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Hi gang :)
This is not a question thread, rather something I just had to share.
I wonder how many ex- telephone technicians ( like myself) are out there that remember the old "step-by-step" exchanges ?
Here's an AT&T video on how those old systems worked...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=xZePwin92cI&feature=endscreen
During the 1980's I even had a couple of different model step by step units operating at home. They were PABX (Private Automatic Branch eXchange) units used in businesses. One was a 7 external line and 35 extension unit, the other a 5 line 20 extension unit
The town I lived in/near at that time had a telephone exchange that service some 10 to 12,000 customers. The techs would start cleaning the step by step gear in the racks at one end of the building and finish ~ 6 months later by which time it was time to start the process all over again.
The exchange went digitial in the early 1990's ... some new fangled NEC stuff ;)
As said earlier ... no questions ... just a thread for any discussion and reminiscing :)
cheers
Dave
This is not a question thread, rather something I just had to share.
I wonder how many ex- telephone technicians ( like myself) are out there that remember the old "step-by-step" exchanges ?
Here's an AT&T video on how those old systems worked...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=xZePwin92cI&feature=endscreen
During the 1980's I even had a couple of different model step by step units operating at home. They were PABX (Private Automatic Branch eXchange) units used in businesses. One was a 7 external line and 35 extension unit, the other a 5 line 20 extension unit
The town I lived in/near at that time had a telephone exchange that service some 10 to 12,000 customers. The techs would start cleaning the step by step gear in the racks at one end of the building and finish ~ 6 months later by which time it was time to start the process all over again.
The exchange went digitial in the early 1990's ... some new fangled NEC stuff ;)
As said earlier ... no questions ... just a thread for any discussion and reminiscing :)
cheers
Dave