Repurposing Linesman's Telephones

Really liked the vid, I have myself an old linemans telephone that I picked up because I though it was interesting. It's just a rubberized phone with a dial on the back of the earpiece, tiny little dial! Of course has the two little wires coming out the back for hooking into the telephone line and a little switch on the side which after watching your video must be a monitor on/off switch.

This was especially interesting to me since I collect military stuff, including trucks and jeeps. Well done.

I had to use a lineman's handset in my last job up until about 2013 when we switched all the phone systems to voice-over-IP. We had hundreds of telephones and we had to maintain the lines (along with anything else electronic). However, my lineman's handset was much, much newer than the one you showed and of course had touch-tone dialing on it.

These sorts of things are fascinating. What you talked about is the same kind of thing I would set up if I had two or more of them.

Mat, add me to the list of people who enjoyed that video. It appealed to the teenager in me, who was always looking for interesting electronic bits like that. As for comparison between using that as an intercom and a cell phone, consider this: the devices you have are probably built like tanks, and far more durable than a cell phone. Great for a workshop, garage, or any dusty / dirty environment.

I enjoyed this too. Don't apologise.

Really enoyed it. Company down the road from where I used to live (in fact, neither of us are there now :) ) made the BT issue equivalent - Chesilvale was the name IIRC. Pye / TMC of course became part of Philips (and also IIRC were Scotland based??) but now subsumed so many times they simply don't exist in any meaningful way any more. I don't know if the radio side of Pye was separate by then but that also became Philips which like everything else just became smaller and smaller until it ended up as Sepura making soon-to-be obselete TETRA kit. P.S @Techmoan, have you noticed a dashcam by the catchy name of the Hikvision AE-DN2016-F3? This is presumably the first dashcam made by a proper CCTV security company (with a UK office and everything!) albeit one that has been 'banned' by the US for government work due to the nature of the Chinese state in their shareholding and control ;) P.P.S Future video gold? - <a href="https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Burglar-Alarm-Record-Player/253994522037" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Burglar-Alarm-Record-Player/253994522037</a>

This video was fun. I enjoyed it. The only linesman phones I've used were modern ones that didn't come in a box. These are so much cooler!

Please don't apologise; I very much enjoyed this informative video. I too was a obsessed with intercoms as a youngster in the '70s btw. There was something magical about having one's own private telephone system, however rudimentary.

I have always thought the Wichita Lineman song was about a lineman working on overhead electricity supply cables, because the lyrics talk about "searchin' in the sun for another overload". I just learned something. Like the video.

Thanks for the video. I enjoyed it!!! Ps- here’s a nice article about the song: <a href="http://americansongwriter.com/2012/01/behind-the-song-wichita-lineman" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://americansongwriter.com/2012/01/behind-the-song-wichita-lineman</a>

This is neat. Thank you!

Mat, I really enjoyed the video, I'm sad you cancelled it. Best wishes, Tez.

Great topic!

This reminds me more of what in the US military was used as a field phone, especially with the provisions for a local battery. At least in my lifetime it's been more common for the phone company to use a more compact device called a "butt set" that could be hung on a toolbelt.

Definitely a fun video for those of us old enough to remember wired telephones :-) As others say it’s not something you get to see much, let alone see inside, these days. Thanks for sharing it. Ewen

I liked the video. You don't get to see stuff like this often.

I'm sorry you're a bit down about it, I enjoyed it very much.

The green label on the phone on the right shows that it dates from the early 80s or later. It indicates that the device is approved for connection to the BT network. Forbidden phones has a similar label with a red triangle - it was legal to sell them but not plug them in. Before 1981 phones were hard wired; there was no need for these labels as an engineer had to install your phone. Eventually, it was decided that allowing BT to adjudicate on what could be plugged into the network was anti-competive and in 1982 the task was given to a body called the British Approvals Board for Telecommunications. Having Googled just now, I've learned that this organisation still exists but as a subsidiary of its German equivalent. Does this deserve some sort of award for the most tedious post of the day?

having spent the past three days trying ( albeit unsuccessfully ) to VoIP enable an old telephone system for a client, I come home to watch... a video on phones - aarrgghh ha ha ha deal with BT and their 'engineers' on an almost daily basis - bought myself a buttphone for my own testing, tempted now to hook two together to see if they'll ring ... enjoyed this one mat, thanks for the trip down memory lane - again

I liked it too; an interesting left field item that I’d probably never have learned about.

This reminds me when I worked with British Telecom (in Amsterdam) and once went to their Yarnfield Park training centre (now privately owned), south of Manchester and near the village of Stone. They ironically called it "Sunny Stone", because it's apparently the one place in Britain that is statistically the most overcast. Which is why they built a massive munitions factory during the war, so that the Luftwaffe would have trouble finding it. Obviously, the couple of days I was there it was beautiful and clear weather, with only a light drizzle one day. But it's telling that the walking paths are actually roofed over. Anyway, they had a small forest of telephone poles that were used to train engineers to climb them, and presumably plug in one of those devices you have there.

I get the quality measure, but you know; what's wrong with a cheese sandwich every-so-often? As you say, it was a quick video because even the global phenomenon that is TechMoan has family and a life too. In fact, I laughed out loud the other day when watching a YouTube retro redline car restoration channel I subscribe to; after they referenced you on their video.... So, what about that cheese sandwich? ;)

Re your update, I don't understand why you don't see this as a success? Sure, It's not commercial enough to appeal to the masses, but your core YouTube audience will appreciate it - as we all have 👍

Well, I just bought one, been a long time since I played with a rotary LD phone. Thanks for another great video Mat

While I appreciate how dedicated you are to making fascinating and quality videos, and I guess this one didn't pass that "QA" bar, I still liked it, so thanks for making and posting it.

Hi Mat, whilst this one is marked as being from RAF Leuchars, outside of the UK the ground comms on RAF airfields (e.g RAF Laarbruch & Gütersloh) were maintained by the Army, specifically the Royal Signals. As Ex R.Sigs myself I can report that the particular trade that conducted this role were Telecommunications Mechanics (TeleMech), not that I was one - sitting in a ditch jointing cable - no thanks. :-)

This video is a treat, covering an unusual type of equipment. Matt, there's an annoying 1/4 sec +/- lag between the image on the flatscreen on your workbench and your main video image (the flatscreen is delayed). Cannot think of a reason for that, unless you are relaying the flatscreen image to your videocam via satellite (as opposed to a direct link).

Yours may be 'ex military' but this was designed by and for the GPO, I have the original metal box version/dial and a prototype plastic case with pushbutton dialling that was LD/DTMF switchable but otherwise identical. It was made at my local TMC factory in Airdrie (near Glasgow) along with many of the 700 series PO telephones. They quickly fell out of favour due to the size/weight and replaced with a Linesman's Butt (I think in the US they called them 'Buttinski's' as armed with this it was a breeze to butt-into conversations from the street cabinet to the pole. The newer butts could additionally show line reversals (on distant answer) and you could listen on the line without looping (answering) it - allowing you to listen to the data burst that carried the Caller Display information. I still keep this in my toolbox as it makes fault finding a breeze - the field telephones less so as the only time you needed batteries was when you weren't connected to the exchange, and having a dial was pointless (unless you were)/. Still, good to see it get the TM treatment. Now, how about looking at the STC Executel as a nice product review? :)

love the top down screen very useful. the intercom function is super cool

Thank you so much for this video! I, too, was a geeky kid. I am about a decade your senior, so I had to settle for a telegraph setup with my neighbor. I'm in the US, and our phone line is no longer copper, but VoIP. However, the dial phone on our kitchen wall (harvest gold, of course) still works.

I wonder if you dial TIM you'll get a well-spoken (unsposored) lady telling you the precise time? Nice little video, Mat, and hearing that rotary dial clicking has obviously taken a lot of your viewers, including me, back in time.

This pulse talk reminds me of when I was 18. The local Lloyds bank had a phone in the lobby that could be accessed 24 hours a day. All of the numbers were blanked off except the 9 for emergency calls, mainly because of the 2 ATMs also in the lobby. They didn't bank on someone making a pocket pulse dialer and using it for all of their personal calls for nearly 5 years before it was replaced with an auto-dialing phone that went through to a Lloyds service centre. Back then you could also buy locks for rotary dial telephones. I never really understood the point of locking your phone, especially when I could pulse dial through it anyway. If you were good enough, you could tap the number out on the mouthpiece and still have the call connected.

I don't think that those dials would still work today in the UK phone system since I know they won't work on the german phone system. But someone used an Arduino to count pulses and then send a dialtone out. So these phones would work on analog landlines....or your router if it has a socket for analog phones.

Aww there are schematics in the covers. If you would have recorded a still image of them or posted a photo someone from the crowd (like me for example) would be able to tell you exactly what "CB" and "LB" does.

It would have been funny if Mat could have phoned 'The Moans'. One could answer and say 'Flippin Eck, It's for you hoo' like on the old TV adverts.

Thanks for the video Mat. I'm not being pedantic like some people, just trying to offer a suggestion. The dial briefly disconnects the phone in the same way the 'off hook' switch does when dialling. There are 10 finger holes on the dial. The number 0 is after 9. You may wish to re-record the voice over to say when you rotate the dial all the way up to 10 brief 'pulses' are made. Best wishes.

I seem to recall that back in the 1970s, there were powerline intercoms that sent audio over the house electrical wiring rather than using radio transmitters. We had a neighbor who had one between the house and the dairy barn, and I was fascinated with the thing as a lil' nerdtyke.

Could be useful in someone's zombie apocalypse compound as an intercom. That transformer must step up the battery to ring voltage.

If younger viewers are disturbed by a dial telephone, we had a fridge that exact shade of green. Avocado, I think. Ah, the 70s.

I'dd say you could easily use it as an intercom. Just put batteries in both but put them on CB while you are not using them. When you want to call the other you just put yours in LB -> Ring. And after the call back to CB. This way you don't have permanent battery drain, and you can still use it in both directions.

That dial sound, such a nostalgia buzz. I wonder if you can still find the old GPO button A and B phones?

I remember rotary dials. Never had one operative at home but my father gave me and my brother some old phones as toys and one of them had a rotary dial. It doesn't sound like a good toy but we had fun playing with them when we were children.

Can I apologise in advance for being the first pedant to point out that going by the lyrics, "Wichita Lineman" is about an electrical linesman rather than a phone company linesman? "Searchin' in the sun for another overload" is pretty clear.. except that then there's all the "still on the line" stuff going on later. I guess the most likely answer is that Glen Campbell just doesn't know anything about wiring. I wouldn't trust him to fit a mains plug.