I have an old rotary phone that I have finally hooked up. I was amazed that a call went through via rotary dialing in the year 2012!
Everything works, except that when I talk I can’t be heard on the other end. Any idears on how to fix that?
Here’s what the phone looks like, for you young’uns-
Simplest thing first - is the mic actually in the thing? Unscrew the cap at the speaking end of the handset, and you should find a carbon microphone held against the contacts by the cap. If it’s there, is it working?
First guess: Unscrew the cover of the mouthpiece. There should be a separate piece on top of two metal tabs. This is the microphone. If you only see the metal tabs it’s missing.
The phone system has to be backwards compatible. I bought an old timey phone off ebay years ago as a gift for a friend’s antique kitchen. The phone was an original, literally 100+ years old, and when I plugged it in it worked fine!
I mean when I plugged it into the phone jack it worked fine as a phone on today’s phone system…
Check the wires, if memory serves, the green and red ones do the magic. The black and yellow ones do…something.
Actually, in a POTS system, you don’t even need a phone to “dial” a number. If you disconnect and connect in roughly the same sequence as a rotary phone does with just bare wires, you can make a phone call. If the called party picks up, you’re gonna need a mic, tho.
Isn’t it amazing that 130yo technology is still in use! Talk about your backwards compatible; I can’t even get Windows 7 to run some XP programs.
if there is a microphone then rub the contacts in the handset and the microphone so that you see shinier metal.
Next, take the cover off and check all the connections, and check that all the handset wires have continuity from one end to the other. Here’s a 500-set diagram so you can be sure all the wires are connected to the right screws.
I was a bit of a phone phreak as a youngster. It was my first encounter with sweet engineering, where things had been carefully designed to work reliably over long periods of time and also to be easy to repair with simple tools.
also make sure the spring contacts in the handset are touching the microphone snuggly, you may have to bend gently and slightly.
Speak louder.
I have an old Rotary wall phone in the kitchen. It is one I got from Ebay for nostalgia. Its identical to the one my parents had in their kitchen when I was in junior high and high school.
As others said, they work great on todays phone lines. The only issue is any automated phone menu systems that what you to press buttons. My dentist recently robo called to confirm my appointment and I needed to press “1” to confirm. I had to run to my primary phone and do that.
I primarily use the rotary phone for fun. My primary phone is a modern wireless with two hand sets.
I’ll add another thing to remember about the old rotary phones, in particular the desk-top model (as shown in the OP’s linked photo): They were heavy enough (the older ones anyway) that they would sit where you put them. Newer phones tend to be lightweight enough that if you move far enough away to stretch out the curly cord even slightly, they will fall off the desk. I always wondered if the “engineers” who designed that ever actually used one.
I kinda wish I still had my rotary phone. I don’t even remember exactly when (or why) I got rid of it, except that it was well late into the era when they were already anachronisms.
ETA: OP, perhaps clarify your complaint: When you talk, can the other end not hear anything at all, or can they hear you only faintly?
The **red **and **green **are used for line one (or the only ones used on a single line jack), black and yellow are used for line two if you have a two line jack. The red and green (or black & yellow) only need to be the right polarity for the phone’s ringer to work, it will work perfectly normal otherwise. Sometimes I’d deliberately hook one up backwards if I didn’t want to hear it ring (like an extension close to other phones).
Regarding that old phone I bought, it was like the ones you saw in Little House on the Prairie with the wall mounted horn you spoke into and the separate hand piece you held to your ear. When I got it its guts were all in pieces so I just figured I’d take on old rotary apart and put its guts into it. Turns out those old rotaries are built like tanks and there was no way to take one apart without destroying it! Fortunately there was a diagram on the inside of the old phone and all the parts turned out to still be there. I connected them all, plugged it in, lifted the handset, and heard a dial tone!
One thing: You don’t want to be touching the bare wires when the phone rings! Although the amps are way too low to be harmful it does put out about 90VAC when ringing, which is an unpleasant jolt!
What amazes me is that many phone companies have the gall to charge extra for Touch Tone Dialing.
It probably costs them more to maintain the system for pulse dialing which is necessary because many alarm systems still use it.
I’m surprised nobody’s mentioned checking the receiver cord and its onnections. No need looking at the red/green wires that connect the phone to the line as we already know it gets dial tone, dials out and presumably rings.
I just checked on a phone next to me, and the red and black wires are what you’d want to focus on.
As long as we’re talking about old phones,if you’ve got a touch-tone phone that won’t dial, try reversing the line (red/green) wires. Some of the early TT phones are polarity-sensitive.
Former BellSouth tech here. The problem isn’t going to be in the jack wiring. The other posters are correct on the color combo of the wiring, but that isn’t going to make a difference if you can be heard or not. The problem is most likely in what has already been mentioned:
a: Check the mike and make sure it is installed. Unscrew the mouthpiece and the mike will be a black circular piece. It just sets in the handset and there are two metal tabs that make the connection. Make sure the tabs are there and are not corroded. It is possible that the mike itself is bad, in that case you will need to find one from another phone.
b: The “coil” cord from the handset to the base might be bad. This will be an easy check. Just take one off another phone and plug it in and see if it fixes the problem. I didn’t look at the picture you posted, but if your rotary phone is very old, the cord will be hard wired and not the type that has a modular plug on either end. If that is the case, you are stuck in the same spot as with the mic. Find another set and salvage the cord.
As far as backward compatibility. Every central office I have every worked in has had the ability to handle the older equipment. When touch tone was first introduced, the phones were expensive and there was a fee on the bill for touch tone service (in fact, some phone companies still charge a fee for touch tone). Because of this many people continued to use rotary phones for years and years. It was necessary to build in the compatibility to keep service to your customers.
Or you can just click the hangup hook, five quick clicks to dial 5 etc. I used to impress my friends by “dialing” this way, though I used the rotary for the large numbers: (Nine “quick” clicks was too likely to be interpreted as 7-2 or 8-1 as my finger got tired and hesitated.)
I think Kennedy was President then, or perhaps Eisenhower.
That is very cool. I applaud you.
Not always the phone company. In my state, about 20 years ago, the phone companies tried to have the surcharge for touch tone removed but needed PUC approval for it. The PUC turned them down, since effectively the “cost” of providing touch tone service would be shared with rotary customers. Never mind that it’s the rotary service that is more costly …
Meanwhile, on the real estate front, people are speculating that AT&T is going to have about $100 billion dollars of prime real estate to sell off as the newer switching equipment takes up far less space than the old stuff.
Remember the old films of stacks of clicking relays that used to handle rotary calls? Then there was the electronic switch banks. And now even those are dinosaurs. But the latest stuff still handles rotary phones.
In some places, the phone companies tried to get approval to give rotary customers touch tone phones so they could finally stop supporting them. I don’t think any PUC approved that.
Took the mouthpiece apart, the black disc is in there. I’ve cleaned the contacts, still no worky. I have to find another handset cord to try out.
Somebody else suggested I take the mic out and tap it on a table all around to loosen the carbon, which I will do tomorrow. Try that with an iPhone!
You think that rotaries are gone forever? Hah! Just check out this cell phone, for the more elderly consumer.
