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Old 20th Sep 2019, 10:28 am   #1
Test Desk
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Default Has anyone noticed...

The red 700 type phone used as a logo for Direct Line Insurance is quite a rare beast?
Although it looks ultra modern (certainly for its time) it was a pulse-only phone model and you can see no # or * buttons.
I don't think it was enormously popular as it just increased connection time post dialling, as the called number could be entered very quickly,but the stored pulses could be heard being sent to line in the background.
Can anyone remember what this model is called?
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Old 20th Sep 2019, 12:56 pm   #2
Dave Moll
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Default Re: Has anyone noticed...

I must admit I wasn't aware of an actual ten-button Direct Line wheelie 'phone (beyond the animations in the advertisements). The ones on the market always seem to be twelve-button DTMF versions.
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Old 20th Sep 2019, 1:03 pm   #3
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Default Re: Has anyone noticed...

There were quite a few of these pulse dial push button designs around in the mid 80s. I think the GPO/BT had a policy of not enabling DTMF on their exchanges because there was still a lot of Strowger equipment in service, and they seem to have felt it was unfair not to treat all subscribers equally. The policy changed after privatisation as System X exchanges became standard.
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Old 20th Sep 2019, 2:22 pm   #4
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Default Re: Has anyone noticed...

Although the DTMF version of the Direct Line promotional telephone has a case based fairly closely on that of a red GPO 782 (apart from the addition of "wheels"), the internals are entirely electronic and bear no resemblance to those of the 782. I assume the same would be true of any ten-button loop-disconnect versions that may have been produced.

If anyone actually has one of the ten-button versions, I'd love to see images of it.

Meanwhile, here is one of my twelve-button (DTMF/LD switchable) ones:
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Old 20th Sep 2019, 11:49 pm   #5
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Default Re: Has anyone noticed...

Quote:
Originally Posted by paulsherwin View Post
There were quite a few of these pulse dial push button designs around in the mid 80s. I think the GPO/BT had a policy of not enabling DTMF on their exchanges because there was still a lot of Strowger equipment in service, and they seem to have felt it was unfair not to treat all subscribers equally. The policy changed after privatisation as System X exchanges became standard.
There were some exchanges with DTMF c1980. Dalmally (on A9 between Perth and Inverness) and a couple of other UXE7's had DTMF only working from new c1980. UXD5A which first appeared in 1979 also had DTMF. It was a small digital exchange which had various 'modern' facilities accessed with tones.

TXE2 which had been around since 1967 also had the facility but I never remember setting one up with subs with the facility.

Also some 'Strowger' exchanges had the facility for using DTMF telephones. I remember recovering a couple of shelves of 'Signalling Units 43A' one Sunday afternoon for my collection from 'Cheetham Hill' exchange in Manchester (but that's another story ). The PO 'SU43A' is an American manufactured DTMF to Pulse converters - about 4 inches cubed. Hence you could have a DTMF telephone but it was converted to pulse at the exchange. If it was a crossbar exchange (which could accept 20pps rather than the usual 10pps) the SU43A could be set to 20pps. 'Cheetham Hill' was a Crossbar exchange.

Also came across similar pattern signalling units from same American firm in a 25 line AT&E pattern PAX made by Plessey in the late 1970's.

My oldest GPO PB phone dates from the mid-1960's - two rows of five buttons horizontally - see https://britishtelephones.com/t728.htm
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Old 22nd Sep 2019, 3:36 am   #6
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Default Re: Has anyone noticed...

Hi Ian,

I may have mentioned this before but my mum's line was on one of those DTMF converters at Cheethem Hill. I discovered it by accident when I plugged in a Viscount that I used for testing.
There was something amiss with the converter though, it would only recognise the tones when it felt like it, too unreliable for use.

I didn't know it was a Crossbar, I never even suspected it was, I thought Crossbars sounded different to the sub, like being sluggish to return dialtone.

My sister in law was on an exchange that I thought was a Crossbar, it gave a burst of NU when the dialtone timed-out, after which, if you shouted loud enough, you could speak to random people who had done the same thing. Not sure which exchange but the director was 0161 798

Have you got any anecdotes abort the Prestwich exchange, the one I'm connected to?

We inherited the current phone number when we moved in 40 years ago, and I'm fairly certain the number has been associated with this property since the war, I would like to research it further, particularly now as this house is 100 this year.

I don't suppose you anything about the remnants a network of telephone type wires in Prestwich , going house to house suspended from brackets lashed to chimney-stacks each with three insulators?
It's near to the exchange, but not centred on it.

Could there have been a manual exchange perhaps on Kings Road? The problem is a lot of the wires are of the "figure of 8 pair" type, so relatively modern, I don't think it's for wired TV or radio diffusion, a bit of a mystery.
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Old 22nd Sep 2019, 9:12 am   #7
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Default Re: Has anyone noticed...

I remember the push button phones with pulse dialling being shown on tomorrows world (the TV programme). They explained exactly how they stored the button presses and sent them as pulses. Maybe doing some research on that programme would reveal something?
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Old 22nd Sep 2019, 9:35 am   #8
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Default Re: Has anyone noticed...

The old telephone boxes that used a dial and pulse dialling could be fooled so you did not need to use money. This was highly naughty, but when you wanted to have a long loving phone call to your girlfriend - well, needs must.

The first one was to tap out the number on the cradle. This bypassed the dial and the mechanism that took money.

The second one was to dial it normally, but the instant it connected you tapped the cradle once quickly. For some reason that also inhibited the money mechanism.

I have no idea how I came by these bad boy tricks.

All in the heady days of young love in 1972 to 73!

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Old 23rd Sep 2019, 1:03 pm   #9
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And, dear reader, I married her. In 1978. 41 years and counting.

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Old 23rd Sep 2019, 1:59 pm   #10
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Default Re: Has anyone noticed...

I did hear the early 10 push button 700 series were mostly made for business customers & just had basic case colours, red not being one of them.
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