Looking for info on this test phone

[Henmond]

Hi there, does anyone have any info on this phone. It must be some kind of test equipment, but my searches couldn't find anything similar.
Any help is greatly appreciated.

[Aub]

I remember something similar, in a black rubber housing, that post office engineers used. They used to call them a butt phone, or butinski as I heard one engineer call it once.

Cheers

Aub

[Dave Moll]

It has a 700-series look about it in the same way that mine below has a 300-series look about it. I never quite tracked down the details of mine, but the balance of opinion was that it was of Australian origin. Maybe yours is a later version from the same (or similar) source.

edit: I should add that Aub is describing the GPO tele. 280.

[McMurdo]

obviously made for the new zealand system as it has reverse dial numbering

[Graham G3ZVT]

They are called butt phones, presumably because they hang from the linesmans tool belt and are a pain in the butt ()

[Dave Moll]

Originally Posted by McMurdo

obviously made for the new zealand system as it has reverse dial numbering

Or at the very least, the dial is.

[Tim]

When the outer sheath is stripped from a telecoms cable to expose the “ pairs”, it is known as the butt. “. “120m dis to the butt” would mean I can see a disconnection measuring 120m to the end of this length of cable. The engineers test phone was used to “prove” dial tone from the exchange at the end of cables, hence it was( and still is) referred to as a butt phone.

[Graham G3ZVT]

That's a fascinating explanation Tim, and sounds far more plausible and GPO acceptable than mine.
I suppose the word is used because the wires are ready to be butt-joined.

[Tim]

I suppose the word is used because the wires are ready to be butt-joined.

That I wouldn’t know. Of course the Phrase” Who’s pinched my butt” always raises a laugh.

[2000 type]

In auto exchanges, the Tele 280 was called a Butt as a contraction of Buttinski, a humourous adaptation of "Butting in" to a circuit.

For the TOs working in gangways of selector racks it was the fashion to carry the 280 on one shoulder, leaving the hands free but the phone immediately available, which earned it the local name of a Parrot.

In the late 1970s the Tele 280s were replaced en-masse because even in monitoring mode (red button out, transmitter disconnected) the resistance applied across a circuit you plugged into was low enough to corrrupt data calls which were a gowing new use on the old PSTN.

[Tim]

I have a “ parrot” somewhere. It’s a long time since I have heard that reference. It’s the old rubber one isn’t it?

[Henmond]

I've cracked it open, and will add more pictures later.

[Henmond]

If someone maybe might be able to work out a schematic, or a way to hook it up here are a whole lot of pictures

[Dave Moll]

As to connecting it up, referring to the images in the original post, I would use the alligator clips to connect white to A leg and red to B leg of a telephone line. You can probably ignore the green wire.

Without tracing out the wiring in detail, it looks as though the rocker switch should make a loop and enable it to dial out or answer an incoming call in one position and in the other an incoming call should result in a burring sound from the receiver, or any sound on the line can be monitored without making a loop.

Pressing the red button appears to connect one side of the line to the green wire, making an earth recall if the green wire is connected to earth. In normal circumstances, this can be ignored as it is only used with a PABX providing this function.

edit: I should add that the NZ origin is positively confirmed on the track side of the circuit board.

[Henmond]

Thanks for the help Dave. I do wonder if it is perhaps a New Zealand only device.

[Dave Moll]

It may only have been produced there, but it should work elsewhere, though dialling numbers containing digits other than 5 and 0 would require some recalculation unless a non-NZ dial were substituted - or something like a suitably-configured Dialgizmo were interposed between the 'phone and the line.

[Henmond]

Originally Posted by Dave Moll

It may only have been produced there, but it should work elsewhere, though dialling numbers containing digits other than 5 and 0 would require some recalculation unless a non-NZ dial were substituted - or something like a suitably-configured Dialgizmo were interposed between the 'phone and the line.

I do live in NZ, so I already have a dialgizmo for my other phones

[Dave Moll]

Have you had any success with this yet?

[Henmond]

Originally Posted by Dave Moll

Have you had any success with this yet?

Yes, when I connected it up with the alligator clips everything seemed to work fine, the red position on the switch seems to be the off hook position, and the blank position seems to be on hook. When called the reciever does make a wonderful chirping noise, and the phone dials out just like any other.

[Dave Moll]

Glad you have it sorted.