sundance-communications.com/forum Forums General General Telephone & Systems Information Any demand for the original Crest TKM-6?

I have some sitting in my basement. They are certainly nice to have, but I don't remember the last time I actually needed to use one. They are a very nice product though.

Thank you all for your input.

I suspected that indeed the market for these products is not really there in this day and age, that is kind of what caused Crest to close down in 2003.

I was told that Harry was going to scrap everything when we shut down, but I guess he couldn't bring himself to doing that. I know he had a lot of sentimental feelings around the products and equipment he built to make the products.

It was a fun company to work with, felt more like family than a job. Harry had a sort of mini telecom museum with pictures, old phone(s) and switching equipment going back to almost the beginning of the industry. I loved looking at those old phones and hearing him lay out the history and point out the technological changes that made each one a 'big deal'. Good times.

I'll have to ask him how much old 'new' stock he has when I talk with him next and go from there.

If anything comes up and he decides to put this stuff out there, I'll be sure to post that information here.

thank you guys again for the honest opinions. I really appreciate it.

It seems like the TKM-6 switches have been replaced with electronics. I cannot remember how many service calls I have been on because someone forgot to flip the switch back.

I remember years ago working on the Federal POTS contract that some, who shall remain unnamed [Sharon - the Boss], ordered TKM-6F and couldn't understand why we couldn't use them...

Sometimes I miss the ol' 1A2's but not often enough to want them back full-time.

Ok so the bad news is that Crest was able to clear all of their existing inventory just before the plant was shut down. I remember seeing inventory when I left but it took a couple of months for them to wind down operations and apparently they found a buyer for the remaining stock.

Sorry if I got anyone's hopes up. I honestly thought they still had product stored with the manufacturing equipment.

If anything changes, such as them finding any new old stock they missed I'll be sure to let everyone know.

Thanks!
Marcus

Can anyone enlighten me on what this switch does? I've run out of things to add to my 1A2 system, maybe this could be something to throw in the mix someday.

It's just a low voltage DPDT switch.

mostly it was used to isolate a line and send it to one device or another . back in "the day " off dial up you might take a line and share it between a dial up modem and the phone or phone and fax or turn a external ringer on and off of anything else you could come up with to turn on and off

they where small and you could buy various colored covers for them

we still use them in systems where we have a copper trunk used for the FAX and as our modem access into the PBX for remote programming and diagnostics. We use a replacement for the TKM-6 from Sandman.

Quite a few of them here in the local jail so the guards can turn access to the phones in the common areas off if the prisoners misbehave. =)

Hmmm. Personal observation, or word of mouth?