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Old 11th Jun 2021, 9:09 am   #11
Dave Moll
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Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: West Cumbria (CA13), UK
Posts: 6,118
Default Re: "Duck" telephone

Quote:
Originally Posted by hamid_1 View Post
From what I remember of the Duck phone, its eyes light up and it makes a "quack-quack" sound when it rings.
This is indeed the case. These functions are in working order. The eyes also glow when a loop is made (and therefore flash during loop-disconnect dialling). Both LD and DTMF dialling work correctly.

Quote:
Originally Posted by hamid_1 View Post
Bad soldering and even wrong components fitted were some of the faults I came across, as well as faulty dialler ICs. Also, these phones sometimes get dropped on the floor, resulting in cracked print on the PCB or dry joints opening up. The hook switch was another thing that could go faulty.
Having removed the single screw holding down the circuit board, a visual inspection of the soldering reveals nothing untoward, but something is clearly making a bad connection, as moving the circuit board around can cause intermittent increase of the buzz by several decibels. It appears that closer inspection of the wiring is needed.

Quote:
Originally Posted by hamid_1 View Post
They weren't the most reliable things even when new; they were essentially throwaway novelties. If all else fails, keep it as a display piece. You may get another one with a different fault and be able to make one good one out of two.
I do in fact already have the larger two-piece version (in full working order), but had not come across this one-piece type before, and felt it would make a nice companion. Apologies for the camera shake on the picture of the handset - even on the second take!
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