How to make old rotary phones ring on modern phone lines, or how I learned to love the rotary phone
Вставка
- Опубліковано 16 тра 2021
- Here's a quick video showing you how to wire your rotary phone to ring on modern phone lines. Videos on pulse dialing ATAs will follow.
Find directions and a schematic at the forum post here:
www.classicrotaryphones.com/fo... - Наука та технологія
Most of those old mechanical bell phones, particularly old Bell System phones and their clones, had ringers that were tuned to a specific ringing frequency, and that frequency was usually 20 Hz (20 cycles per second) unless the phone was used on a party line that supported "harmonic" ringing (very rare in the Bell System). The problem is that many VoIP ATA's are set by default to send a ringing frequency of 25 Hz, and that is why the ringing is so weak. In some ATA's you can change the frequency via a setting in the web interface, so I would try setting that to 20 Hz before making mechanical adjustments to the phone. Note that in the very rare case where the ringer is tuned to a different frequency, that will usually be stamped somewhere on the ringer itself. It was much more common to find different frequency ringers in Automatic Electric telephones used by the General System (GTE) since they did make extensive use of "harmonic" ringing, but occasionally an independent telephone company would also use it but would buy 500-series phones such as the ones shown in the video with ringers tuned to frequencies other than 20 Hz, so it's not absolutely unheard of to find a different frequency ringer in a 500-series phone, just very rare.
Very good to know! Hopefully I will get an ATA with adjustable ringing frequency.
Cool, I just checked and my 2-port Grandstream HT802 ATA (same as HT801 with 1 port) supports both a configurable 20Hz ring (25 also available) and also supports pulse dialing. Will have to try this out. Maybe the ringer won't have to be "tuned" with this ATA.
Thanks
Growing up in East Hampton CT. in the 1979-1992 era, I constantly (bitched) about having a rotary phone, when it was SO much faster to use a push button phone. That town didn't have push button phone service until the 1990's. The dial tone was also different too. We didn't have cable tv on my street either until 1990. Even the school system have rotary phones. They had buttons in the schools phones, but they still used pulses, but they were electronically controlled. You still had to wait for the pulses which took just as long as dialing. I remember sitting in the principal's office and they called my parents having to hear those deadly pulses coming through the speaker on the phone as I got to wait on my demise that much longer! It was an added torture. I now have a new appreciation of this old technology and miss the days of there being "the phone company" as a single entity that pretty much contributed to EVERY single electronic invention of the 20th century. Those old phones could fall from or be thrown from any height and NEVER break. That one in the principal's office NEVER failed either!
Great work, Thanks for showing us. I love these old well made telephones and I can't wait to put one in my house and make it work.
This will be a useful video I think. My parents built a replica of the Tardis, including the actual phone inside the little access cupboard. We drive tbe effects on it eith raspberry pi, and the last part to get "functional" is the phone.
I had it pretty sweet in Las Vegas. I had actual landline service that worked with my rotary phones. They rang, the dialed out, etc. And for extra nerdiness, I was able to get a phone number whose prefix was a telephone exchange name that was used in the 1960s in my neighborhood (I liked telling people my number was MIdway 5 - ...). But, I moved a year ago, and it looks like I'm gonna have to "cheat" and use VoIP instead of traditional service. Sigh.
Would this work for setting up an old AT&T push-button phone with Spectrum? I got Spectrum and the phone line is connected into the modem. The AT&T phone does not work unless its connected directly into the modem, however I have to disconnect the telephone line wall plug from the modem because there’s only one jack for Line 1, which means it turns off all the digital phones in my house. I want to connect the AT&T telephone to the line with a telephone splitter without having to buy a subscription to make it work, so I’m wondering if this tutorial will work for that matter.
What year did the phone jack came out on the green phone which were currently using?
Great stuff as always! When they made things correctly!!
Thanks! It's indestructible and now rotary phones can even do IVR!
When they made things to last
I'm wondering if you can demonstrate how to remove the cover of a Bell wall rotary phone to turn the bell volume down. I have it as low as it goes, on the external lever but you can hear it in the next town. Thanks
Hello! Question about repairing a phone. If the ringer was working but stops, what are some possible causes and solutions? I have checked that the ringer switch is "on" and phone call can be made in and out but it just will no longer ring for incoming call.
What if you have no phone line and you want to use your cell phone with the rotary phone as the interface. I was able to find the necessary components to make all that work, but not sure how to get the ringer (bell) on the rotary phone to work. I believe I have to somehow power the coil/solenoid that would move the bell striker back and forth?
Can You provide a link to re-wire a 302 phone to use on VoIP?
I just bought an old rotary phone today. Got home and opened it up.. says 425B on it and 8-55. Does that mean August 1955? Also when I connect it to a wall jack, alli get is a fast busy signal. We haven't had a landline in years, only use it for wifi.
Yes. There should be a date on the bottom of the phone, too.
Love them ❤️
Last I checked few years ago as long as you don't have fiberoptic if you have old school cable like Time Warner cable the phone should work
Cool video! I love old phone technology. I own a red Bell Systems 500 and would love to get it working with VOIP. Also, as of my comment I don't see the link for the directions or the schematic in your description that you mention in the video.
Hey there! Sorry about that! It was still uploading last night. I will add the link right now.
There, fixed now :)
@@walnuthills11 I guess that's what happens when I'm one of the first viewers and commentors LOL. Thanks for adding the link.
Haha, you are very welcome :)
" I love old phone technology. I own a red Bell Systems 500 " Well might you like your 500 to ring and make calls with no wires? if so all you need do is search ' western electric bluetooth " look for the cat that is sitting next to a payphone and click on it, you will also find a few Bluetooth desk telephones that have been converted to Bluetooth - they ring and have dial tone too.
What did you say about home automation ? Wondering if you couldn’t use the phone as an IO device ? “Dial zero to turn on porch light ? “
You can! I need to figure out how to make an Asterisk server that translates pulses in IVR.
A friend has a rotary phone connected to an Amazon Alexa for home automation. "Please turn on porch light, Alexa..."
If you really wanted to go "old school" you could use CD4017 counter(s) to count the pulses to perform different functions.
thanks for this video!
You are welcome! Enjoy :-)
Does this make to where you can use any rotary phone with voip
Does this work completely? I have an old one but it only rings and When I talk , the recipient hears nothing
Wonderful !
Thanks!
How can I remove the paper written AREA CODE 513 in the middle of the transparent dialing plastic? Do you know how to open that part? Thanks
For those who is looking for it:
There is a small pin hole between the numbers 9 and 0. Place the pin or a strong needle there, rotate the dialing plastic very close to the end of one round, there is a gap and you need to push the pin harder and rotate it a little more, and then the plastic comes out.
I can’t find an old cable to connect it to the wall, the one with the fork prongs? How do you find one ?
those adapters are commonly available. Has 4 holes and a cable with modular plug
Could you please show me the wiring diagram. I obviously messed up something and now don't even have a daily tone.
This video is Thechmoan's grade, love it.
Thank you! That's a high compliment.
Avocado? Woooo, fancy. Colors other than black were extra, so we had only black.
I have that specific green phone and I'm here just to get it to ring. Thank you!
Nice!! What a happy coincidence!
@@walnuthills11 Success!! The phone rings!!
@@roosterruler Congrats!!
The phone's will work if you don't have fiberoptic
Those rotary phones, are so cute....I'm trying to set-up a old one in my home to receive calls and send.....I need help....thanks
Did you plug it in? It should work if to have land line
I just picked up an old rotary dial wall phone. It has no spot for a Jack cord and no
cord to connect to a Jack. How would I go about wiring that to work into my phone Jack.
That sounds very peculiar. Do you have a picture you could email me? molleraj at gmail dot com
Is the title a Dr. Strangelove reference ?? O.o
Yes it is!
Where did the black phone come from ? The green one , as I recall , was your dad’s , right ?
The green is my dad's from Boston. Black I got as a second line for elsewhere and for testing the second ATA. I also got it because it already had the 513 area code in the number card. It was quite inexpensive.
@@walnuthills11 : From Boston? Cool! I bet back then the phone line that was used with the avocado green rotary phone was a (617) area code which was the code for Eastern Massachusetts under New England Telephone, part of the Bell System before divestiture in 1984.
Great video. I have Ooma service and recently got a Rotary phone and able to Ring, receive call and talk but cannot make outgoing call! Any tips.
Sounds like the VOIP hardware will not recognize pulse dialing.
Your coma probably doesn't support pulse dialing. There are converters available.
How did you set the number for the phones?
That comes from Google Voice and my PBX.
How come some old rotary phones have those grace witches where it's easier to unplug and take off the cord but then some wrote a rephones don't have those little grace witches the cords are attached to the phone and you can't remove them it makes it really hard to use them if you know what I mean the one with the grace witches I can just plug it in to my My landline and it works just fine but when I find ones that I don't have those Gray switches I can't use them
Here's a replacement line cord, that connects inside the phone in place of the old cord. This one simply plugs into the wall jack.
It was not real clear, but it seems this video is only pertinent to phones that were set up for party lines, which would not have been the case for most phones from the 60s and 70s?
I have an old land line push button phone that no longer rings. Instead, it growls. The hammer doesn't strike the bell. Even with this, I can barely hear it ring. I assume that I've missed some calls because I couldn't hear it. I removed the cover, but saw no hammer or bell. There is a round cylindrical thing that I assume has the bell and hammer.
I'm thinking about buying another land line phone. But how would it "know" to ring on my phone number?
Hmmmm, these directions are specifically for old party line rotary phones. I would do some more research to diagnose the issue on a touchtone phone. Is yours a Western Electric 2500 or similar?
You may need to adjust the bias spring to the lower setting. In between the bells under the clapper is a wire/needle spring in a hooked notch. Next to that there should be an empty notch, try moving the spring to the other position. The high position was needed for the strong analog ring power close to the switch in the old days but most modern systems don't generate ring current that strong
@@St0rmcrash Thanks. I'll try it
Do you know where to buy the metal "c type" connectors or their name and a decent phone wire that's not so thin I can't strip it?
Sorry, I am not sure. C type connectors? Do you have a picture?
@@walnuthills11 let me figure out how to post a picture
@@walnuthills11 do you have an email address? I dont seena way to post a pic
@@heysbro Sure! molleraj2@gmail.com
Email sent. Lmk. Thank you
Great video. I found this Cell2jack device that can connect an old rotary dial phone to your cell prone, but apparently the dial phone is not ringing, only the cell phone. Will this wire trick do it and make it ring, or do you know some other device that can work and connect a dial phone to your cell phone?
The cell2jack replaces a landline so it will work. Although, I would get an Xlink instead. The cell2jack is poor quality
Cool Project. I'm working on using 555 op amp timer to pulsate a bell out of a push button dialing phone.
BABY, IF YOU'RE EVER WONDER, WONDER WHAT EVER BECAME OF MEEEE?
I'M LIVING ON THE AIR ON IN CINCINNATI, CINCINNATI'S W-K-R-P!!!! lolololol
Ha! 😂
Hang on, Is all i have to do to get one of these to ring on modern phone lines is to just switch a couple of wires in the phone?! Is that right?
You got it! 🙂
@@walnuthills11 Had a lad look into this for me years ago and said nothing could be done, that's brilliant! Thanks
Hook switch !!
A real one! :)
The video and info, are really great. But what is that distracting clicking sound, that keeps happening when you're speaking? Are you smacking your lips, or clicking your tongue after your sentences?
Get on with it!
lots of chopping but no chips !
couldnt here a word, your volume was too low
Huh, I could hear it fine. Maybe your computer audio is broken or needs adjustment.
I don't wanna be that guy... but 14 minute video to describe moving one wire.
Um, fair, but I guess you don't enjoy the background, lol
Painful.....
Your videos would be good to watch, if you didn't make clicking and snapping noises with your mouth. Every 5 seconds.
Stop smacking your lips like you're eating something