Trying to figure out how to use a rotary phone.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle...iven-four-minutes-to-make-one-call/ar-BBS3IkS
https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle...iven-four-minutes-to-make-one-call/ar-BBS3IkS
Funny stuff. But, they could easily make fun of us for not quite understanding how all of today’s techno-gizmos work, that are second nature to them.
My older brother made fun of me for hooking up rabbit ears to our parents' TV. Real cutting edge stuff there, he said. Plenty of folks who remember TV antennas think they are a relic of the past and have no idea you can get such nice HD reception on themThat's funny!
Kinda like some "Youngins" today asking about using an OTA TV antenna: "You mean that is legal?"
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In a lab at work, I saw the old electro-mechanical equipment that decoded those dial on/off pulses from the dial phones, to route the connection. It suddenly clicks (hah!) on how it all works, because you can actually see it work. ...
-ERD50
In a lab at work, I saw the old electro-mechanical equipment that decoded those dial on/off pulses from the dial phones, to route the connection. It suddenly clicks (hah!) on how it all works, because you can actually see it work. Taking the phone off-hook resets the counter, each of those pulses for each digit advances a wheel with a switch on it to connect to circuits 0-9, and the pause between digits advances it to the next wheel/switch. So by the time you are done dialing 7 digits, you've advanced 7 wheels by the number of clicks of each digit. It was fascinating to watch. Back then an Area Code had a middle 0 or 1, an exchange never did, so the system could tell local versus outside area.
-ERD50
Did you all know that you can still use a dial phone on a landline? It works, but you can't do any numbers once connected.
The rotary dial actually causes a quick interruption, a "pulse" that is less in length than a fully hung up handset. What a clever way to dial!
DW used to be a wiz at winning dial-in radio contests. Here was her trick: instead of using the rotary dial, she used the handset hook to quickly interrupt the connection for the numbers in the radio phone number. Yes, she would flick the hook in fast succession to dial a number. In this way, she didn't have to wait for the dial to return. She would get in faster than others, at least others who did not have touch tone. Back in the 70s, most didn't since you had to pay for touch tone service.
She demonstrated this skill to me. She could pretty much dial any number, faster than using the dial, simply by pulsing the hook or button!
Guess what, it still works today for backward compatibility. However, with 11 digit dialing pretty much a standard now, very few people have patience for pulse dialing.
I think the radio station's numbers were mostly 5 and below. That helps.Holy cow, that's pretty tricky timing. I'd imagine the system would respond much quicker than the standard timing of the dial, but it sure would take practice to get a number w/o error. I guess I'l practice tomorrow for yuks, I don't think I have any dial phones, but I do have some non-electronic ones with a hook switch.
Funny stuff. But, they could easily make fun of us for not quite understanding how all of today’s techno-gizmos work, that are second nature to them.
Peering into the cabin of a Ford Model T can be deceptive. It all looks so simple. A steering wheel, three pedals on the floor, a hand brake...there aren't even any gauges on the wooden dash. At first glance, it seems like this car would be easy to just hop in and drive. But oh, would you be wrong...
Here you go! History.
Demo is from the ~2:00 to ~ 5:00 minute mark.
-ERD50
Hey I accept and revel in my "not knowing". I tell my minions all the time, that is why I continue to feed them, cheap tech support
Do you know how to drive a horse and buggy?I know how to start and drive a model T. my father had a 1917 model T touring car he restored. I had to get it back to running condition to help my mother sell it. As crude as a model T is nowadays, they were substantial improvement over a horse and buggy.