sundance-communications.com/forum Forums Other TDM Phone Systems 1A2 and Comkey Telephones & Systems It WORKS! (My 1A2 system, that is...)

Hi All;

Today, I finished the first part of my 1A2 system, and it WORKS! The first station is installed, and I made my first call on it to my wife at work. She didn't know that I was not using the cordless excuse for a phone, and she told me how nice the audio was. Then I told her... Now I have orders for stations in every room of the house!

Well, enough chit chat. Now some photos.

First, the station. I do not think that the lighted button is visable in the photo because of the flash. Trust me, the light is lit.



I used a punchdown block with AMP connector to hook it up, (I am still a bit timid about using my butterfly tool). I want to give a great big thanks to Ed for sending me a sample of this block. I will be purchasing a number of those from him shortly.



The little white connector is a direct connection from the DSL filter.

Here is an example of my cable install. It is a twentyfive pair to the station.



(This is contrasted with the rediculous job of cabling that was originally in this house. The little white cable next to it is the DSL wire.)

Now here is the KSU install. I still have to attach the Melco intercom unit.



Notice that the AC outlets are complete and live. You can see the white beehive light is lit. That is the power indicator. (I will soon have a UPS on this setup as well.) I am looking for a double beehive light to attach to the backboard to indicate when a line is in use.

The next station will be a wall mount unit that looks like this...



...and finally, I want to sing the praises of this tool that was given to me for Valentine's day by my wife. It was (and is) a great timesaver, and has completely changed my views on battery powered tools (rechargable)



One very interesting note is that I had a troubleshooting experience today with this system. When I connected the phone and finished the last punch down connection block, the line one lamp would not light. Line two worked fine, and all the other features worked fine. I 'bout pulled my hair out trying to figure out what was wrong. Finally, I traced it to the lamp hot wire on the punchdown block at the KSU... of all the things, even though the wire was in the connector, it did not make a connection. Simply pulled it off the connector and re-punched it and it worked fine.

I know that this probably seems a bit foolish to those who have worked in the communications business, but I am quite pleased that I have made it to this point.

I will be installing several other stations next, and then start working on the intercom.

More to come!

Best,

Joe

Looks great. Do you live anywhere near Marion, IN?

Good for you Joe! Congratulations! Keep those pictures coming.

Sam

Very nice to see the pictures, glad it works for you! I especially like those 42A covers

@ Phonenut260

I live north of Kansas City, MO about 12 miles from the MO / KS border. We are far out enough to live in a nice dark sky countryside that is very quiet and peaceful, but not so far away that if one of us gets sick, that it would be life threatening to get to medical facilities. We love it here!

@ Jeffmoss26

yes, I like those 42A covers too! A quick run through the dishwasher (with dishwashing soap + TSP to replace the phosphates that they took out of the new "environmentally correct" dishwashing soap), then a wipedown with some special stickum removal goop that they use where I work. They look good as new! (BTW, did you ever get the brown ones that I sent to you?)

Best,

Joe

I was wondering how you got them so clean. Yes, I did get the brown ones, they are in my inventory now

For the intercom, we always used those little round 10-18VAC buzzers. You could also get them in a 90V ring version - the ones with the neon lamp.

@ MNDAVE,

So far, all of the keysets have the little round 10 V buzzers. I do remember the 100 vold square buzzer that would work on ring current. I saw one in a keyset many, many years ago when I was quite young.

I am fine with the 10 V units, as I do not want to cut on my keysets to add a light.

What I am looking foreward to is the overhead PA that I am thinking about... I can just see it now... "Honey, line one, and when you are finished, can you get me a beer?"

On second thought, that might not be a good idea! :nono:

Joe

Joe, it sounds like you are just across the river from me.....an old wore out SWBT guy who did a lot of 1A2 back in the day..... :sleep: :thumb:

Joe -

Access to PA was always big. There was a special 401 card (401 PA ) that ITT came out with, but we mostly just used a regular 401 card or access off the DICM (contact closures to short out the music were available on both). But....

Back in the early '70s ITT took 1A2 up a step with their 76A system. It was regular 1A2 that came in various configurations (I think 7, 12, and 20 CO trunks and up to 54 Intercom stations, but I could be way off base). The CO lines took 400 cards but the Intercom utilized multiple channels (each taking their own pickup key- maximum 4) but signalling went through a little box, like the speaker on a 3/4 type speakerphone. You dialed an intercom number and that speaker beeped and then you could speak hands free to that station. There was also an "all-call" option as I recall. It was very popular, because it could utilize any 1A2 set and the external speaker wired up to spares in the set (CO ringing also went through the speaker, as I recall).

I still use one of the speakers (wired to a 401 card on my 1a2 system) as a hands free talk back unit to my front door.

Sam