#speakingClock done!

Hmm. Except… I’ve only just noticed a bug that puts it in 24hr mode, when it should be 12hr

That bug has been there since I wrote this in 2017 - how has no one ever noticed this?

It’s also a bit quiet on the internal speaker, but I’ll be using the headphone jack when I install it in the #strowger #TelephoneExchange at the #DeanForestRailway #museum display (next time I’m there)

I recently scored three dell thin clients for under £8 each.

Spec is similar ballpark to a raspberry pi, but with an x86 chipset and so much cheaper!

One of them will become a standalone #speakingClock system for the #DeanForestRailway #strowger #telephoneExchange (replacing a #museum exhibit that went offline in ~ 2019)

One of them will probably become a remote control host for my #icom #ic7300

The last one is likely to be kept as a spare for now, unless I can come up with another project.

I play weekend #telephoneEngineer at the #DeanForestRailway #steam #railway - it’s all fun and games until a #steamEngine starts a small lineside fire directly on top of the #telephone cable!

This damage took out phones at 3 stations, and the token machine used by our #signalBoxes

Luckily it wasn’t too hard to get to, and we had a suitable length of scrap cable we could joint in as a temporary fix

Jointing grease filled cable in the sunshine… there are worse ways to spend a Saturday!

Another day at the #DeanForestRailway working on the #UAX13 #strowger #ElectroMechanical #TelephoneExchange … today I was changing the strapping on the vertical marking bank (VMB) for some group selectors.

The VMB is used when the selector moves vertically, to allow/deny access to certain levels.

Here I converted a selector that allowed (89)xx to allow (34567890)xx

This changes it from serving our museum demo phones to be suitable for use as an incoming selector from a distant exchange.

I spent today at the #DeanForestRailway working on their #UAX13 #Strowger #PhoneExchange

We’re increasing the junction capacity between Norchard and Parkend (about 3 miles away) and I needed to trace out how the existing junctions are cabled, find the existing terminating equipment, run new cables, prepare new terminating selectors…

Yesterday was leg day at the gym, so I only got about 75% done before I couldn’t cope with the step ladder any longer!

#phones #telephone #TelephoneExchange

I spent today doing maintenance on the #DeanForestRailway #PABX4 #strowger #ElectroMechanical #TelephoneExchange

We cleaned, lubricated and adjusted all the group and final selectors and cleared all but one fault.

This is a poorly group selector, that refuses to operate to dial pulses. For some reason the K relay doesn’t operate. We cleaned all the contacts in the operate chain, checked the coils, spent well over an hour on this one selector!

It beat us today, but it won’t beat us entirely!

These are a group of 4 relay sets that bridge between an #ElectroMechanical #strowger #TelephoneExchange and an electronic #PBX

I designed/installed them at the #DeanForestRailway (UK) back in December, but they didn’t work.

I built them with UAX style “dis testing” of free outlets, but the exchange is PABX4 based, and uses “battery testing” - so they were all permanently marked as busy… oops!

New springsets, extra resistor and lots of rewiring to do, so they’re back on my bench for rework!

The #santaspecial at #deanforestrailway