HISTORY:
At the beginning of my career in electronics, many moons ago, I worked in the telephony industry in NZ. After a few years in the tech side (Fault Control Centre & Exchange techie) I could see the rapid advancement of technology would mean the end of my job as I knew it and left that industry.
However the flame has always burned for all things relating to telephones, both at the subscriber, exchange and all things in between (even loading coils!) So whenever I crossed paths with some telephone equipment, I 'collected' it.
The last few years have been cleanup time with a LOT of the gear finding new owners and now I am approaching the end of my telephone gear collection but I still find some 'dribs n drabs' of equipment - this subscriber instrument spare part is one of those items.
Most "ordinary" line cords (from the telephone to the wall plug) were 3 or perhaps 4 conductor but the 6 conductor type was not so common. Actually it was more often used with business telephone systems or as in the case of this cable, with special communications subscriber equipment with the "extra" wires being used special signalling requirements.
Obviously this component is aimed at those who share a similar passion for those good ol' days of "party lines", whirring rotary dials, those winking "eyeball" call indicators in business systems, operators connecting "collect calls" or International calls "Hello London? Sydney here ... please connect me to ...." (International Subscriber Dialling was not available back in those days) and finally that constant clattering of SXS line finders, group selectors and final switches in the exchanges.
Enough of the nostalgia! Time to tell you all about this spare part ...
STC (STANDARD TELEPHONE & CABLES) - Telephone Instrument Component
"Probably" made right here in Australia by STC, they had enormous manufacturing facilities in Sydney (Alexandria) at one time
Component: Line Cord
Number of conductors/wires: 6
The special very small female spade connectors are fitted at each end
Brown coloured cord is 5.5mm OD x 3 metres length
TESTING:
Being used and of significant age, I have tested each conductor from end to end. The DC resistance measured around 4 Ohms end to end on each conductor, that's fine.
COSMETIC CONDITION:
USED
Old
Clean
The female spade connectors were a little on the "dirty side" so these have been cleaned up
I did notice two "cosmetic issues" but they do not affect the operation of the cord
a) one of the wire insulation (Red) has been squashed when it was tightly packed into the wall plug - the insulation has been damaged but the inner special conductors are not and this was confirmed when I was making the resistance tests, movement of this wire made no difference to the measured resistance.
b) While measuring the length of the cord, I felt a small "nick" in the outer Brown sheath - just the sheath has this small cut and the inner conductors are unaffected.
I have now placed this 6 wire line cord into a sealed clear plastic packet, while it patiently waits to make another telephone instrument 'come to life'
