 0) coul=
d be dialled without putting coins in the phone to call the operator or inf=
ormation lines, but unless you put coins in the slot there was something th=
at locked out the pulsing mechanism. So the technicians had numbers they co=
uld call using one or two pulses of the hook for the first couple of digits=
, then 0 and 1 for the rest of the digits. That enabled them to make a call=
 to get the OB connection set up, and then once that was organised they the=
n had a link through that for further technical assistance.

--=20
John Ferrell W8CCW
To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism.
     To steal from many is research.


--=20
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