Are you really really REALLY bored and want 500ish pages listing all the parts/cable/equipment that was available for a BT engineer to order through the British Telecom Stores department in 1996?

Then my friend, I have you covered:
https://downloads.paulseward.com/Telephony_Catalogues/BT-Stores-1996/

Have at it folks, tag me if you find anything weird/amusing

#britishTelecom #telecomsHistory #TelephoneHistory #telecomsHeritage #telephoneHistory #telephone #phone #phoneExchange #telephoneExchange

It's Longshot Request Friday!

EDIT: Now sorted, thanks!

Does anyone have in their collection an example of an old British Telecom "telemessage" ?

These were greetings telegrams, dictated by phone and sent through the post.

I'm specifically looking for a readable image of the reply instructions that were printed on the reverse side of the page.

For some reason, no one seems to scan the back page when selling these online!

I've attached an example of the front:

#britishTelecom #telemessage

#Telephone set #BritishTelecom 8746 now with replaced 21A microphone insert, working correctly with #Grandstream #HT802 v2 ATA linked to #FreePBX I built on cloud VPS - accepts both #MF (tone) and #LoopDisconnect #dialling (although dialling a full UK mobile number is quite a long process and I had to make sure the timer was at least 4 seconds (or the digits get sent to register before you've dialled any 0 and call fails due to wrong number being sent to #PBX !)

Ring voltage (set to 55V RMS) is strong enough to ring the 4k bell in 8746

So currently this corner of the office looks like its back in 1980s 😁

#VOIP #Telephony

Protip: if you are connecting older #telephones (1980s/1990s) with #BritishTelecom plug to #VOIP via an #ATA (either standalone or that built into your router), beware that many RJ11 to BT socket adaptors now lack the ringing capacitor for the bell wire - some #telephone sets won't ring without it!

If you have a spare #ADSL filter this contains the capacitor and can be used to get your #phone to ring (plug it into BT socket from the ATA and telephone into the BT socket on the filter)

#BritishTelecom 8746 #telephone set from 1982 - 8 prefix means converted for plug and socket working (rather than hardwired to wall!)

Plug and socket connection available from 1981 onwards ( #BT still nationalised then and part of Post Office )

4000 ohm magneto bell (better for parallel working up to max REN of 4, previously magneto bells were 1000 ohms and wired in series in hard wired extension plans). You need capacitor downstream of the line pairs (ADSL filters and /some/ RJ11 to BT socket adaptors contain these), or else bell will not ring correctly - these phones have a third wire for the bell.

Tested it with Openreach analogue circuit - dial works well, Transmitter 21A (electret mic) goosed (distinct odour of overheated Ferranti chip!), may have working 21A somewhere..

My landline has been down for at least a couple of days now. For the third time in 6 months.

Go to report the fault... "There's a major fault in your area. Estimated time to fix: Friday 13th February".

So, *well over a week* to repair a phone line? They're really at the point of not caring at all about POTS, aren't they?

"Damn and blast British Telecom", said Dirk, the words coming easily from force of habit. -- Douglas Adams, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

#BritishTelecom

Does anyone happen to have any documentation for a British Telecom "Tester 420A" ISDN BRI tester.

Also known as the T4200 - seemingly made by Fulcrum Communications in the early 1990s

It's throwing some error codes at me, and I'd really like to know what they mean!

#isdn #BritishTelecom #BT #telecoms #telecom #osmocom #pbx #telephoneExchange #telephonSystem