The closest thing I ever experienced was sometime in the early 90s when Rutherford NJ went from I believe 1A to a 5E. I remember everything going dead, then coming back with a different sounding dialtone. Everything you tried to dial for about the next hour gave a reorder, then it was back to normal. Thanks for sharing your phone trips!
I’m just a guy from the other side of the world, who in 1975 was decade away from even being born, but these videos are bloody fantastic. It’s both thrilling and impressive that we’re still getting Evan Doorbell videos!
Perfect thing to listen to on my flight. The PBX in the holtel where I was staying was thoroughly uninteresting, although I did get to use an older PBX (circa maybe the 80s) that was a lot more fun.
I havent used a panel or #1XB yet but I think they are my two favorite switching systems. Ive only used the crossbar 5 and step from museums in New England.
Those were our two favorites too. The Seattle Connections Museum has them, but they don't have thousands of other users making it sound alive. It's a good place to visit if you get the chance.
From hone phone lines we used a combination of resisters and capacitors going from the phone line itself to the input of the tape recorder. You can't do that nowadays because current spikes will destroy the IC's in any recorder device. At pay phones we used a loop-shaped pickup coil which fits around the earpiece, and had to choose a phone which had little or no electrical hum in its vicinity.
Two questions. One, when did panels start MFing, and how was the capability added to the machines? Too, I’m going to take a stab in the dark and say that the headache was caused by Gotham tandem going missing?
Panels began MFing concurrent with nationwide long distance dialing. I’d guess that that was in the early 60s. The first MF trunk in the New York City network from this panel was to the Lexington centrex tandem, 21244, which appeared in 1968. The process of adding MF capability to panels AND #1 crossbars appears to have been messy and inconsistent. It looks like an evolving process where first MF was needed for only a relatively small number of calls, and then a higher and higher portion of calls kept needing MF. There are several generations of originating senders for panels and 1bars. Some send MF outright, such as W73 St., and some seem to be engaging some sort of "auxilliary sender" which converts PCI (internally within the group of senders) to MF. I don't know much about how all that was configured; All I know is that I have seen 4 or 5 different types of originating senders in #1 crossbar, some with real DTMF and some with conversion to dial pulse, some with direct MF out capability and some that MF very slowly and sound like they're sending PCI. In panel it's a similar menagerie of variations. Your guess is close, but Gotham isn't the bugaboo this time. There are two routes that are failing; The answer is spoken, but not pointed out, in program one.
![Warwick and the 914 Area of NY, pgm. 3 (November 1975) [finished version; replaces rough draft]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/wIrjTqDq4gc/mqdefault.jpg)
The closest thing I ever experienced was sometime in the early 90s when Rutherford NJ went from I believe 1A to a 5E. I remember everything going dead, then coming back with a different sounding dialtone. Everything you tried to dial for about the next hour gave a reorder, then it was back to normal. Thanks for sharing your phone trips!
I’m just a guy from the other side of the world, who in 1975 was decade away from even being born, but these videos are bloody fantastic. It’s both thrilling and impressive that we’re still getting Evan Doorbell videos!
That’s great to hear! When Mark Bernay and I first started putting these on the Internet, we expected to have about 3 listeners :-)
Woohoo! I'm early! I love this series! Best thing to see after waking up from a nap 😁
16:09 what a wide variety of sounds all at once! You never cease to amaze me with the quantity and quality of your recordings 🤯
Thanks! That’s why we recorded SO much :-) it’s a fascinating network full of variety.
Perfect thing to listen to on my flight. The PBX in the holtel where I was staying was thoroughly uninteresting, although I did get to use an older PBX (circa maybe the 80s) that was a lot more fun.
I havent used a panel or #1XB yet but I think they are my two favorite switching systems. Ive only used the crossbar 5 and step from museums in New England.
Those were our two favorites too. The Seattle Connections Museum has them, but they don't have thousands of other users making it sound alive. It's a good place to visit if you get the chance.
2:55 love hearing MF tones 😍
3:49 how did you record from the line itself. Those suction cup mics weren't very good from my experience.
From hone phone lines we used a combination of resisters and capacitors going from the phone line itself to the input of the tape recorder. You can't do that nowadays because current spikes will destroy the IC's in any recorder device. At pay phones we used a loop-shaped pickup coil which fits around the earpiece, and had to choose a phone which had little or no electrical hum in its vicinity.
Hey, arrived early enough
Two questions. One, when did panels start MFing, and how was the capability added to the machines? Too, I’m going to take a stab in the dark and say that the headache was caused by Gotham tandem going missing?
Panels began MFing concurrent with nationwide long distance dialing. I’d guess that that was in the early 60s. The first MF trunk in the New York City network from this panel was to the Lexington centrex tandem, 21244, which appeared in 1968. The process of adding MF capability to panels AND #1 crossbars appears to have been messy and inconsistent. It looks like an evolving process where first MF was needed for only a relatively small number of calls, and then a higher and higher portion of calls kept needing MF. There are several generations of originating senders for panels and 1bars. Some send MF outright, such as W73 St., and some seem to be engaging some sort of "auxilliary sender" which converts PCI (internally within the group of senders) to MF. I don't know much about how all that was configured; All I know is that I have seen 4 or 5 different types of originating senders in #1 crossbar, some with real DTMF and some with conversion to dial pulse, some with direct MF out capability and some that MF very slowly and sound like they're sending PCI. In panel it's a similar menagerie of variations. Your guess is close, but Gotham isn't the bugaboo this time. There are two routes that are failing; The answer is spoken, but not pointed out, in program one.