roy@alanine.phri.nyu.edu (Roy Smith) (07/07/90)
When were the first touchtone phones installed? I always thought the answer was that were introduced at the 1964/65 New York World's Fair. The fair opened in the summer of 64, so those were probably installed in late 63 or early 64. However, I recently watched a documentary about the desegregation of the University of Alabama (the incident in which Governor George Wallace vowed to "stand in the schoolhouse door" to prevent two black students from registering for classes) which proves me wrong on that theory. A touch-tone phone was clearly visible in President Kennedy's oval office in numerious bits of footage shot at the time. The year was 1963 and the students were trying to register for the summer session, so I would put the date at about May or June 1963. The phone that Kennedy used most of the time was a multi-line key set with a rotary dial (looked like about 25 lines) and a speakerphone attachment. Sitting on the table behind his chair were about 3 or 4 single line desk sets, one touch-tone, the rest rotary. Was touch-tone in general use in May 1963, or did the President just have a pre-release model? Another bit of interesting telecom related trivia was a shot of the US Deputy Attourny General (I forget his name) on location at the U of A wanting to place a private phone call to JFK to discuss tactics as the situation developed. You see him getting into his car and asking (telling, really) the press to get back so he can have some privacy. Then you see another shot of him, sitting in the car, talking on the phone. You clearly hear him saying something like "OK, they can't hear me now", and clearly hear JFK's voice responding! This is all real on-location footage, not some recreation. It's not clear if the phone line was tapped, there was a bug in the car, some sound man had a good parabolic mike, or if some reporter had simply slipped a mike into the car window without the DAG noticing.
johns@scroff.uk.sun.com (John Slater) (07/09/90)
In article <9482@accuvax.nwu.edu>, roy@alanine.phri.nyu.edu (Roy Smith) writes: >Sitting on the table behind his chair were >about 3 or 4 single line desk sets, one touch-tone, the rest rotary. Er, shouldn't that be "one push-button, the rest rotary"? Unless you heard the tones when JFK made a call, it could just be a pulse-dialler. In the UK, push-button pulse-dialling phones have been around for years, long before touch-tone came along. John Slater Sun Microsystems UK, Gatwick Office
Clive Feather <clive@ixi-limited.co.uk> (07/10/90)
In vol 10 issue 468 roy@alanine.phri.nyu.edu (Roy Smith) says: > When were the first touchtone phones installed? > A touch-tone phone was clearly visible in President Kennedy's oval > office > Sitting on the table behind his chair were > about 3 or 4 single line desk sets, one touch-tone, the rest rotary. > Was touch-tone in general use in May 1963, or did the President just > have a pre-release model? I presume it had buttons. Why assume it was touch-tone ? The UK had push-button pulse dial phones for a *long* time before DTMF signalling arrived (I don't recall hearing of DTMF in the UK before 1986, while push button phones were around in the early 70's. Anyone remember the Trimphone ?). Clive D.W. Feather | IXI Limited clive@x.co.uk [x, not ixi] | 62-74 Burleigh St. ...!uunet!ixi!clive | Cambridge CB1 1OJ Phone: +44 223 462 131 | United Kingdom
Jim Budler <jimb@silvlis.com> (07/11/90)
In article <9533@accuvax.nwu.edu> John Slater <johns@scroff.uk. sun.com> writes: X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 470, Message 5 of 10 >In article <9482@accuvax.nwu.edu>, roy@alanine.phri.nyu.edu (Roy >Smith) writes: >>Sitting on the table behind his chair were >>about 3 or 4 single line desk sets, one touch-tone, the rest rotary. >Er, shouldn't that be "one push-button, the rest rotary"? Unless you It was probably a Department of Defense phone. These phones looked like touch-tone, made noises *similar* to touch-tone, but were on the private DOD Autovon network. They were not pulse dialers. To my uneducated ear they were DTMF, but they were definately tone dialers. They had four extra keys for setting call priority. We had a similar setup to the one described for JFK at a radar site i.e. 'normal' phones, dial at that time, and in certain command centers, commanders offices, communications centers, etc. an additional Autovon phone, as described. Jim Budler jimb@silvlis.com +1.408.991.6061 Silvar-Lisco, Inc. 703 E. Evelyn Ave. Sunnyvale, Ca. 94086
julian@bongo.uucp (Julian Macassey) (07/11/90)
In article <9533@accuvax.nwu.edu>, johns@scroff.uk.sun.com (John Slater) writes: > In article <9482@accuvax.nwu.edu>, roy@alanine.phri.nyu.edu (Roy > Smith) writes: > >Sitting on the table behind his chair were > >about 3 or 4 single line desk sets, one touch-tone, the rest rotary. > Er, shouldn't that be "one push-button, the rest rotary"? Unless you > heard the tones when JFK made a call, it could just be a > pulse-dialler. In the UK, push-button pulse-dialling phones have been > around for years, long before touch-tone came along. No, it shouldn't. Because the Brit public was exposed to nasty "Push-to-Pulse" phones before touch-tone does not mean that is the history of the technology. From a UK perspective, I had a Plessey touch-tone phone in 1979-80. It now resides in the Macassey garage and junk store alongside a push-to-pulse "warble-phone". In the UK, touch-tone has been available on TXE-4, System-X and AXE-10 exchanges. On the TXE-4 exchange you have to ask them to turn it on. Yes dear U.S. readers, it's free. British Telecom has not promoted touch-tone in the U.K. Many U.K. residents seeing touch-tone phones on TV have assumed they were push-to-pulse. A couple of years ago my brother in law wandered into the Canterbury British Telecom phone store and asked to buy a touch-tone or "MF" phone. The assistant was not sure what he wanted so called a technician. He told my brother in law that touch-tone was "Not available, and doesn't work here." I send him touch-tone phones from the US that work just fine on his TXE-4 exchange. Anyhow, touch-tone in the U.S. The early push-button phones in the U.S. were all touch-tone. The early dials had only 10 buttons - no * and #. They produced tones with "plucked reeds". I have never examined one of these, just seen pictures, they must have been mechanical nightmares. Later versions used LC oscillators using a transistor and pot core coils. These dials had several contacts for muting, row and column etc. The latest dials use an IC and a color TV crystal (3.58 Mhz) as the frequency element. The IC dials have fewer switch contacts (one set per digit) than the old dials so are cheaper to manufacture. The push-to-pulse dials are also based on ICs. They usually have a strapping option for make/break ratio and most will do a "Last Number Redial". This is usually done by pushing the * key which of course represents nothing in the pulse world. The push-to-pulse dial as I recall came into use in the early eighties, twenty years after touch-tone. Push-to-pulse has caused much confusion, with people thinking it is touch tone etc. Only a cynic would say that it was intended to confuse. One of the reasons that all the junk far east phones were push-to-pulse was that is what they understood and could test on their phone lines. It is actually cheaper to make an IC touch-tone dial than a push-to-pulse jobbie. > Sun Microsystems UK, Gatwick Office ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ When I lived a few miles from here (Leigh) we had a manual exchange as did Redhill, the big town up the road. This was in the early sixties when they had touch-tone in the U.S. Julian Macassey, n6are julian@bongo.info.com ucla-an!denwa!bongo!julian N6ARE@K6IYK (Packet Radio) n6are.ampr.org [44.16.0.81] voice (213) 653-4495
cmoore@brl.mil (VLD/VMB) (07/11/90)
My parents recently got a pushbutton phone which is on a non-touch- tone line. The phone has a switch for pulse or tone, and you must call using pulse (attempting to use tone will not break the dial tone), but you can then switch to tone for subsequent touch-tone inputs (including the self service credit-card-number entry).
martin@bellcore.bellcore.com (Martin Harriss) (07/11/90)
In article <9570@accuvax.nwu.edu> clive@ixi-limited.co.uk (Clive Feather) writes: >The UK had push-button pulse dial phones for a *long* time before >DTMF signalling arrived. >Anyone remember the Trimphone ? Unfortunately, I do. They were horrid things. The Trimphone was the PO's attempt to give customers something other than the run of the mill 700 type telephone. Trimphones did, in fact, have rotary dials when they were first introduced, sometime in the late 60's. It was sometime later when the push button pulse dial models came out. We had a trimphone put in when we moved in '68. In those days the PO owned the phones. It had a "modern" look and the dial was luminous so you could find it in the dark. The main problem was that the mic was stuck up near the top of the handset. You spoke into the mouthpiece, and your voice travelled up the inside of the handset to the mic. Having your voice sent up a hollow tube in this fashion was probably not good, but even worse was the fact that in this particular orientation the carbon granules(!) in the mic would stick in a particular way that made it sound like you had a perpetual cold. Banging the handset periodically would help, but not for long. When we eventually figured out what was wrong, we had the unit swapped for a new one, and it was ok for a while. I found that the mic in the new unit was quite sensitive at 2280Hz. Martin Harriss martin@cellar.bae.bellcore.com
bobk@ncar.ucar.edu (Robert Kinne) (07/12/90)
In article <9569@accuvax.nwu.edu> Jim Budler <jimb@silvlis.com> writes: >It was probably a Department of Defense phone. These phones looked >like touch-tone, made noises *similar* to touch-tone, but were on the >private DOD Autovon network. They were not pulse dialers. To my >uneducated ear they were DTMF, but they were definately tone dialers. >They had four extra keys for setting call priority. We had a similar Autovon phones had (have still, as far as I know) a 4x4 key matrix instead of the 4x3 on conventional DTMF. Used in normal mode, Autovon phones have the same sets of frequencies that normal DTMF uses. The fourth column provides four levels of priority, and uses an additional tone making four new DTMF combinations. If memory serves, Autovon was linked to the public network, but also had dedicated private trunks to be used for priority calls. All of this may be out of date, since my information is a few years old.
tep@tots.logicon.com (Tom Perrine) (07/13/90)
AT&T's latest ad for their FAX machines shows a "family tree". The
picture of the Touch Tone (tm) phone is dated 1964.
Tom Perrine (tep) |Internet: tep@tots.Logicon.COM
Logicon |UUCP: nosc!hamachi!tots!tep
Tactical and Training Systems Division |-or- sun!suntan!tots!tep
San Diego CA |GENIE: T.PERRINE
|+1 619 455 1330marking@uunet.uu.net> (07/13/90)
jimb@silvlis.com (Jim Budler) writes: ) In article <9533@accuvax.nwu.edu> John Slater <johns@scroff.uk. ) sun.com> writes: ) >In article <9482@accuvax.nwu.edu>, roy@alanine.phri.nyu.edu (Roy ) >Smith) writes: (don't you love this...?) ) >>Sitting on the table behind his chair were ) >>about 3 or 4 single line desk sets, one touch-tone, the rest rotary. ) It was probably a Department of Defense phone. These phones looked ) like touch-tone, made noises *similar* to touch-tone, but were on the ) private DOD Autovon network. They were not pulse dialers. To my ) uneducated ear they were DTMF, but they were definately tone dialers. ) They had four extra keys for setting call priority.... Each of the buttons makes two tones, one based on row and one based on column, selected so as not to be harmonics of each other. (Hence *Dual* Tone Multi Frequency.) The frequencies are: 1209 1336 1477 1653 Hz 697 Hz 1 2 3 A 770 Hz 4 5 6 B 852 Hz 7 8 9 C 941 Hz * 0 # D Most phones don't use the last column, but CCITT defines it.
rlg@uunet.uu.net (Randy Gregor) (07/16/90)
In article <9618@accuvax.nwu.edu>, boulder!boulder!bobk@ncar.ucar.edu (Robert Kinne) writes: > Autovon phones had (have still, as far as I know) a 4x4 key matrix > instead of the 4x3 on conventional DTMF. And in article <9706@accuvax.nwu.edu>, drivax!marking@uunet.uu.net (M.Marking) writes: > Each of the buttons makes two tones, one based on row and one based on > column, selected so as not to be harmonics of each other. (Hence > *Dual* Tone Multi Frequency.) The frequencies are: > 1209 1336 1477 1653 Hz > 697 Hz 1 2 3 A > 770 Hz 4 5 6 B > 852 Hz 7 8 9 C > 941 Hz * 0 # D > > Most phones don't use the last column, but CCITT defines it. Many of the commercial DTMF generator chips have (or at least did have) the extended fourth column capability - it's just not used much (if at all) in consumer applications. I have a phone manufactured in 1979 with a Mostek MK5092N tone generator (same as National Semiconductor TP5092). To get the column four tones, I added a SPDT switch to select between pins 5 and 9, thus toggling the third physical keypad column between "normal" column 3 tones (1477 Hz) and extended column 4 tones (1633 Hz, according to National's Linear Data Book). Randy Gregor uunet!paralogics!compsm!rlg +1 213 477 4338 Computersmith Box 25d Los Angeles, CA 90025
Maynard) (07/16/90)
In article <9706@accuvax.nwu.edu> drivax!marking@uunet.uu.net writes: >) It was probably a Department of Defense phone. These phones looked >) like touch-tone, made noises *similar* to touch-tone, but were on the >) private DOD Autovon network. >Each of the buttons makes two tones, one based on row and one based on >column, selected so as not to be harmonics of each other. (Hence >*Dual* Tone Multi Frequency.) The frequencies are: > 1209 1336 1477 1653 Hz > 697 Hz 1 2 3 A > 770 Hz 4 5 6 B > 852 Hz 7 8 9 C > 941 Hz * 0 # D >Most phones don't use the last column, but CCITT defines it. You'll find that almost all amateur radio DTMF keypads have the fourth column in place; those tones are extensively used for remote control purposes on amateur VHF/UHF-FM. The DOD keypads did use the standard CCITT DTMF tones. I know of several hams who have surplus four-column DOD keypads, and use them interchangeably with the regular kind. They're nice, too, being backlit and easy to see in the dark. The fourth column is labeled Fo/F/I/P instead of A/B/C/D, for Flash Override, Flash, Immediate, and Priority. Instead of * and #, it has a five-pointed star (general priority? :-) and A (no idea what this one's for). Jay Maynard, EMT-P, K5ZC, PP-ASEL jay@splut.conmicro.com
tad@beaver.cs.washington.edu> (07/23/90)
In article <9706@accuvax.nwu.edu>, drivax!marking@uunet.uu.net (M.Marking) writes: > *Dual* Tone Multi Frequency.) The frequencies are: > > 1209 1336 1477 1653 Hz ^^^^WRONG! Actually, the fourth column tone is 1633 Hz.
marking@uunet.uu.net (M.Marking) (07/24/90)
ssc!tad@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Tad Cook) writes: ) In article <9706@accuvax.nwu.edu>, drivax!marking@uunet.uu.net ) (M.Marking) writes: ) > *Dual* Tone Multi Frequency.) The frequencies are: ) > ) > 1209 1336 1477 1653 Hz ) ^^^^WRONG! ) Actually, the fourth column tone is 1633 Hz. You seem to be right. My reference was page 88 of "Telecommunications Switching" by J. Gordon Pearce, Plenum Press, 1981. It seems I reached for the wrong reference first. 1633 Hz is the choice of: den Heijer and Tolsma, Data Communications, Glentop, 1986 Martin, Introduction to Teleprocessing, Prentice-Hall, 1972 Signetics, TEA1046 data sheet, 1985 Unfortunately, I don't have a copy of the Standard. So 1633 Hz wins over 1653 Hz by 3 to 1. I offer my apologies.
tad@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Tad Cook) (07/31/90)
In article <10035@accuvax.nwu.edu>, drivax!marking@uunet.uu.net (M.Marking) writes: > ssc!tad@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Tad Cook) writes: > ) In article <9706@accuvax.nwu.edu>, drivax!marking@uunet.uu.net > ) (M.Marking) writes: > ) > *Dual* Tone Multi Frequency.) The frequencies are: > ) > > ) > 1209 1336 1477 1653 Hz > ) ^^^^WRONG! > ) Actually, the fourth column tone is 1633 Hz. > You seem to be right. It seems I reached for the wrong reference > first. 1633 Hz is the choice of: (lists three references) These typos are common throughout the technical references. Another one that is frequently misstated is 1477 Hz, which is often misprinted as 1447 Hz. I think REFERENCE DATA FOR RADIO ENGINEERS had that one a few years ago, and other folks spread it from there. Tad Cook Seattle, WA Packet: KT7H @ N7HFZ.WA.USA.NA Phone: 206/527-4089 MCI Mail: 3288544 telex: 6503288544 MCI UW USENET:...uw-beaver!sumax!amc-gw!ssc!tad or, tad@ssc.UUCP