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Originally Posted by Nickthedentist
Not much to be found except stuff like this:
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Multi-party ringing. A small and rapidly decreasing proportion of rural lines connected to the Telecom PSTN are multi-party and use a system of code ringing based on the morse code. This type of line is being progressively phased out by Telecom and replaced by individual lines.
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Anyone care to elaborate?
Thanks again,
Nick. |
The Morse code ringing cadences seems to have a long history in NZ and I presume the same cadences were used after automation.
http://www.awaruamuseum.co.nz/nzpo-e...telephone.html
Party Lines
Initially it was common for more than one customer (subscriber or 'sub') to share a telephone line, particularly in rural areas where for example, one phone line might provide service to all the farms in a valley. There was no privacy on such a line, as all users could hear every ring on the line and by lifting their handset could listen to any other phone call. A system of coded short and long rings was used to identify who a call was for. The shorter Morse Code letters were allocated first, however on 10 party lines the ring codes inevitably were longer. The ring codes used were A, D, M, R and S for a 5-party line. These were extended by using J, K, U, W and X for a 10 party line. Example ring codes for S, M and W were: S was three short rings; M was two long rings; and W was a short followed by two long rings.
Consideration for others was important. For instance, when first picking up the phone a user would say 'Working?' to see if the line was in use. They would limit the length of their call - say to 5 minutes on a line with many subscribers, then at the end of their call would crank their phone 'magneto' - the ring generator - to make a short ring burst on the line advising the operator and all other users that they were finished and the line was available.