Pickled Egg Jukebox-Your Selections

[CitroJim]

Ohh yes, I'd absolutely love a proper valved jukebox, a proper vintage pinball machine and a Mellotron.

All three are deliciously electro-mechanical and just up my street

If only I had the room... I don't so those items will forever remain a dream, just like the wood-burning Aga cooker in the kitchen and the Citroen SM in the four-car garage...

I suppose if I had a house big enough for that lot I could justify installing a nice old Strowger PABX in it for room to room communications

The Mellotron links straight back the title of this thread (almost)... It's an instrument used by one of my favourite bands, the one I'm after vinyl recordings of...

I'm pretty sure that us both together would be a truly dangerous combination! ...Especially if you combined his mind with the ease of access to information that the internet allows these days, and my tendency to collect and hoard bits and pieces "because they'll be handy for something someday".

I've often thought the same about me and my long-departed elder sister who I never really knew, except by her reputation! We'd have been a terrible twosome...

I am very careful about my collection of bits and pieces.. Every time I've chucked stuff thinking I'll never need it again... Invariable within weeks I do...

I just had a look too, I'd rather have an Activa. Some of them are DS and SM money!

So, do I have an appreciating asset sitting outside my house then? re you saying it's now worth more than the plate on it?

[elma]

How can something priceless appreciate? Just think if I gave you £5k for it could you replace it? It's one of a kind Jim.
I've got it in my head that I won't even look at an Activa unless I have a minimum of £2k in my pocket for buying it and whipping it into shape. I doubt I'd get it perfect for that much anyway, probably another £1k plus before I was totally happy. Yes you can buy one for £200 if you're lucky but not one like yours.

[CitroJim]

I'd never looked at it like that James... You're quite right though...

Better look after it then

[elma]

I'll put it another way just to drum it in, not that I expect you'd ever part with it. Can I buy your Activa for £5k please Jim? I'll even throw in a Scenic with 11months MOT.

[CitroJim]

Can I buy your Activa for £5k please Jim? I'll even throw in a Scenic with 11months MOT.

No, not even with the 'sweetener' James

That car is with me for ever...

I have sold a few cars now and regretted it deeply; I'm not about to do the same with my Activa...

[elma]

£10k and the V6?

[elma]

I'll have to recind the most recent offer anyway, I wouldn't part with my V6. But point over made, your Activa is worth more than money as my V6 will be when I've injected hours and hours of my own hard work into it.

[NewcastleFalcon]

Here,s a couple of YouTube videos marginally relevant to current discussions. The pickled egg juke box, is avant garde so a couple of minutes of a ringing machine could take its place in the selections list. (edit..obviously the wrong emoticon-that's what you get when you try to hamfistedly borrow an i-pad when you are used to a proper keyboard)



And for viewing in the snug, this little documentary about the Upminster exchange may provide some light entertainment as punters enjoy a pint and a packet of cheese and onion crisps.



Regards Neil

[bobins]

Very possibly James although there was a rival technology that ran in parallel with Strowger Exchanges called the Crossbar Exchange.

Next time you're up here I can take you to a real, working Strowger exchange in our local museum. It worked in one of our outlying villages until the 1990s... You'll be fascinated watching a call progress through it...

One reason some survived so long is they were impervious to destructive EMP (ElectroMagnetic Pulse) radiation resulting from a nuclear strike. Once the cold war ended they were all then replaced by electronic exchanges with great savings in space, power and the need for very skilled maintenance...

There were some electronic exchanges designed to work in the Cold War !! They were protected by there own NEMP cabinet - basically a well sealed metal cabinet built by Rainford Secure Systems that was impervious to the effects of EMP and housed either a Mitel SX2000 or TSX50. They were primarily designed for resilient emergency telephone lines between various local and national government sites during the Cold War.

[elma]

I'm educated on the exchanges as much is going to happen in an evening on the internet. Sounds like a fascinating trip to see one in action Jim, I'd love to visit that museum. I'm planning a visit soon to collect a wireless from Zel and drop you a clutch cable so could probably fit the museum in on the same day. I'll have potential dates in the near future.

[CitroJim]

There were some electronic exchanges designed to work in the Cold War !! They were protected by there own NEMP cabinet - basically a well sealed metal cabinet built by Rainford Secure Systems that was impervious to the effects of EMP and housed either a Mitel SX2000 or TSX50. They were primarily designed for resilient emergency telephone lines between various local and national government sites during the Cold War.

Ahh, so basically in a TEMPEST cabinet then... Interesting... There had to be something to replace the small Strowger-based PABXs - the last such installation of which was in 1981 to the best of my knowledge...

I've had much dealing with the Mitel SX2000s and SX50s in the past... Bloody fine exchanges they were too... Mitel Supersets graced many desks and indeed still do...

It's all got boring now as most what we'd call a PABX is now VoIP based. It's IT-based so I have zero interest.

[bobins]

Ahh, so basically in a TEMPEST cabinet then... Interesting... There had to be something to replace the small Strowger-based PABXs - the last such installation of which was in 1981 to the best of my knowledge...

Similar ideas involved - completely different spec sheet though

I've had much dealing with the Mitel SX2000s and SX50s in the past... Bloody fine exchanges they were too... Mitel Supersets graced many desks and indeed still do...

You didn't get any training in fault finding and repairing the Superset 7, did you Jim ?.........

[CitroJim]

You didn't get any training in fault finding and repairing the Superset 7, did you Jim ?.........

I may have done but it was a good few years ago and since then a lot of Xantia knowledge has pushed out a lot of tels stuff!

What's wrong with it?

[myglaren]

Just seen this on QI.

Ben Franklin saw someone playing music on glasses:



And went one better and invented the Glass Armonica:

[Gibbo2286]

I saw that..............as always though there had to be some off colour comments about doing things to an armadillo.