Wasn't sure where to post this- but I took an interest in Merlin 410 style phones before I got deep into 1A2. I was looking at getting just a Merlin set, because I don't want to spend a bunch on the whole system for just one phone.

My question: will a Merlin set function without the control unit (will it ring, make outgoing calls- hold would be nice, but i doubt it)

Thanks

No sir, it won't. But if you really, really like the looks of the phone, I'm sure that you could change the guts out with a modern electronic 2500 type set.

You might be able to find a little 206 or 410 pretty cheap. There still a few in use around here, so they hold up well.

No, no way you are going to make a 2500 set out of a Merlin set and no way is it going to do anything without the KSU.

It's easy enough to make one work the way it's supposed to. You only need 4 pair CAT3 configured 568B (or even A) and a KSU which can be, as Bill says, a 206, 410 or a more recent 820D2. They are dirt cheap.

-Hal

Okay, thanks again guys!

The Merlin 206 and 410 KSU's are small, too. Easy to stick in a corner. And the phones can be plugged directly into the cabinet. As can C O lines. (Don't know HOW many trunk-slammers installed them with 25-50 foot line cords draped around the room and snaked through the ceiling. We don' need no steenking plenum ware, we're jus' usin' line cords, at'll be ok.) John C.

There once was a single line set that looked like the left side of a Merlin set.

It had the merlin plastic,handset and small metal
stand,and worked and rang on dial tone.

Dont know the part number ,but maybe someone here has one or remembers part number.

I don't remember the part number, but I have a few in storage. I want to say that they were 7406's. I had them in white, black and BROWN.

Ed, the 7400 series were digital phones, so I don't think that is it.

From what I can tell, the 7300 series sets went with the 206, 410, 820...etc while the 7400 series sets went with the Definity.

Maybe it was a 7604. It looked identical to a Merlin membrane set, in fact the buttons that would have normally been lines were speed dial buttons instead. Same dial, same handset, same everything else, just a single-line set. I'll have to get the specs on one of them.

I finally found it! It was an AT&T Touch-a-Matic 7104:

Ed
The one i,m thinking of looked like the left side of the set you posted,the black plastic part
and a molded metal stand.

I donated a bunch to the local Republican for
election calling a looong time ago.

Ken, are you talking about the very narrow ones where the dial was actually beneath the handset when it was in the cradle? I think that was the 7101. Is this what you mean?

AT&T made those in white and Brown?

Yep, and I still have a few of them. I used them behind a Panasonic system in my house as SLTs for years. I liked the look of them, but they weren't very graceful (one way speaker, etc.) and they ate batteries.

Nice!
You got two browns in stock?

No, maybe only one brown. I gave one to my father in law and he won't part with it, despite my efforts to get it back.

Thats it :banana: