UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Powered By Google Custom Search Vintage Radio and TV Service Data

Go Back   UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum > Specific Vintage Equipment > Vintage Telephony and Telecomms

Notices

Vintage Telephony and Telecomms Vintage Telephones, Telephony and Telecomms Equipment

Reply
 
Thread Tools
Old 4th Aug 2022, 9:30 am   #1
Tim Durrant
Diode
 
Join Date: Aug 2022
Location: Norwich, Norfolk, UK.
Posts: 2
Default WW2 field phones.

Hi all. I have a few ww2 field phones that I am trying to restore. I have so far managed to get two of them to ring but cannot have a conversation between them. If anyone had any tips that might help this would be great.
Tim Durrant is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 4th Aug 2022, 9:42 am   #2
Station X
Moderator
 
Station X's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Ipswich, Suffolk, IP4, UK.
Posts: 21,192
Default Re: ww2 field phones.

Hello and welcome to the forums.

It would help if you could tell us which model of phones you have. I assume you've fitted batteries?
__________________
Graham. Forum Moderator

Reach for your meter before you reach for your soldering iron.
Station X is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 4th Aug 2022, 7:45 pm   #3
dagskarlsen
Heptode
 
dagskarlsen's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Hakadal, Norway
Posts: 640
Default Re: ww2 field phones.

Hi, and welcome to the forum. We are many with different backrounds and knowledge so we are probably able to guide you through. As Graham says it would help pretty much to know what you have, and maybe if you have a multimeter of some kind. Nice to have but you may even come pretty far with a little bulb from a flashlight and some wires and batteries.

It is much more fun to learn this if we start on your level. (Have to admit that I have scared some by starting on too high a level) and it is boring to hear too much of what you already know.

Best wishes from Norway
dagskarlsen is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 27th Aug 2022, 9:31 am   #4
peterbetts
Diode
 
Join Date: Aug 2022
Location: Kenilworth, Warwickshire, UK.
Posts: 1
Default Re: WW2 field phones.

I have just purchased two WW2 Type F MkII field telephones and after some fiddling I have managed to get

(1) The buzzer to sound (although variations in buzz between the two units)
(2) The magneto ringer to work (in fact it just worked )
(3) the handsets


Now the biggest problem I had was the "Receiver Microphone"

BOTH of mine were caput! Seemed oil or moisture had got to them.
Luckily after weeks of scouring I was able to source one new and one second hand one.


Replacing both microphones, cleaning terminals and fiddling and swapping I got them working last night (Ready for Tanks Trucks and Firepower show this weekend)

So I am no EXPERT but if you need me to measure any voltages or take any pictures then I can help.
peterbetts is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 28th Aug 2022, 7:39 am   #5
Station X
Moderator
 
Station X's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Ipswich, Suffolk, IP4, UK.
Posts: 21,192
Default Re: WW2 field phones.

A kind offer Peter, but the OP hasn't returned to the forums since he started this thread.
__________________
Graham. Forum Moderator

Reach for your meter before you reach for your soldering iron.
Station X is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 17th Oct 2023, 4:54 pm   #6
Tim Durrant
Diode
 
Join Date: Aug 2022
Location: Norwich, Norfolk, UK.
Posts: 2
Default field phones ww2

Hi all. I have a couple of old phones that I would like to use, I have managed to get them to ring but am unable to communicate between them. What checks should I do to enable them to converse between the two.
.
Tim Durrant is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 17th Oct 2023, 6:19 pm   #7
G6Tanuki
Dekatron
 
G6Tanuki's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Wiltshire, UK.
Posts: 13,953
Default Re: field phones ww2

The Tele-F I remember from my school Cadets used a pair of square brown cardboard and wax cased 1.5V dry cells to provide current for the carbon microphones.

If you don't have good batteries (or any batteries at all) in both ends of the circuit, you won't get speech.

The original square batteries are now long since obsolete, but a pair of D cells series connected in a suitable holder will work OK.
__________________
I'm the Operator of my Pocket Calculator. -Kraftwerk.
G6Tanuki is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 17th Oct 2023, 11:01 pm   #8
Station X
Moderator
 
Station X's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Ipswich, Suffolk, IP4, UK.
Posts: 21,192
Default Re: WW2 field phones.

Threads merged.
__________________
Graham. Forum Moderator

Reach for your meter before you reach for your soldering iron.
Station X is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 18th Oct 2023, 11:53 am   #9
Dave757
Heptode
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Scratby, Norfolk, UK.
Posts: 648
Default Re: WW2 field phones.

Hi,

I seem to remember that if those carbon mics don't work, sometimes a
sharp tap will 'decohere' the carbon granules.

Kind regards
Dave
Dave757 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 18th Oct 2023, 6:02 pm   #10
russell_w_b
Dekatron
 
russell_w_b's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Penrith, Cumbria, UK.
Posts: 3,684
Default Re: WW2 field phones.

Quote:
Originally Posted by peterbetts View Post

(1) The buzzer to sound (although variations in buzz between the two units)
.
Not all Type 'F's have a buzzer. My first pair just had plain plug-in induction coils without the Bakelite adjusting knobs on top. I was maybe fourteen years old when I bought them from a junk-shop on the Grassmarket in Edinburgh and it took me ages to realise they were buzzer-less!
__________________
Regds,

Russell W. B.
G4YLI.
russell_w_b is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 19th Oct 2023, 7:25 am   #11
dagskarlsen
Heptode
 
dagskarlsen's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Hakadal, Norway
Posts: 640
Default Re: WW2 field phones.

Mine does not have a buzzer, my guess is that they skipped that when the war had been making shortage of materials, and the needed the phones made.
dagskarlsen is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 20th Oct 2023, 2:37 pm   #12
Welsh Anorak
Dekatron
 
Welsh Anorak's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: North Wales, UK.
Posts: 6,884
Default Re: WW2 field phones.

Like Russell as a teenager I spent a long time wondering why my 'press for buzzer call' didn't work!
__________________
Glyn
www.gdelectronics.wales
Welsh Anorak is online now   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools



All times are GMT +1. The time now is 11:03 am.


All information and advice on this forum is subject to the WARNING AND DISCLAIMER located at https://www.vintage-radio.net/rules.html.
Failure to heed this warning may result in death or serious injury to yourself and/or others.


Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Copyright ©2002 - 2023, Paul Stenning.