Telephones

[Twocky61]

Re: Telephones



As famously ued in the TV show Golden Shot

[Arran]

Re: Telephones

Trimphone dials used to light up in the dark. They contained a glass tube filled with radioactive tritium gas. The half life of tritium is 12.3 years so most Trimphone dials no longer give off anything brighter than the faintest glow.

I have modded a trimphone dial so that it lights up with LEDs powered from the phone line.

[staffslad]

Re: Telephones

My parents did not have a telephone until the late 1980s. This was mostly down to my father, he has always been a right miser where spending money was, and still is, concerned. What put my mother off, was cost back in the 1970s. A party line was a little cheaper, but after the experience my aunt had with her party line, my mother said never.

My aunt had a party line with a woman several doors away from where she lived. All was well at first. Has time progressed, the woman ended up having numerous phone calls where she seemed to spend hours on the phone. My aunt missed several important phone calls. There was also several incidents, where the woman had not replaced the receiver properly on the phone. This blocked my aunt from making and receiving calls. This erupted into a row between them. In the end, my aunt got rid of the party line.

Does any body know when party lines came to an end?

I couldn't really say when party lines ended. Ours was a party line from 1971 when we first got a phone, but we were lucky and never had any problems with it. Would it have been when digital exchanges replaced those analogue mechanical ones? Just speculating.....

[goodtimes]

Re: Telephones

There was still a type of party line in the 1980s. I believe it was WB900 (1+1). One party was straight audio. The other party's speech was modulated to RF with a relatively big piece of equipment next to the home socket/connection. I am guessing there must have been corresponding modulating equipment in the exchange to modulate incoming speech for the carrier party before it got kicked out along the shared line??? Think the engineer had to put a filter at the juntion box (up the pole) to separate/multiplex the 2 partys.
I think the domestic modulating equipment required a separate battery too, as well as line power ????? which might have charged from the 50v line power????? My understandingis is that this charging circuit/battery combo was a bit inadequate resulting in more than the usual calls to faults department.
At least back then you got through to a real live person who had had experience in line testing and repairing apparatus.
Not sure if you got a "ding" with that system when the other party picked up to make a call. I am sure someone will be along soon to explain the technical details a bit clearer. When digital exchanges started to come in I think party lines/wb900 were suoerseded by a digital system called DACS.

[Richard1978]

Re: Telephones

The BBC seemed to be fond of Trimphones, the Brigadier in Doctor Who normally had one on his desk, as did Noel Edmonds when presenting Swap Shop.

I didn't know many people who had them when I was young, most people seemed to go from the standard GPO phones to push button ones by the end of the 1980s.

[Arran]

Re: Telephones

Local dialling codes from Chipping Norton, Moreton in Marsh, Shipston on Stour (0608), 1974

Full STD codes for the exchanges are shown in the brackets

Kingham 71 (060871)
Enstone 72 (060872)
Hook Norton 73 (060873)
Barton on the Heath 74 (060874)
Little Cherrington 75 (060875)
Chadlington 76 (060876)
Charlbury 81 (060881)
Ilmington 82 (060882)
Great Tew 83 (060883)
Long Compton 84 (060884)
Brailes 85 (060885)
Banbury 91 (0295)
Wroxton St. Mary 9173 (029573)
Kings Sutton 9174 (029574)
Cropredy 9175 (029575)
Sulgrave 9176 (029576)
Fenny Compton 9177 (029577)
Swalcliffe 9178 (029578)
Adderbury 9181 (029581)
Chipping Warden 9186 (029586)
Edge Hill 9187 (029587)
Tysoe 9188 (029588)
Farnborough 9189 (029589)
Croughton 91925 (086981)
Deddington 91923 (08693)
Fritwell 91929 (08696)
Bicester 9195 (08692)
Stratford upon Avon 92 (0789)
Alcester 9271 (078971)
Great Alne 9281 (078981)
Welford on Avon 9282 (078982)
Snitterfield 9285 (078985)
Ettington 9286 (078986)
Alderminster 9287 (078987)
Bidford on Avon 9288 (078988)
Pebworth 9289 (078989)
Witney 93 (0993)
Carterton 93 (0993)
Freeland 93 (0993)
Shipton under Wychwood 93 (0993)
Woodstock 93 (0993)
Burford 9382 (099382)
Bampton Castle 9385 (099385)
Ramsden 9386 (099386)
Asthall Leigh 9387 (099387)
Stonesfield 9389 (099389)
Evesham 94 (0386)
Inkberrow 94 (0386)
Pershore 945 (03865)
Harvington 9471 (038671)
Cropthorne 9472 (038672)
Stanton (Glos) 9473 (038673)
Elmley Castle 9474 (038674)
Etkington (Worcs) 9475 (038675)
Blockley 9476 (038676)
Mickleton (Glos) 9477 (038677)
Paxford 9478 (038678)
Broadway (Worcs) 9481 (038681)
Bishampton 9482 (038682)
Ashton under Hill 9488 (038688)
Overbury 9489 (038689)
Bourton on the Water 96 (0451)
Stow on the Wold 96 (0451)
Aldsworth STD (04514)
Guiting Power STD (04815)
Northleach STD (04516)
Great Barrington STD (04817)
Windrush STD (045184)
Sherborne (Glos) STD (045188)
Steeple Aston (5 fig) STD (0869)
Steeple Aston (3 & 4 fig) STD (08694)
Bletchington STD (08695)
Stratton Audley STD (08697)
Tackley STD (086980)
Upper Heyford STD (086982)
Middleton Stoney STD (086989)

[Arran]

Re: Telephones

How did it work?

Calls were charged at local rate to exchanges in the Chipping Norton (0608), Banbury (0295), Stratford-upon-Avon (0789), Evesham (0386), Witney (0993), Cotswold (0451), and Bicester (0869) STD code areas.

The local dialling codes beginning with 7 and 8 are for exchanges in the 0608 area. They are identical to the suffixes to the STD codes for these exchanges.

The local dialling codes beginning with 9 are for exchanges in different STD code areas. 91 for Banbury, 92 for Stratford upon Avon, 93 for Witney, and 94 for Evesham, and their suffixes are also identical to the suffixes to the STD codes for these exchanges.

The Cotswold (0451) group of exchanges are a bit more interesting. 96 is the local dialling code for both Stow on the Wold and Bourton on the Water exchanges but there are no local dialling codes for other exchanges so full STD codes have to be used instead. The Cotswold exchanges are all connected to Cheltenham exchange, and a direct connection also exists between Chipping Norton and Stow on the Wold exchange. Bourton on the Water and Stow on the Wold exchanges are connected to each other in a linked numbering scheme with the numbers 2xxxx and 3xxxx respectively but they are not directly connected to any other Cotswold exchanges. Neither are any other Cotswold exchanges directly connected to each other. If local codes were provided from Chipping Norton for other Cotswold exchanges then they would have to route via Cheltenham so they could be (fraudulently?!) used to make calls to Cheltenham at local rate.

The Bicester (0869) group of exchanges are similar. They are all connected to Oxford exchange. Local dialling codes exist for Bicester, Croughton, Deddington, and Fritwell exchanges which have direct connections to Banbury. They consist of 91 (the local dialling code for Banbury) followed by the local dialling code from Banbury to each exchange. Full STD codes have to be used for Bicester group exchanges with no direct connection to Banbury. Again, if local codes were provided from Chipping Norton for all Bicester group exchanges then they would have to route via Oxford so they could be (fraudulently?!) used to make calls to Oxford at local rate.

[Clare]

Re: Telephones

Who remembers seeing this logo?



I knew it had something to do with some phone system, but nothing more. I googled mobile phone blue rabbit and found its Wikipedia entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit...ommunications)

[Arran]

Re: Telephones

I didn't know many people who had them when I was young, most people seemed to go from the standard GPO phones to push button ones by the end of the 1980s.

Trimphones cost more to lease than standard phones and the sound quality wasn't as good to the person at the other end. They also used to slide about on the desk when you were dialling them. Push button Trimphones were better but they didn't come out until 1978. At the time they were the most enviable phone to have at home and most expensive to lease but only a few years later a wide range of more modern push button phones made them a bit archaic.

In the 1980s you could buy luxury trimphones with leather covers on them. I suspect that they were a way of using up old parts as nobody wanted an ordinary Trimphone when they could have had a more modern Statesman or stylish Viscount phone.

http://www.retrowow.co.uk/telephones/trimphone/trimphone.php
http://www.phone-pages.org.uk/trim.htm
http://telephonesuk.co.uk/phones_1960-80.htm
http://www.samhallas.co.uk/collection/bits_trimphone.htm
http://www.samhallas.co.uk/collection/bits_trimphone_2.htm

[Richard1978]

Re: Telephones

Trimphones cost more to lease than standard phones and the sound quality wasn't as good to the person at the other end. They also used to slide about on the desk when you were dialling them. Push button Trimphones were better but they didn't come out until 1978. At the time they were the most enviable phone to have at home and most expensive to lease but only a few years later a wide range of more modern push button phones made them a bit archaic.

In the 1980s you could buy luxury trimphones with leather covers on them. I suspect that they were a way of using up old parts as nobody wanted an ordinary Trimphone when they could have had a more modern Statesman or stylish Viscount phone.

http://www.retrowow.co.uk/telephones/trimphone/trimphone.php
http://www.phone-pages.org.uk/trim.htm
http://telephonesuk.co.uk/phones_1960-80.htm
http://www.samhallas.co.uk/collection/bits_trimphone.htm
http://www.samhallas.co.uk/collection/bits_trimphone_2.htm

I've heard of people sticking down Trimphones to desks with blu-tak so stop them moving around.

My Mu reckoned the ringers weren't loud enough to hear from another room as the traditional bells.

[Arran]

Re: Telephones

Silver Jubilee Trimphone. Were these actually offered to the public or were they only used inside BT or the manufacturer's offices?

[Arran]

Re: Telephones

The old Great Barr telephone exchange - 021 357 XXXX. Great Barr was one of the last electromechanical Strowger telephone exchanges in the Birmingham area. It was replaced by a digital telephone exchange in July 1992.