[GreenKeys] Rotary telephone switches?

[Doug Alderdice]

While step-by-step and other electro-mechanical methods of telephone 
switching are long gone from the PSTN, there are quite a number of 
hobbyists/collectors/nut cases who have small, or in some cases quite 
large, step-by-step "central offices" in their homes ... not unlike 
these guys I know who have old Teletypes running in their homes, ;)

I happen to have a small SxS switch I built, but again there are a bunch 
of others who do, too, and some read this list.

Whatcha got in the tools?

Doug A.


On 11/26/2023 9:50 PM, Chuck Rehor wrote:
> Electromechanical Step-by-Step switches are not used in the telephone 
> system anywhere anymore. They have been replaced by electronic switching 
> systems like the ones we (Nokia, formerly AT&T/Lucent/Alcatel-Lucent) 
> design/manufacture/sell.
> 
> Your rotary phone still works on the telephone network because the 
> electronic switching system is backward-compatible with old rotary 
> telephones. They don’t need the old Step-by-Step switches to decode the 
> pulses produced by rotary phones.  We do it with software.
> 
> On Sun, Nov 26, 2023 at 8:33 PM E. <hanyou at xsmail.com 
> <mailto:hanyou at xsmail.com>> wrote:
> 
> 
>     I’m not sure if the switches are still used (pretty sure they
>     aren’t), but my telco still allows rotary over POTS… most of the
>     phones I use in my house are rotary Automatic Electrics.  Why? 
>     ‘Cause my telco was a former Independent Bell and not/still not part
>     of the Big Ma Bell network ;) .  Even still have callback!
> 
> 
>      > On Nov 26, 2023, at 8:13 PM, Roy Morgan <k1lky68 at gmail.com
>     <mailto:k1lky68 at gmail.com>> wrote:
>      >
>      > Is there anyone actually using the rotary telephone switches? I
>     have some tools that seem to be specific to those things.
>      >
>      > Roy
>      >
>      > Roy Morgan
>      > K1LKY Western Mass
>      > K1LKY68 at gmail.com <mailto:K1LKY68 at gmail.com>