atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Other TDM Phone Systems 1A2 and Comkey Telephones & Systems GTE Automatic Electric 10A2 info?

Thanks for all the replies. Unfortunately the CHB-160 GTE Key System Manual links (all of them, unfortunately) just give you the index and nothing more. Searching for the sub-chapters on the other link wind up nowhere too.

If you look at the TCI website link to the 1970 AE Key System equipment and go to Page 2, mine was very similar to the 'Wall Mounted Unit' on that page, though I don't recognize the internal configuration. The dimensions given on Page 3 for it are exactly right. I probably had that AE apparatus cabinet, just configured more like my Northern Electric QUJ9A one:

https://pacwestbell.com/?page_id=99

As the dimensions are exactly the same. Covers probably *are* the same, as someone else suggested. I bought the QUJ9A thinking it was the 'right' one, but...I still think I'm after the AE 10A2 equivalent if I want to be anal enough to be *exactly* right...though they're functionally interchangeable.

Not to completely derail the thread, but what would the cabinet in this picture be?

Jeff, At first glance it looked like a 501 cabinet, but it's not. Too big, 4 screws, what looks like a wooden back.

Beats me. I'm unfamiliar with that one. Where's the picture from?

Sam

Sam must have rubbed up against some green Kryptonite this morning...his X-Ray vision is faulty.

Jeff, here are the clues:

>it is approx 24 inches wide.
>it has three, 75-pair cables coming out the top mousehole.
>each of the three cables terminates on three 66B25 blocks.
>the cross-connections on those blocks are spaced out in such a way that they conform to the 5-pair cross-connection scheme of "one pair, three pairs, one pair." (T/R in) (T/R-A1/A-LG/L) (G/CA)

My "professional prothesis" (as an old foreman used to say) is as follows:

The internal 23" rack mounting in the cabinet contains three 584C panels and probably a 19-type power unit to run them.

Sam, the picture is from a building I did some work in several years ago. I think I posted the pictures in ugly work at the time. I remember trying to open the cover to see what was inside and I got shocked...the system was still plugged in.

I agree with Arthur. The Cabinet was kind of a universal "catch-all" used by Bell Telephone in the late 60s and early 70s.

If you got shocked, then there was something SERIOUSLY wrong. That cabinet cover is fiberglass and is NOT conductive. Aside from the line voltage feeding the power supply which should have been a molded female cable assembly and the voltage adjustment taps should have had a plastic cover over them the only other voltage that could give one a little jolt would be the ring generator.

Rcaman

That setup was still in use a couple of years ago? Wow. I know some radio stations and government facilities still have 1A2 stuff because it still works and is too expensive to change out for ultra-large building setups. And basically, if it still works...why **** with it? Plus I still like the audio quality of that era gear vs. a lot of the stuff I run across now that sounds like a McDonalds drive-thru speaker.

Well, I knew it was 1A2 but the cabinet still eludes me. We used 16C cabinets, or 7-8' x 23" racks or "Tombstones". But that looks someplace in between.

Sam

I think Jeff means he was shocked that it was still working. I see plenty of old 1A2 systems long abandoned that are still powered up.

-Hal

Sam,

Remember we were discussing VCAs? That cabinet was used, almost exclusively, by Bell Telephone, here in western PA to house the VCAs. It was also the cabinet of choice for all 13 line 1A2 584C setups with 3 or more 584C panels and a power supply or two. If I were to conservatively guess, I would say there are probably several thousands of those still installed and powered up. They house everything from 1A2 systems to network cards to smart jacks. I have several in the warehouse. They make good storage cabinets.

As a side note, don't you just Love the aluminum ladder resting on the 66 blocks? I bet that has been a source of a lot of NTF calls.

Rcaman