Galt's Gulch

These still work!

Posted by GaryL 3 years, 7 months ago to History
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If you can figure them out!
https://youtu.be/1OADXNGnJok

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  • Posted by mccannon01 3 years, 7 months ago
    I just remembered that metal tab that acted as a stop when dialing was a ground point and worked great as a ground for a crystal set... a what!? LOL!
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  • Posted by TheOldMan 3 years, 7 months ago
    And if you were really on top of things and had spare time, you could dial by forcing the off-hook and simply tapping the wires together to simulate the dial clicking.
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  • Posted by gwerl 3 years, 7 months ago
    Back in the day, teletype was the medium of digital communication. Media outlets received breaking news via wire service teletypes such as Associated Press (AP) ort United Press International (UPI). That was a one direction service. Western Union offered a bi-diredctional service (Telex or TWX). Connected to the Western Union network, one machine could direct dial another Telex machine and send text messages, essentially private telegrams. "Cable" was short for cablegram, I think referring to international telegram. In the early days of computing these machines also could be setup as as data terminals for remote access to computers. It was not ASCII, it was 5-level BAUDOT code, messages could be "stored" on paper punch tape (the machines had paper tape capability so messages could be "pre-typed" to save online time. and cost). It was how I first accessed "dial-up" computers 50 years ago. Cutting edge technology...
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  • Posted by $ allosaur 3 years, 7 months ago
    Up until now, it never dawned on me old dino that modern day 17-year-olds has to figure out what I knew how to do by the age of seven.
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  • Posted by $ prof611 3 years, 7 months ago
    This was one of the funniest videos I've ever seen. I suppose it's inevitable, but I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it!
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  • Posted by freedomforall 3 years, 7 months ago
    Fun, thanks GaryL!
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    • Posted by GaryL 3 years, 7 months ago
      Yes it is pretty funny but then I have to consider my inability with a lot of this new tech stuff that gives me fits trying to navigate and I give them a pass.
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      • Posted by freedomforall 3 years, 7 months ago
        I'm sure I knew how to use a phone from watching adults use them. Someone with some mechanical ability could figure it out. They didn't even figure out that the phone needed to be turned on by lifting the receiver. It's a much simpler device than today's gadgets.
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        • Posted by GaryL 3 years, 7 months ago
          I'm probably older but our first phone had a 3 digit number, was attached to the kitchen wall and before we could dial we had to check if a neighbor was already talking on the Party Line. I actually still have that phone and when the electric goes out from a storm my modern landline phones don't work so I plug in the rotary and as long as the phone line is up I can call out.
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          • Posted by freedomforall 3 years, 7 months ago
            I think our first phone had a 5-digit number, but not certain. It became 7 digits not long after that. We didn't have a party line though.
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            • Posted by CircuitGuy 3 years, 7 months ago
              Sometimes people called out the first two digits as letters. I think they must have marketed it that way when they went from 5 to 7 digits in the US, before I was born. I remember older people using that convention though.
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              • Posted by TheOldMan 3 years, 7 months ago
                The two-letters identified the CO, for example LO = Logan. So people would say their number was Logan-12345.
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                • Posted by $ allosaur 3 years, 7 months ago
                  In south Alabama as a kid during the Fifties, I recall the first three "numbers" being the letters "SYC" and if you gave someone your phone number you'd say,
                  "Call me back at (for example) sycamore-2468."
                  I suppose PIN would stand for "pine" instead of a yet to be invented pin-number.
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                  • Posted by mccannon01 3 years, 7 months ago
                    My childhood phone number only used the first two letters and was HOpkins 7-1788. Gosh, I've forgotten a lot of trivial stuff, but not that for some reason.
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                    • Posted by GaryL 3 years, 7 months ago
                      My exchange was TUrner8/ 888-XXXX. I too will never forget that. Friends close by had either 794, 796, 647, 342 or 343. Back then you could tell where a person lived just by the exchange.
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          • Posted by $ Olduglycarl 3 years, 7 months ago
            Yes, very early in my childhood, I remember that...wasn't old enough to use a phone but I remember listening in on other conversations.

            My home town was probably among the last to get the updated phones.
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            • Posted by GaryL 3 years, 7 months ago
              YUP! Around 7-8th grade we finally got new Private lines and letter designations before the number. Depending on what phone company owned the lines in a close town determined if the call you made was local and free or a long distance call. I could call a friend in the next town over but could not call my GF who lived closer but in the opposite direction in another town. AT&T was on one side and Bell Telephone was on the other side.
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              • Posted by ArtIficiarius 3 years, 7 months ago
                Were you on a state line?
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                • Posted by GaryL 3 years, 7 months ago
                  NO! Just in an area where three different phone companies were competing against each other. That competition is still raging today as my landline phone is Frontier but my neighbor just half a mile up the road has Verizon. I can call other phones in the same area code for free but when I must dial 1+ another area code it is a long distance charge. 845, 914, 212, 516, 570 codes surround me. My brother lives 20 miles from me but is a LD call. No cell service here.
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