RE: Since the list is so quiet....

Actually the circuitry of the phone company does the decoding. The rotary
phone does not convert the dialed number into dial tone. It simply breaks
the line on and off, and the phone company counts the number of ons and offs
and decode the number (The phone company added this intelligence in their
system when they convert all lines to dial-tone decades ago because there
were still many rotary phones around).

Here is one fun thing that you can try. Whether you use a dial-tone phone or
a rotary phone, you can simulate a rotary dial by pulsing the connection. I
don't know it is called, but there is a knob that is raised when you pick up
the phone and which you can terminate a call by pushing it down. If you
pulse that knob according to the number you want to dial, it will make the
connection.

That is, if you want to dial (248) 563-xxxx, for example, you can quickly
pulse the line 2 times, pause for a second or so, then pulse it 4 times,
pause, pulse it 8 times, pause, and so on and so forth. You can complete a
phone call that way.

Try it. It is fun. It is cool, and it works!

Dave

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ryuji Suzuki [mailto:rs@silvergrain.org]
> Sent: Thursday, August 10, 2006 1:15 AM
> To: alt-photo-process-l@usask.ca
> Subject: Re: Since the list is so quiet....
>
> From: Sandy King <sanking@clemson.edu>
> Subject: Re: Since the list is so quiet....
> Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2006 00:57:29 -0400
>
> > My suggestion is junk the old rotary phone.
>
> Don't junk it. If it's a classic phone, I want it (So do many).
>
> Like old cameras, old telephone sets are fixable and it
> should keep working to the day no one remembers the day when
> telephone was wired to the wall, and all the way to the
> person you are calling. Of course, I may have to decode dial
> pulses and re-encode in DTMF, or even to make a device to
> interface to a cell phone or computer for skype.
>
>
Received on 08/09/06-11:29:41 PM Z