Yesterday I got called out to a this house whose owner was complaining about problems "on the line." I've always been fascinated by analog phone systems, however as with so many things, I'm finding that I was born just a bit too late, and I've never really gotten to work on one.

Well, this house has a 1A2 system that the owner had installed sometime in the 60s, and she loves it. In fact, she had them installed everywhere she moved, back when they were available, and she has a pile of parts in her barn that she's saving in case she ever buys another house. (good luck finding someone to put it in).

In any case, I'm really excited to tackle this one, but am in completely uncharted territory for me, so I thought that I would ask for some guidance here.

Over the winter the house was re-wired, and one cable that was previously run up the side of the house was cut and re-run through the wall. The technician who did it simply cut the sheething in two places and used crimps (those little red, crunchy, 3M things) to put the pairs back together prior to where the connector attached to the headset and near the KSU in the basement.

The system has 2 lines, and an intercom. The problems are two fold:

1) Line 1 does not flash when it rings, but the ringers do function and line is usable.

2) When dialing the intercom, line 2 will flash as though it was ringing (not winking), but if you switch over there is dial tone, and no caller. Then switching back to the intercom causes the light to go out and the intercom functions as expected.

So far these are the only two gremlins that have been demonstrated to me, but I can't say that's all there are. My first inclination was that the pair connected to the lights was shorted/crossed/disrupted in the punchdown block. However, every phone on the system displays this behavior, so I don't think that one miss-wired extension would make the entire system do this.


Sorry for the long post. But I'm really excited to get my hands on one of these, finally... I hope I can get it sorted out. Thanks guys!

1 or more bad or mismatched splices. WHILE WORKING ON THE CABLING, UNPLUG THE POWER CORD FROM THE KSU! Since you are unfamiliar with 1A2, you need to know that blown fuses can cause all sorts of problems. You might want to check fuses first.

And getting help from an 'older' tech with 1A2 experience will save you and your customer time and money in the long run. You'll have to anyway, might as well impress your customer with your honesty and forthrightness.

Where in Maine are you (the job) located? I have a friend or two who are familiar with 1A2 up there.

I second L. Horse's remarks:

#1, it is not a coincidence

and #2, it's just a few pairs spliced incorrectly. The uninitiated (we call them "plumbers" in the trade) often confuse some of the colored wires.

Really? The house was re-wired and the cable was spliced? You can pick up a pre-terminated 25 pair cable from Graybar and just about any other on-line source for a few dollars. Save yourself the headache and just replace the cable.

Scotchlock Reds are still a staple of a lot of independent telcos. Arthur is probably correct. Some of the pairs are mis-spliced.

Rcaman

."Cut the sheathing" I think I worked with that dufus.

How many telephone sets. How many pickups on each set.

What kind of equipment is it? A 620 panel or box that is hinged and closes (lunchbox). Do both lines ring the phone or does one line ring and the second buzz? Is there a non locking key on the set that is used to signal the other phone to pick up the intercom, usually a buzzer

Thanks for all the responses, guys.


I've spent the day reading and studying, so now I can head back over and have a slightly more informed look at the system.

L, I've been very forthright with the customer... She knows my experience level. I explained that I'm in uncharted territory, but nobody else wants to tackle it because they don't want to get stuck maintaining the thing. Frankly, I think it's awesome and I kind of hope I DO get to keep maintaining it. Hopefully I can conquer the learning curve...

J,
The phones have 5 pickups, with two active phone lines and one intercom. (All are rotary). The intercom is a locking key, and there are 7 dialable extensions. There are a couple of sets that are not running on the 25 pair cabling and appear to be regular rotary handsets.

The cabinet has a large metal cover that slides off and bears a Western Electric logo. Inside is a rectifier on the bottom, and a backplane on hinges that swings out (2 400Ds in it, room for several more, I think) to expose the punchdowns (I think only 2).


It wouldn't surprise me to find something spliced incorrectly... But would a mismatched splice leading to one phone cause strange behavior in the whole system?

jm, welcome to the world of real telephones....your answer is "Yes".