On Mon, 01 Jun 2015 13:01:50 -0400, micky
wrote:

On Mon, 01 Jun 2015 11:57:08 -0400, wrote:

On Mon, 01 Jun 2015 04:03:55 -0400, micky
wrote:

On Mon, 01 Jun 2015 02:36:30 -0500, wrote:

On Mon, 01 Jun 2015 02:59:06 -0400, micky
wrote:


I have to tell you about when my mother moved to western Pa. in 1945,
from Indianapolis. While NYC and probably some other places had dial
phones already, we didn't. So my mother would tell the operator,
OLiver 4-1383 please, or Oliver 4-3343 please,and after a couple days or
weeks, the operator told her, You don't have to say Oliver 4, Ma'am.
They're all Oliver 4.

I remember when I came home and they had installed dials. They changed
the phone in my parents' bedroom entirely, but the wall phone in the
idtchen they took the top off, connected a couple wires, and attached a
top with a dial.

One time I called my best friend and I heard click click, click click
click. I hung up and our phone rang. He had been calling me. The
phone didn't ring at his end when I called.

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. I assume the other party had a
different phone number.

Yes, somehow they would have a different ring, I think. You were
supposed to only answer your own ring.

When we moved back to Indy and my mother signed up for the phone, the
customer service person said she could get a party line with no other
party on it, so she'd save money with no inconvenience. I'm sure we were
not the only ones who got that.. And I think we had that for the whole
8 years we were there. But maybe we had to change to a private line
eventually and she didnt' mention it.

My guess is that they ran two phone numbers thru
the same wires to save on wires. My parents were glad when they got rid
of the party line, but I think they had to pay a little more.


That is what the yellow and green were in the old 3 wire JK cable. It
is selective ringing.
One party was on the red/green, one on the red/ yellow.

When I first learned the two wires to the phone were called the tip and
the ring, I assumed the ring was coming in on the ring, as in your
example just above, the green or the yellow. Is there any truth to
that? Is that related to the name ring?

Because when I was 60 y.o. I finally realized the ring was the second
conductor on a phone plug, behind the tip. I know that's valid
nomenclature, but it doesn't prove ring wasn't also used for the wire
the ring came in on. ????

They stopped using the names for phone numbers about the time they
started using area codes. It doesn't make much sense to say 301 LOgan
7 9322 (my phone number from 1954-65)

Some time in the 80s, they also stopped using unique numbers for area
codes

??? What would non-unique numbers be?
A telephone "network device" runs on only 2 wires. The ring is just a
different voltage/frequency impresson across the line that the
"network" inside the phone decodes and sends to the ringer. The
"hook" and "off-hook" signals are generated by resistance across the
line.

On hook you should have about 48 volts DC.
Taking a phone off-hook creates a DC signal path across the pair,
which is detected as loop current back at the central office. This
drops the voltage measured at the phone down to about 3 to 9 volts. An
off-hook telephone typically draws about 15 to 20 milliamps of DC
current to operate, at a DC resistance around 180 ohms. The remaining
voltage drop occurs over the copper wire path and over the telephone
company circuits. These circuits provide from 200 to 400 ohms of
series resistance to protect from short circuits and decouple the
audio signals.

To ring your telephone, the phone company momentarily applies a 90
VRMS, 20 Hz AC signal to the line. Even with a thousand ohms of line
resistance, this can still hurt if you grab the wire when it rings!!!

The 3 volt DC "off hook" voltage carries the modulation of the voice
signal - which on classic fhones consisted of the earpeice in series
with the carbon button mic. (which changed resistance with sound
vibrations)