On 06/01/2015 02:36 AM, wrote:

[snip]

When I was REAL young, my parents phone was on a "party line". Sometimes
I'd pick up the phone, and the other party would be talking. I still
dont understand how that worked.

It's not any problem to connect more than one phone in parallel, but I
don't know how then can ring just one of the phones.

Apparently it is true that if too many people are listening, it gets
hard to hear.

I assume the other party had a
different phone number. My guess is that they ran two phone numbers thru
the same wires to save on wires.

I'm not sure, but they could use a different ring frequency for each
number, and filters on the poles.

My parents were glad when they got rid
of the party line, but I think they had to pay a little more.

I had a relative who had plenty of money, but refused to spend more than
he had to. He refused to get a private phone line. I don't remember if
he ever did.

--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"Trying to find God is a good deal like looking for money one has lost
in a dream." [Lemuel K. Washburn, _Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other
Essays_]