Post Your Funnies, Any Funnies. I need to laugh!

[Andy Mink]

 

[Uncle-A]

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Looks like the old expression "a deer in the headlights"

 

[T-Square]

 

[Uncle-A]

Partner as in Bell bought a controlling share of WE which later morphed into being the hardware side

WECo was a wholly owned subsidiarie of AT&T and provided all the equipment for the Bell System.

 

[T-Square]

 

[T-Square]

 

[James]

.

In the late 80’s a friend and I built a device to ring a phone by pushing a button. He was involved with a play that had a phone ring on stage. You can’t just call it as the timing is way off. So they needed a box you could just plug a standard phone plug into.

He had an article from a stage craft magazine that laid it out. As I renember it’s a roughly 90-100V ac signal sent on the low voltage DC line. We had a devil of a time finding a particular chip in the schematic. Called everywhere, then eventually found in in a little dump of a place. It was like something out of Blade Runner. If we weren’t so desperate, we would’ve dismissed it on sight in it’s not so safe neighborhood.

We talked to the author of the article and mentioned the rare chip. He said it was common, should not be a problem. He then discovered the misprint in the number published in the article. No one had built it yet. You could adjust the length of the ring and spacing as I recall.

 

[Pat AKA mustski]

 

[Uncle-A]

Now you are showing your selective memory. The breakup was a disaster for a few years but things eventually shook out.

Remember back in the old days calling Grandma Sundays after 7 pm because that was when long distance was cheaper? Or going into Dad's work late at night to use the WATS line?

I seem to remember that the after 7:00 PM was only Monday to Friday and the weekend was all day and that was back when people still had party lines. The Bell System employed 1.5 million people nation wide, they had great benefits and good pay. Name a company in 1983 that could say the same.

 

[Uncle-A]

In the late 80’s a friend and I built a device to ring a phone by pushing a button. He was involved with a play that had a phone ring on stage. You can’t just call it as the timing is way off. So they needed a box you could just plug a standard phone plug into.

He had an article from a stage craft magazine that laid it out. As I renember it’s a roughly 90-100V ac signal sent on the low voltage DC line. We had a devil of a time finding a particular chip in the schematic. Called everywhere, then eventually found in in a little dump of a place. It was like something out of Blade Runner. If we weren’t so desperate, we would’ve dismissed it on sight in it’s not so safe neighborhood.

We talked to the author of the article and mentioned the rare chip. He said it was common, should not be a problem. He then discovered the misprint in the number published in the article. No one had built it yet. You could adjust the length of the ring and spacing as I recall.

I am not an electrical engineer but it should only take 48V to ring a phone. Why not just tape a phone ringing and play that back?

 

[oldschoolskier]

But I didn't start skiing until after I got out of HS.

Such a shelter life, where you wrapped in bubble wrap until you started skiing?

 

[oldschoolskier]

I am not an electrical engineer but it should only take 48V to ring a phone. Why not just tape a phone ringing and play that back?

Too easy, they have to make it authentic.

 

[Uncle-A]

Such a shelter life, where you wrapped in bubble wrap until you started skiing?

No, not wrapped in bubble wrap just a big nerd and still one pretty much.

 

[Lorenzzo]

I am not an electrical engineer but it should only take 48V to ring a phone. Why not just tape a phone ringing and play that back?

It was during the Milli Vanilli scandal.

 

[Pat AKA mustski]

I am not an electrical engineer but it should only take 48V to ring a phone. Why not just tape a phone ringing and play that back?

That is used in most community or amateur theater but in professional theater, sound engineers compile their own sound effects for authenticity as noted above. Sometimes, two sound effects are needed simultaneously, or overlapping l, so manual delivery of one solves a myriad of timing issues. Both doorbells and phone ringing are common overlaps in comedy. There are also issues with recorded sounds that have delays that can create a pause. In theater, silence has meaning and should not exist without purpose.

 

[Uncle-A]

That is used in most community or amateur theater but in professional theater, sound engineers compile their own sound effects for authenticity as noted above. Sometimes, two sound effects are needed simultaneously, or overlapping l, so manual delivery of one solves a myriad of timing issues. Both doorbells and phone ringing are common overlaps in comedy. There are also issues with recorded sounds that have delays that can create a pause. In theater, silence has meaning and should not exist without purpose.

But today it is so easy to do digitally, you don't even have to be professional. Back in the 80's it was only a little difficult.

 

[T-Square]

 

[James]

I am not an electrical engineer but it should only take 48V to ring a phone. Why not just tape a phone ringing and play that back?

Well doing that has it’s own issues. But that was the fall back. Still it was much more desirable to have the actual phone ring exactly when you pressed a button.

Pink Floyd’s Dark Side album was done with tape loops iirc. Physically spliced.

———————
In landline telephones, bells or ringtones are rung by impressing a 60 to 105-volt RMS 20-Hertz sine wave across the tip and ringconductors of the subscriber line, in series with the (typically) −48 VDC loop supply.[3] This signal is produced by a ringing generator at the central office.
——————

Ringing (telephony) - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[KingGrump]

 

[skibob]

View attachment 145150

Spiderman is really angry. Just look at that furrowed brow . . .