atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Other TDM Phone Systems 1A2 and Comkey Telephones & Systems Need WE 551 KSU for cheap ham

Greetings fellow 1A2 techs.

Have a good friend and ham who needs a replacement for failed WE 551 in his residence. Since he's a ham and retired, he's cheap. Definitely wants a shoebox, prefer complete with power supply, ring generator nice but not mandatory.

FYI There's not enough space for a larger KSU like ITT 501 or 554 cell, so we need someone to sell or donate a replacement unit cheap. (Sure wish I'd bought the 551 I saw at Hamvention flea mkt for $2 a couple years ago, knew I'd regret that.) Also, he could use an add'l 2564 or 2565 set as well. I'm sure he'd pay shipping and then some.

Follow up via oldphoneman (at) 8es.com or you can try a PM here, though I don't get the chance to check in here very often any more, as I'm unretired now and working full time and then some.

Thanks in advance to all. - Macy H.

I am responding to your request for a replacement 551 KSU.

I am retired from the Bell System, (30 years service) and now run my own installation and repair business.

I cannot understand how a 551 KSU can have "failed" to the point that it needs to be replaced totally.

There is a chassis, card cage, power supply, and generator. There are plug-in (replaceable) line and intercom KTU's.

There is a wiring harness that unless messed with, should not have "failed."

Did the KSU get burnt to a crisp in a fire? If not, please let us know what parts don't work, (or at least tell us the symptoms) and we can replace them at little or no cost.

I suppose a big, fat lightning strike could do in a 551 KSU, at least to the point where trouble shooting the components isn't worth it to some. It might be harder finding a compatible power supply, for example, than a whole "new" KSU.

The eBay thing has them from time to time, often selling in the $50+ range. I just checked and only see an ITT 584C KSU (item # 300624651028) at $40 + $15 shipping.

Guys, how "different" is a 584C to the 551 that Macy's friend is used to?

Apples and pomegranates.

The 551 is a self-contained 4-slot 1A2 KSU. Internal power and pre-wired to accommodate up to ten station cables.

The 584 is not a KSU. It is a 13-slot panel that mounts in a 23-inch relay rack, and needs external power and cabling, and external 66 blocks for the inputs/outputs.

Arthur, that seller has no idea of the gold mine that he's sitting upon. A 20 button in green? That could easily be the last one left in this world.

It sickens me to think of the literal tons of this equipment that I threw away. In 1989 when moving offices, I filled an entire 40' roll-off dumpster with racks, phones, power supplies and 6XX panels.

Ed, there was a time when I could have signed out a case of 565 sets in every color ever made, stored them in a container, and left them there to collect value. Can you imagine what an unopened case of pink, blue, yellow, etc, 565 sets would fetch these days?

I oversaw a crew who disassembled and threw away a 6000 line 701B PBX once. A complete power room with batteries, ringing machines, rectifiers, 30 Line Finder / Selector frames, 60 Connector frames, a complete Xbar ACD with 8 operator turrets, and 600 or so DID trunk units. Had I but known that collectors would someday actually want that crapola. Oh well.

if everybody saved them they would be common and not worth much

The problem is...even if we were smart enougn to
know how much old PBX's would be worth today....
the storage space to keep this stuff around would
be huge...they were not small parcels..even a 740A dial PBX would be alot to store.

I told my wife when we had our 1st child to get 2 of every toy and put one away for old age. Well, it's old age and we didn't.