Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!texbell!vector!telecom-gateway From: morris@jade.jpl.nasa.gov (Mike Morris) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Telephone History: For Sale? Message-ID:Date: 24 Sep 89 08:08:37 GMT Sender: news@vector.Dallas.TX.US Reply-To: Mike Morris Lines: 51 Approved: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 401, message 3 of 5 Kent Borg writes: > >My question is where might I buy an 11-hole Stowger dial phone, or a >Western Union clock? Well, if you find a source of clocks, let me know... I want one too. As to the dial, 11-hole dials were used as late as WW2 in Colins transmitters. I'm kinda surprised that a navy radioman hasn't popped up to say so. As late as 1971 my local community college amateur radio station had a surplus Navy TDH-4 transmitter made by Collins - complete with the "Autotune" option. The "autotune" used a 11-hole dial labeled 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-0-A, and the A was used to select the modulation mode. For example, to set the system to 7.255 Mhz in AM, youd dial 7-2-5-5-A-3. After about 15 seconds of "whirrrrr-clunk-whirrrrrr-clunk-ka-chunk-ka-chunk- whirrrr-clunk", etc. every stage would have been tuned. Just the thing for 90-day wonders that couldn't remember to adjust the grid circuits for a peak and adjust the plate circuits for a dip in the current meter. And don't forget to switch the meters to the stage you're adjusting! To set it to 7.055 Mhz, using morse code you'd dial 7-0-5-5-A-1. To lock it in continuous transmit on 3.999 Mhz you'd dial 3-9-9-9-A-0. The numbers were not hard to remember due to Collins adopting a standard descriptor that was already in wide use: the FCC allocation descriptions. The TDH-4 was a 2-18 Mhz transmitter, another model was 15 (or so) to 30Mhz. Autotune was available on a lot of different radios. The FCC allocation descriptions use A for amplitude modulation and F for frequency modulation. A table can be found in any edition of the Radio Amateur's Handbook, available in most libraries. Anyway, a _LOT_ of those old monsters (The TDH-4 was 6' high, 3' deep and almost 6' long - literally built like - and _for_ a battleship) have been scrapped. The dials show up every so often in surplus stores or amateur radio swap meets. I still want a WU clock. Mike Morris UUCP: Morris@Jade.JPL.NASA.gov ICBM: 34.12 N, 118.02 W #Include quote.cute.standard PSTN: 818-447-7052 #Include disclaimer.standard cat flames.all > /dev/null [Moderator's Note: You still can't purchase either of the two I own. Did you know with careful calibration of the pendulum set-screw, and by leveling the clock very carefully when it is first hung, the discrepancy can be kept to a minute per month or less, even without the clock service. Really! PT]