Telephone exchange tour?

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#981063 6-Feb-2014 00:03

Back to the primary question the OP asked. Can he get an Exchange visit. Yes/No. They dont really do them openly anymore. Its hard for me to get one..

nativecoloradan

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#981065 6-Feb-2014 00:49

TimA: Back to the primary question the OP asked. Can he get an Exchange visit. Yes/No. They dont really do them openly anymore. Its hard for me to get one..

To be honest I did work for ALU at the time, not sure if it's open to general public. I've visited BSNL in India and USWEST/Qwest in the US, I was employed either in the building or by the company itself.

old3eyes

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#981107 6-Feb-2014 09:36

PaulZA:
freitasm: I had a chance to go in a couple of those, including Sbiddle, who posted here (with photos): Telecom Exchange Tour.

Where are you located? Might find something for your friend.

Thanks Maurico, that would be great. If possible if you do find something, I would also like to go with if possible. We are located in Auckland. Henderson, Waitakere to be precise.

Go to MOTAT on a Tuesday morning as they run up the 7A Rotary system built about 1910 plus there is the smaller step stuff. Todays modern central office is about as interesting as a main frame computer..

Regards,

Old3eyes

freitasm

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#981111 6-Feb-2014 10:07

Ah, rotary systems. Worked many times around old analogue exchanges. The noise is something from other world.

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#981114 6-Feb-2014 10:18

old3eyes:

Go to MOTAT on a Tuesday morning as they run up the 7A Rotary system built about 1910 plus there is the smaller step stuff. Todays modern central office is about as interesting as a main frame computer..

Would have to agree, this was the point of my original post. I didn't know about MOTAT I wouldn't mind having a look at that myself. Is it every Tuesday morning? I'd hate to drive all the way from Hamilton to find it wasn't happening.

Paul, I see you live in the Auckland region, I would recommend the MOTAT option.

I don't have any Chorus or Alcatel Lucent contacts in Auckland but I"m pretty sure I could find someone who could get you through an exchange here in Hamilton if you really want to see through a modern exchange. Let me know.

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#981117 6-Feb-2014 10:36

freitasm: Ah, rotary systems. Worked many times around old analogue exchanges. The noise is something from other world.

It sure is. My main analogue experience was with Step. Visitors would come into the exchange and say how do you put up with this noise, we would say what noise. Even though there was a constant background clatter of switches, stepping and driving, you could pick out the sound of a faulty switch at 50 paces.

What I found almost eerie was going back in the middle of the night to fix a fault, there would be almost absolute silence (compared to the day time) as there was virtually no calls being made. The only noise would be the tick tock of the master clock, which had a pendulum about a metre long, the whirr of the ringing and tone generators and the ticking of the timing relays. The silence was almost deafening. Then the silence would be shattered and you could be startled by the dialing process of a solitary phone call.

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#981120 6-Feb-2014 11:01

All the hamilton exchanges are pretty boring rbh .. Memorial drve in auckland is best tbh

LennonNZ

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#981130 6-Feb-2014 11:14

Mayoral Drive /Airedale Exchange would be a lot more interesting. Pulling stuff out of buildings is expensive and because of this there is some pretty old (and still working) equipment in them.

I got a look around a while ago and I didn't know that there was so many different ways of connecting copper and fibre together. One section may use a certain standard.. next part used a different standard.. etc. It is amazing how often Telecom Standardised to different methods.

I'm pretty sure there isn't many people around who actually understand it all.

Then there is the actual equipment which terminates X25/DDS etc technologies..looks so dated and large and lots of blinking lights.. These days equipment is so small and they removed all those LEDS which blinked just because they could.

And of course there is the much newer stuff there as well but thats boring.

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#981139 6-Feb-2014 11:48

Cbfd: All the hamilton exchanges are pretty boring rbh .. Memorial drve in auckland is best tbh

I would say all the modern Central Offices would be as boring as each other, unless as LennonNZ suggests there is still some old gear sitting around in some places. This is quite likely as the floor space requirement for new solid state exchanges is a fraction of the old electromechanical stuff. They very often don't need the space where the old gear was located. Whether or not the old gear is still operational is another thing.

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old3eyes

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#981171 6-Feb-2014 12:43

freitasm: Ah, rotary systems. Worked many times around old analogue exchanges. The noise is something from other world.

Real Central office 7A2
7A2 central office working.

Regards,

Old3eyes

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#981186 6-Feb-2014 13:17

This gives me an idea,

MOTAT visit??

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#981208 6-Feb-2014 13:49

freitasm: Ah, rotary systems. Worked many times around old analogue exchanges. The noise is something from other world.

Likewise. The memories. Twenty years ago but I can still hear it quite clearly.

Cbfd

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#981228 6-Feb-2014 14:23

All the old gear has been taken out from
Most of the exchanges - htc would prob has a few old bits in it - old 025 network equpment etc

Jaxar

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#981264 6-Feb-2014 15:16

Marol Drive Aierdale street exchanges are very cool. I was particularly impressed by the battery room.

Having said that the fibre tour Chorus has is even cooler.

Please note: I have a professional bias towards Vodafone.

pjamieson

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#1028118 20-Apr-2014 12:42

The guy who sits next to me does tours for our new recruits, plus others do tours for RSP's. I'll see what's possible, although probably not next week due to the short week.

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