Thanks for another really cool video. I always love seeing the really fun stuff you share with those of us who can only dream about it. I also would love to come get a tour of your fantastic central office someday and see your great collection of phones. By the way, I have a message for Evan. I'm green with envy that he gets to enjoy your fantastic telephone wonderland. Guys like me can live vicariously through him and his fun experiences of being there! Thanks again, Phil!

Good🎉

What are the boxes labeled "touch tone test" and how do they work?

What is the constant ticking in the background? Can you please explain? Thanks!

Amazing collection!

Neat and tidy work. Thank you for sharing.

I had a fun time filming this video with you today Phil

Look forward to every video. Would like to visit your central office some day. 👍

music to my ears, I wounder if any one has made a instrumental song using the relay sounds on a crossbar switch?

Wow! Is that equipment still in use in places?

Thank you, this presentation has been most helpful. Have a doctors office that had me install a WE "shoe box "KSU and a single WE 2565, which has 4 active lines, but found the keypad does not function to make calls, and the tip and ring explanation is helpful. The phone service is with Cox, the local cable provider, and their digital phone is really VoIP, and hopefully I can just swap the wires for tip and ring, though having 4 lines makes it an interesting challenge.

I have a 420 system I love it ❤

mechanical DTMF is WILD

Incredible collection of phones.

Were all of these phones and equipment discarded by the phone company?

In case anyone is wondering, the green and black line will both be attached to the same screw

YOU ARE A GENIUS IT WORKED

I remember working on these in my early days of career. I still have a bunch of phone switches in my basement that i couldn't bare to trash because they cost like 90k usd back then

Born in the 21st century but man I wanna try a rotary dial phone it looks like fun

Thank you so much for posting. When I was a young phone phreaker, I used to dial into the supervision test lines all the time and listen to the clicky click clicks. It's so good to see the relays in action- now I know what they're doing with the clicks!!! Extremely interesting. Thanks again!!!!

I realize this may be a dumb question- should I get touch tone on my 2500dm even if I do not have an active land line service ? I have a slight buzzing sound instead of dial tone and interruptions to the buzzing when I push the touch tone buttons - it’s plugged into a jack that is not an active landline

I like the two phone booths outside

I worked no.1 SxS in the 70's. We had these connectors for the large hotels in the lake Ozark mo area. If I recall correctly, we had connectors that would hunt up to 20 lines. It would hunt fast enough which really amazed me. These were good jobs in those days for Southwestern Bell. Thank you for good memories and videos.

amazing!!! worked perfectly. My great aunt used her 500 until her death in 2000. I've been lugging it around with me all these years in hopes of one day getting to use it again. Thank you for the help!

The electromechanical Flagman aka (wig-wag) is hands down the most dangerous piece of signal equipment ever designed and put into service, thank the train gawds they are gone from service.😊

Thank you for this!! Been working on one

As far as I remember, when I worked in a SxS office, hunting for small businesses was done by running a jumper on the sleeve terminal on the IDF from the main line number to the adjacent line numbers. For example, if the main number was 2XX-1100, we would run a single wire from the sleeve on 1100 to 1101, 1102, 1103, etc., until the hunt group was a maximum of 10 numbers. XB offices were more flexible in that the line numbers in hunting groups did not have to be adjacent. If I remember correctly, the class number in a XB office for hunting was 10. A 1FR or 1FB in a XB office was 01. I can't remember the class numbers for party lines or coin phones.

Thank you sir. Love all your videos.

Thank you for the demonstration, and your stewardship of telephone equipment. I find electro mechanical approach to a CO or the mechanical approach to many machines are more elegant than black box with no moving parts.

I installed both in the 70's.

This video is the only video on KZbin that explains it simply. Hats off

I did it and it worked! Thank you so much!

I have the 120 B where can i get a set of keys??🔑

Спасибо, попробую запустит у себя дома.

Always great information from you Phil. I revisit these videos frequently whenever I’m on a different telephone project. 👍

I worked at the OKC Western Electric/AT&T/Lucent Technologies manufacturing plant where we made the 5ESS switch along with various other central office switches and equipment. I was there from 1976 until 2002 when Celestica, a contract manufacturer bought the plant and over a 3 year period moved our manufacturing jobs to Montery Mexico and Canada. There is a good chance that switch in the video was manufactured there. Over that time I built circuit packs for 1 year, tested them for 5 years, then maintained the test equipment that tested the circuit packs for the remainder of that time. Western Electric/AT&T/Lucent Technologies was an excellent employer to work for and gave me a wonderful career and life. I was able to retire from Lucent at the age of 47 with a pension and health care benefits.

"These phones suck... badly". Go ahead and tell us what you really think, Phil! Haha. That was hilarious! I got interested in 1A2 phones when I was in 6th grade and they were installed in my schools office. I was fascinated and hooked. I remember seeing these as a kid and thinking they were just "weird". Three hold buttons, and they didn't flash like "real" (Western Electric) phones when they would ring, and there was no "wink" when on hold. I remember thinking "I don't like these" when I was a kid, and have no desire to have any as an adult. The only thing I can say that is moderately cool is the lamp when the phone is ringing... but good old beehive lamps look even better! Thanks for the video and discussion Phil.

i see you dont reply to comments , im 83 and have couple these from 1963good condition i ue them in my workshop and one in basement laundry room my one 1963 c/d western electric but recent loss the ring on it dont know why is there a remedy appreciate if can help its in great condition if all makes sense ill sell :( Gerard

WRRS mechanism?

Awesome work. I like your detail to attention. The lacing looks just great. Thanks for the wonderful videos.

Great video thanks for sharing, what type of tray cable is that? And is that a +48V or a -48V system?

You make the cable lacing look easy! Great work as always

Phil, do you have a coin line? What’s the ring sound when you hit the hook switch? Sounds like the ringer.

Wore a few 'hats' during my 27-years in the Telecom Industry. Service Tech/Bug Hunter, Equipment Installer, & finally as a C.O. Technician. It's been an interesting run so far, and I truly appreciate the work performed in this project. :)

very interesting! do modern switch offices transition to zip ties instead of string? as an industrial electrician who works with dense cabling, i couldn't imagine using string to secure everything!

I’ve worked in lots of central offices and switch rooms and it’s nice to watch a craftsman do his thing. My career at AT&T is over now after 41 years so watching you and seeing your collection of equipment is a trip down memory lane.

It makes me so happy to see your videos you're the greatest phone man on earth

do you have any 1ess swiches? Do you have any TSPS operator consoles

Phil, are you an Amateur Radio operator? I saw the sign on the door. de N4RGQ.

I LOVE this video, thanks for showing this glorious phone in such detail! I am looking for a 2872 just like this (but any color), any ideas if there are any on the private market? There's one on ebay right now, but it's a dial, and I would like DTMF like yours. Thank you!!!