Universal portable telephone - UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum

djrmalton · 22nd Oct 2010, 6:34 pm

Greetings everyone,
I've been lurking here for a while but now and have found the forum very interesting, Now I need your help please.

I have just aquired this old Universal portable telephone, it was manufactured by T&S (Electronic Developments) LTD, Harrow on the Hill, Middlesex part number 5152 and dates from the early 1970's. It seems to be some kind of linesman's telephone but has some unusual terminals and switching combinations.

Click image for larger version

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Does anybody now what it is intended to test? it seems to work ok as a simple test device in some of its switch positions but I haven't managed to work out what all the extra terminals and switch positions are meant to do.

I'll take some more photos and post them if it would help anybody. Inside there is a circuit board with about 4 transistors, a couple of transformers, a relay, and a small black box with two terminals with printing on the side 5-6 V and possibly an adjustment screw - perhaps a buzzer but I havent heard it yet ...

In some switch positions it generates ringing current on the A & B terminals and lights a small neon indicator on the front panel when the keyswitch is operated. There is a press to talk button on the handset. The device is operated by a 6 volt PP1 battery which I have replaced by 4 AA nicads.

Best regards, David.

Dave Moll · 22nd Oct 2010, 7:16 pm

Is there any chance of a legible shot of the instructions in the lid?

djrmalton · 22nd Oct 2010, 7:41 pm

Hello Dave, thanks for taking an interst, here are some more photos ...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave Moll

Is there any chance of a legible shot of the instructions in the lid?

This last photo is of my other new toy, a 3+1 switchboard which I have repaired and now am in the process of instaling into our house system. Other devices include field phones and a FreeSwitch voip system with Siemens voip/dect phones. My oldest phone is a very old field phone from about 1920.

Best regards, David

Dave Moll · 23rd Oct 2010, 4:40 pm

Hopefully, they'll mean more to someone else than they do to me! I just about understood the last three (presumably "G" is effectively "off-hook", and "H"/"J" are "on-hook" - for auto and manual exchanges respectively).

22nd Oct 2010, 6:34 pm	#1
djrmalton Diode Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: York Posts: 4	Universal portable telephone Greetings everyone, I've been lurking here for a while but now and have found the forum very interesting, Now I need your help please. I have just aquired this old Universal portable telephone, it was manufactured by T&S (Electronic Developments) LTD, Harrow on the Hill, Middlesex part number 5152 and dates from the early 1970's. It seems to be some kind of linesman's telephone but has some unusual terminals and switching combinations. Does anybody now what it is intended to test? it seems to work ok as a simple test device in some of its switch positions but I haven't managed to work out what all the extra terminals and switch positions are meant to do. I'll take some more photos and post them if it would help anybody. Inside there is a circuit board with about 4 transistors, a couple of transformers, a relay, and a small black box with two terminals with printing on the side 5-6 V and possibly an adjustment screw - perhaps a buzzer but I havent heard it yet ... In some switch positions it generates ringing current on the A & B terminals and lights a small neon indicator on the front panel when the keyswitch is operated. There is a press to talk button on the handset. The device is operated by a 6 volt PP1 battery which I have replaced by 4 AA nicads. Best regards, David. Last edited by Michael Maurice; 22nd Oct 2010 at 7:14 pm. Reason: converting url to thumbnail picture

22nd Oct 2010, 7:16 pm	#2
Dave Moll Dekatron Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: West Cumbria (CA13), UK Posts: 6,130	Re: Universal portable telephone Is there any chance of a legible shot of the instructions in the lid? __________________ Mending is better than Ending (cf Brave New World by Aldous Huxley)

23rd Oct 2010, 4:40 pm	#4
Dave Moll Dekatron Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: West Cumbria (CA13), UK Posts: 6,130	Re: Universal portable telephone Hopefully, they'll mean more to someone else than they do to me! I just about understood the last three (presumably "G" is effectively "off-hook", and "H"/"J" are "on-hook" - for auto and manual exchanges respectively). __________________ Mending is better than Ending (cf Brave New World by Aldous Huxley)