*start*
02645 00024 US
Date: 31 Aug. 1982 2:37 pm PDT (Tuesday)
From: ornstein.PA
Subject: Help with some questions about the Analog part of the Etherphone
To: McCreight
cc: Stewart, ornstein
Ed,
Larry has the Analog part of the Etherphone built and it works - but has some
residual problems that Larry has listed in the following message:
- - - - - - - - - -
Date: 30 Aug. 1982 3:34 pm PDT (Monday)
From: Stewart.PA
Subject: Analog problems
To: VoiceProject↑
cc: Stewart
There are a number of interrelated residual problems with the analog stuff.
Crosstalk and noise.
Teleset DTMF tones can be heard through the speaker when not intended.
The GoOffHook relay produces clicks that can be heard in the speaker.
The breadboard has a set of problems like this, that can probably be fixed. How
do we get to PC board without re-introducing them?
Gains around the system
The codecs tend to clip, producing digital sequences which correspond to
unpleasant distortion.
The codec synthesized touch tones are not loud enough to trip central office
dial-tone.
The Telewall transmit path in general is not loud enough.
The Teleset transmit amplitude is greater than typical receive amplitude. This
seems to represent some estimate of loop resistance. Should the Telewall also
have asymmetric levels? Some of the varistors in a standard telephone are there
to adjusrt the transmit level according to loop resistance. We have no such
mechanism.
The Teleset interface has residual problems. The hybrid echo has a
whine associated with it sometimes. This seems to be caused by the varistor
enetering non-linear operation. What is the varistor for anyway? (I don't
understand the SDD hybrid.)
I don't understand what the voice vs. tone levels should be at the subscriber or
the CO end of a local loop. How do we find out?
We need to find out about the 'experimental' lines for using non-registered
equipment. We need to start thinking about registration. Is SDD's gadget
registered yet?
I have gone to a separate inverter ring oscillator for the DTMF crystal. is it
really needed? I had no luck using the built in oscillator in one chip to drive
the others.
The speaker amplifier inputs may be too high impedance, causing noise pickup.
The teleset interface inputs may be too high impedance.
The crossbar switch might be better placed around 0 volts and/or operated from
higher supply voltage, to better accomodate large signals.
- - - - - - - - - -
We would like to get a bit of consulting from you. We'll dig you out tomorrow,
give you a once over of the design, explain these items to you, and get your
advice.
Severo
*start*
00780 00024 US
Date: 31-Aug-82 15:41:45 PDT (Tuesday)
From: Quan.PA
Subject: Re: Stitchweld Work Request
In-reply-to: Stewart's message of 31 Aug. 1982 1:07 pm PDT (Tuesday)
To: Stewart
cc: Quan, RRicci, VoiceProject↑
Reply-To: Quan.PA
Larry,
I have assigned Stitchweld Log Nos. 022, 023 & 024 respectively to your ETP-Rev Ah, serial nos. 2, 3, & 4 boards. We will try to have them done by 2 Sept. as Friday and Monday are holidays. Please bring the boards over by tomorrow morning (9/1, 8:00 AM) so that Becky can work on them first thing.
Please also check to see what Budget Center number you should be using, as I was told by accounting that 55 is not to be used any longer. I believe it should be 50 instead. Let me know and I will correct our copies.
Dick
*start*
00315 00024 US
Date: 31 Aug. 1982 3:48 pm PDT (Tuesday)
From: TonyWest.PA
Subject: Re: Stitchweld Work Request
In-reply-to: Your message of 31-Aug-82 15:41:45 PDT (Tuesday)
To: Stewart
cc: Quan
Larry:
when you find out what budget center CSL should use for stitchwelding, please let me know also.
Tony
*start*
00522 00024 US
Date: 31 Aug. 1982 4:12 pm PDT (Tuesday)
From: Stewart.PA
Subject: Re: Stitchweld Work Request
In-reply-to: TonyWest's message of 31 Aug. 1982 3:48 pm PDT (Tuesday)
To: TonyWest, Quan
cc: Stewart
Kate Quinlan informs me that the correct budget center is 50.
-Larry
Dick: I am bringing over two of the three boards when I leave today and will
keep the third until I get the first two back. I want to have something to
continue working with. The date for finishing the third is not critical.
*start*
00485 00024 US
Date: 1-Sep-82 15:00:23 PDT
From: Ousterhout.pa
Subject: Speed of Bluejay
To: VoiceProject↑
I just tried running Bluejay in "old voice file server" mode with pieces
of different sizes, to see how small pieces it can deliver before it can't
keep up with real time. Playback was very smooth with pieces down
to 1200 bytes in length (1/7 second), but got choppy for smaller pieces
due to Bluejay's inability to provide information fast enough.
-John-*start*
00888 00024 US
Date: 1 Sept. 1982 5:08 pm PDT (Wednesday)
From: ornstein.PA
Subject: Voice Ethernet
To: Lee
cc: Clark, Boggs, VoiceProject↑, Taylor
Reply-To: ornstein
As you and I discussed on the phone, we need another Ethernet strung through
CSL (the 2nd floor part) for Voice use. We have cable available and I have a
map showing where the cable ends are to go and the approximate routing. (It
follows the present Ethernets). The cable will need to be labled "Voice"
frequently along its length (as usual) and Boggs tells me that the electricians
know how to leave the ends and any necessary splice overlaps so he can
complete them later. If you will let me know when you are able to do this I'll
give you the map and details anytime and point you at the cable. There isn't a
desperate rush but as soon as you conveniently can would be much appreciated.
Thank you,
Severo
*start*
00364 00024 US
Date: 2 Sept. 1982 8:52 am PDT (Thursday)
From: Swinehart.PA
Subject: New /Indigo/Voice/Top/Larkbase.df, LarkComm.df
To: Stewart
cc: Swinehart
I changed Encrypt.h again (removed some of the things I put in before.) I was
the last author on <voice>top, so I figgered it was OK. Please get your changes
in if they're stable.
Thanks,
Dan
*start*
00384 00024 US
Date: 2 Sept. 1982 2:33 pm PDT (Thursday)
From: Quinlan.PA
Subject: Lunch with McCreight and Morf
To: Dalal, Murray, Boggs, TonyWest, Stewart
cc: Quinlan
Ed McCreight will be hosting Martin Morf (Stanford) at lunch next Tuesday,
September 7. They plan to discuss extensions to Ethernet. Can you join them in
the PARC Cafeteria between 12:00-12:15?
Kate
*start*
00778 00024 US
Date: 3 Sept. 1982 11:33 am PDT (Friday)
From: Stewart.PA
Subject: ETT PC information
To: VoiceProject↑.pa
cc: Stewart
Just spoke to David Moreno on the phone.
The data we gave him does not reflect the correct pin numbers for the Ethernet
connector. I gave them to him on the phone. I told him to pick out pin
assignments for the DA15 "special" connector (The two RS-232 ports and the
pushbuttons).
Incidently, the way the pushbuttons are wired, the Lark isn't going to work
unless there is a jumper plug plugged into the "special" connector. Hope you
don't mind! (There are set-reset flops for each button, and there is nothing to
set the power-up state of the flops unless a jumper plug emulates the normally
closed switch contacts.)
-Larry
*start*
00728 00024 US
Date: 7 Sept. 1982 10:33 am PDT (Tuesday)
From: ornstein.PA
Subject: Re: ETT PC information
In-reply-to: Stewart's message of 3 Sept. 1982 11:33 am PDT (Friday)
To: Stewart
cc: Ornstein
I guess it would have been better to have slightly more complicated SR flops for
the pushbuttons which were reset by Reset. However I guess the jumper plug
will keep the connector pins clean ---- or something....
When are we going to talk to McCreight about the Analog problems? I have a 2
PM appointment today - probably lasting until 3 - but otherwise the afternoon is
OK with me. I'm a bit crippled up so stop by. (I popped a leg muscle wheeling a
heavy wheel-barrow load of gravel up my room this weekend).
S.
*start*
00361 00024 US
Date: 7 Sept. 1982 10:04 pm PDT (Tuesday)
From: Stewart.PA
Subject: Extra multibus connectors
To: Ornstein
cc: Stewart
I wonder if it would be smarter to get a small multibus cage sans power supply,
rather than just the connectors?
Electronic Solutions has such things.
Maybe both some loose connectors and a 4 slot cage...
-Larry
*start*
01333 00024 US
Date: 7 Sept. 1982 11:06 pm PDT (Tuesday)
From: Stewart.PA
Subject: Random notes
To: VoiceProject↑.pa
cc: Stewart
I wondered why I could not download anything to the second Lark,
"Meadowlark," unless it was called Skylark. Turns out that the SLC was set up
with the address in the dip switch, but incoming pups were checked against host
= 0x0055. Sigh. I've made a new EPROM.
There is something wrong with Meadowlark. It won't run AudEcho or EchoUser
unless the analog connector is unplugged. Could there be a short in the
wiring? It is just flaky. If I plug in the analog stuff after loading and starting
AudEcho I can use both Codecs just fine.
I've delivered the last ETT-Rev-Ag board to Becky for conversion to Rev-Ah.
I have run EchoUser in Skylark and Meadowlark at the same time with them
echoing to each other. One direction runs at 64 packets/second and the other
direction runs at 127 packets/second. Don't know why. No packets are lost
though. Seems like a context package resonance.
I have modified Teleload6 so that it prints the number of attempts to load a
packet if the number is not 1 (which prints as '!).
I have aquired a slight impression that even SkyLark is slightly less reliable on
downloading when the Analog stuff is plugged in and the new EPROM is used.
-Larry
*start*
00440 00024 USm
Date: 8-Sep-82 11:28:25 PDT
From: Ousterhout.pa
Subject: Timing in Cedar
To: CedarUsers↑
Reply-To: Ousterhout
To make the voice file server work, I need to be able get a process to
wake up within a millisecond or so of a specified time. Process.SetTimeout
isn't anywhere near good enough, since it uses ticks (40ms) as the
time interval. Is there any way in Cedar to sleep more accurately
than this?
-John-
*start*
01429 00024 US
Date: 8 Sept. 1982 4:10 pm PDT (Wednesday)
From: Ousterhout.pa
Subject: More on Bluejay Speed
To: VoiceProject↑.pa
Reply-To: Ousterhout
I've done some more experimentation with piece sizes, along with a
bit of tuning. Playing back many small pieces is now pretty fast,
as long as the pieces are all in about the same place (within 60 sec.
or so) of a single tune. If the pieces are in the same tune, but far
apart, then cached descriptor information for the tune has to be
regenerated for each piece (meaning 2 or 3 disk accesses for each piece).
If each piece is in a different tune, then there are an additional 2
disk accesses to close the old tune and open the new one. The current
figures are:
Pieces in same tune, within 60 sec: a single such playback uses the
entire Dorado disk bandwidth, and 20% of the CPU, when the piece
size is 400 samples (1/20 second). Pieces smaller than this cannot be
played back continuously in real time.
Pieces in totally different tunes (worst case): a single such playback
uses the entire Dorado disk bandwidth, and 40% of the CPU, when
the piece size is 1200 samples (1/7 second).
Very long pieces, in the same tune (best, and hopefully most common,
case): a single such playback uses about 5% of the disk bandwidth, and
about 5-7% of the CPU.
All the CPU figures are likely to worsen slightly when I get the rest of
the protocol stuff in.
-John-
*start*
00364 00024 US
Date: 9 Sept. 1982 11:45 am PDT (Thursday)
From: Swinehart.PA
Subject: New LarkComm.df
To: Stewart
cc: Swinehart
exists. No changes outside of RPC/DES land.
DES algorithms work; small number of problems remain with using the results.
We seem to be working opposite ends of the day these days. Errands this PM.
See you tomorrow.
Dan
*start*
00824 00024 US
Date: 9 Sept. 1982 12:10 pm PDT (Thursday)
From: ornstein.PA
Subject: New Ethernet Cable
To: Lee
cc: VoiceProject↑, ornstein, Boggs
Reply-To: ornstein
Lee,
About the new (Voice) Ethernet Cable that I asked you to install: I had said to
end it in the telephone access area beside Frances Yao's office. However we have
realized that if we go ahead and extend it on down into the Maxc room and
under the floor beneath the Dorados, we will be able to eliminate a gateway
which was a bottleneck in one critical pathway in our system. So I would like to
ask that that extension be made. I hope this won't significantly increase the
amount of work and I'm sorry we didn't have it right before when I spoke to
you. Let me know if it's any problem; otherwise I'll assume you can do it OK.
Thanks,
Severo
*start*
01495 00024 US
Date: 9 Sept. 1982 3:05 pm PDT (Thursday)
From: ornstein.PA
Subject: Re: 83 capital budget
In-reply-to: Mitchell's message of 8 Sept. 1982 11:08 am PDT (Wednesday)
To: Mitchell
cc: CSL-Spenders, VoiceProject↑, Taylor
Reply-To: ornstein
My Best Guess About the 1983 Voice Project Budget
CAPITAL:
1. $60K for 50 Etherphones.
You can subtract any of that which we get to spend out of 1982
money. Note that our original estimate of the cost per Etherphone
was 1000 and is now 1200. It's still not accurate but we'll adjust
appropriately by ordering more or fewer when the time comes.
2. We need a T-300 for Voice-Data storage on the Voice File Server.
We were supposed to get one in 1982 but haven't needed it yet. I don't
know if one of those you recently bought is destined for the Voice
Project; if not, we will certainly need it in 1983. We MIGHT also
need a second one since one T-300 holds only about 12 minutes worth
of voice for each of 50 people. That's not much and doesn't include
canned messages of which there may be quite alot.
3. $10K for home terminals (This isn't Voice, but it's a Larry Stewart item)
CSL people may or may not want them but $10K would cover about
5 sets of terminal/modem combinations to replace the old TI's.
EXPENSE:
1. $10K for prototyping a 10 megabit Etherphone
2. Money for Registering the Etherphone for use with the Telephone system.
(Don't know what this costs - perhaps a few thousand $$).
Severo
*start*
00814 00024 US
Date: 9 Sept. 1982 4:08 pm PDT (Thursday)
From: ornstein.PA
Subject: Operating Plan
To: Swinehart, Stewart
cc: ornstein
The new scheme (every year it's something new) is that we are to discuss with
someone (in our case Chas. Irby) within a suitable organization (in our case
SDD) within some suitable Business Unit (in our case Office Systems) about what
we're up to and what is the "Transfer Potential for 0-2 Year Project Elements"
(deciphering left to the imagination of the reader).
So anyway - I've made a date for Irby (and probably Verplank or someone) to
come over to discuss this on Monday at 10 AM (my office) and would like at
least one of you two guys to join us. If you both want to, it's fine but I'd like a
confirmation that at least one of you can make it.
Thanks,
S.
*start*
00249 00024 US
Date: 9 Sept. 1982 4:57 pm PDT (Thursday)
From: Stewart.PA
Subject: Re: Operating Plan
In-reply-to: ornstein's message of 9 Sept. 1982 4:08 pm PDT (Thursday)
To: ornstein
cc: Swinehart, Stewart
10 am Monday is fine. -Larry
*start*
00576 00024 US
Date: 12 Sept. 1982 4:46 pm PDT (Sunday)
From: Swinehart.PA
Subject: EXPENSIVE pushbuttons?
To: Stewart
cc: Swinehart
How about a version of the RESET/NMI box that would accept control levels
from the Alto printer port? Then we could add a service to one of the Altos --
preferably a process in the gateway machine -- that would accept the appropriate
network commands and pushee button. I'll write the Cedar end. My first tool,
right?
As you might be able to tell, I'm getting a bit tired of this particular form of
distributed computing.
DCS
*start*
00539 00024 US
Date: 13 Sept. 1982 11:46 am PDT (Monday)
From: ornstein.PA
Subject: Statement for Operating Plan
To: Irby
cc: Dalal, Verplank, Stewart, Swinehart, ornstein
How about:
We hope that some insights about suitable architectures and new
functionality for voice sub-systems may be revealed within a two
year period. However manpower limitations are delaying this learning
process, very possibly beyond that time.
I don't get much more space than that to say it, so if you edit it, keep it short.
Thanks,
Severo
*start*
01105 00024 US
Date: 13 Sept. 1982 2:23 pm PDT (Monday)
From: Mitchell.PA
Subject: 1983 research interns and visiting scientists
To: CSLOnly↑
cc: Taylor, Mitchell
Reply-To: Mitchell
Well folks, it's time to plan for next year. I need you to send me your requests
for visiting scientists and research interns for 1983 by tomorrow, Tuesday,
September 14.
For each visiting scientist or research intern, I need the following information
(copy this into your response and fill it in):
Name: Name
Start date: Estimate of start date
Number of months Estimated duration of stay at PARC
Remuneration: $/month
Travel expenses: $
If you do not have an actual name for a Research Intern (summer student), but
are fairly certain that you would like to host someone next year, please send me
a response anyway so it can be factored into the budget. Money will be tighter
in 1983 than it was in 1982. If you don't ask now, you might find that we won't
be able to accommodate you next spring when you ask to hire a student for the
summer.
Thanks for your help,
Jim Mitchell
*start*
01961 00024 US
Date: 13 Sept. 1982 11:55 pm PDT (Monday)
From: Swinehart.PA
Subject: New LarkComm.df
To: Stewart
cc: Swinehart
Everything works. At least a little.
To design an interface:
1. Put fixed-length parameters first in interface procedures.
2. If procedure is to be secure, include a Conversation as first argument -- see
Lupine manual.
3. Currently only simple character and word-sequence parameters are
supported, along with strings, single and double-words. It's reasonably
easy to define additional structures.
4. On the C side, don't include conversation as first argument. Instead, call the
procedure AttachConversation(handle, conversation) to associate the
conversation with the interface identified by handle. Subsequent
calls will be encrypted with the associated key. Call
AttachConversation(handle, unencrypted), or ...(handle, 0) to return to
a clear-text conversation for procedures in that interface.
RPC/Lupine pack the conversation ID into a special place in each packet,
artificially using/generating the Conversation parameter when required; it
doesn't show up on the C side as a value available to the caller of
CallFormatted; that can be arranged.
5. The procedures in RPCFir are useful for invoking RPC stuff. See
[indigo]<voice>top>larkcomm.df Using [RPCTest.c] for an example. The
corresponding mesa interface is
[ivy]<swinehart>larkrpc>mesarpc.df Using [ TestLupine.mesa ].
Next: You help decide, but I'd like to go back over the list of changes (i.e., to
error management, etc.) that we made before my trip, possibly adding some
watchdog timer stuff to it (?? I had some thoughts, but maybe they're flakey ??)
I also need to perfect the Lark registration/reregistration stuff. And you wanted
some remote tests, which we should discuss. I also want to bring all the Thrush
definitions up to date. No doubt there will be some problems with RPC when we
begin using it in anger, too.
DCS
*start*
00373 00024 US
Date: 14 Sept. 1982 9:47 am PDT (Tuesday)
From: ornstein.PA
Subject: Microphone switch
To: Stewart
cc: ornstein
The way it is built, it is much less work if we use the switch simply to open up
one side of the mike - rather than using it to shunt the mike. You said shunting
was better. Does it really matter and if so (out of curiosity) why?
S.
*start*
00572 00024 US
Date: 14 Sept. 1982 9:55 am PDT (Tuesday)
From: ornstein.PA
Subject: Additional Budget Item
To: Mitchell
cc: VoiceProject↑, Boggs
Reply-To: ornstein
Jim,
After discussion with Boggs I gather we should include a request for a Dicentra
@ $5K in the Voice budget for next year. It will be used to experiment with
making a high capacity gateway - needed for internetting voice. I had thought,
from former discussions, that Boggs would be providing this, but he now says
we should get the money for it ourselves. Lemme know if this is a problem.
S.
*start*
03680 00024 US
Date: 14 Sept. 1982 9:59 am PDT (Tuesday)
From: Stewart.PA
Subject: What I Like About The Telephone
To: Whimsy↑, VoiceInterest↑
cc: Stewart
Reply-To: Stewart
From: Telecom-Digest
Date: Today
From: Many sources in the DEC Engineering network
Subject: Read on...
17 jul 82
What I Like About The Telephone
By Dave Barry
What I like best about the telephone is that it keeps you in
touch with people, particularly people who want to sell you
magazine subscriptions in the middle of the night. These
people have been abducted by large publishing companies and
placed in barbed-wire enclosures surrounded by armed men with
attack dogs.
Caller: Hello, Mr. Barry?
Me: No this is Adolf Hitler.
Caller: Of course. My mistake. The reason I'm calling you at 11:30
at night, Mr. Hitler, is that I'm conducting a marketing
survey, and...
Me: Are you selling magazine subscriptions?
Caller: Magazine subscriptions? Me? Selling them? Ha Ha. No.
Certainly not. Not at all. No, this is just a plain old
marketing survey. (Sound of dogs barking.)
Me: Well, what do you want to know?
Caller: Well, I just want to ask you some questions about you
household, such as how many people live there, and what
their ages are and whether any of them might be interested
in subscribing to Redbook?
Me: I don't want to subscribe to anything, you lying piece of
slime.
Caller: How about Time? Sports Illustrated? American Beet Farmer?
Me: I'm going to hang up.
Caller: No! (The dogs get louder) Please! You can have my daughter!
Me: (Click.)
The first telephone systems were primitive "party lines" where
everybody could hear what everybody else was talking about.
This was very confusing:
Bertha: Emma? I'm calling to tell you I seen you boy Norbert shootin'
his musket at our goat again, and if you don't...
Clem: This ain't Emma. This is Clem Johnson, and I got to reach
Doc Henderson, because my wife Nell is all rigid and foaming
at the mouth, and if she don't snap out of it soon the roast
is going to burn.
Emma: Norbert don't even own a musket. All he got is a bow and
arrow, and he couldn't hit a steam locomotive from six feet,
what with his bad hand, which he got when your boy Percy bit
it, and which is festerin' pretty bad.
Doc Henderson: You better let me take a look at it.
Bertha: The goat? Oh, he ain't hurt that bad, Doc. He's skittery
on account of the musket fire.
Clem: Now she's startin' to roll her eyes around. Looks like two
hard-boiled eggs.
Caller: Hi I'm conducting a marketing survey is Mr. Hitler at home?
Clem: No, but I'll take a year's worth of American Beet Farmer.
The party line system led to a lot of unnecessary confusion
and death, so the phone company devised a system whereby you
can talk to only one person at a time, although not
necessarily the person you want. In fact, if you call any
large company, you will Never get to talk to the person
you're calling. Large companies employ people who are paid,
on a commission basis, solely to put calls on hold. These
people are trained by the airline reservations clerks. The
only exception is department stores, where all calls are
immediately routed to whichever clerk has the most people
waiting.
But we should never complain about our telephone system. It
is the most sophisticated system in the world, yet it is the
easiest to use. Fore example, my 20-month-old son, who
cannot perform a simple act like eating a banana without
getting most of it in his hair, is perfectly capable of
direct-dialing Okinawa, and probably has. In another year,
he'll be able to order magazine subscriptions.
*start*
00461 00024 US
Date: 14 Sept. 1982 3:38 pm PDT (Tuesday)
From: Swinehart.PA
Subject: Re: 1983 research interns and visiting scientists
To: Mitchell
cc: Stewart, Ornstein, Swinehart
We think that next summer there will be terrific projects available for a summer
student in the voice project.
Name: Unknown, but we will get a specific name by March
Start date: June 15, 1983
Number of months 3
Remuneration: $ 2100/month (BS+2.5 years)
*start*
04617 00024 US
Date: 15 Sept. 1982 10:53 am PDT (Wednesday)
From: Stewart.PA
Subject: Last Panel Office Going... Going... Gone
To: VoiceInterest↑
Reply-To: Stewart
A bit of history:
Date: 29-Aug-82 20:40:59-PDT (Sun)
From: mhtsa!houxb!hosbc!lmg
To: houxb!mhtsa!ucbvax!boken at RUTGERS
Re: Panel Office
BELL TO SILENCE NATION'S LAST SWITCH RACK
by Ted Sherman
For nearly 60 years, the tall circuit racks at the telephone
building on Avon Avenue in Newark have been loudly clicking
nonstop to connect customers in what was once called the
Bigelow exchange area.
The electro-mechanical panel office, which represented a
technological breakthrough in 1923 by allowing customers to
dial local calls without the assistance of an operator, has
long been obsolete but continued to route calls for 15,000
persons.
It is the last such office in the Bell System and on
September 11 it will be replaced with an electronic
switching system that can handle more calls, has no moving
parts and makes no noise.
Charles O. Luff Jr., the chief switchman at the office, has
spent 30 of his 41 years at the telephone company among the
clattering panel racks.
"I've always called it the great old beast," he said of the
giant switching machine which takes up two stories and
incorporates miles of neatly bundled wires brown with age.
* * *
The office switches all incoming and outgoing calls for the
exchange through thousands of sliding mechanical contacts
that travel up and down long brass rods within aisle after
aisle of mechanical racks like shelves of books at a
library.
Before the introduction of the panel office, callers had to
give the telephone number they were trying to reach to an
operator who then would complete the call. The panel dial
system eliminated all that and was expanded to many of the
state's major cities before the development of better
switching equipment.
At one point it was the workhorse of the Bell System,
although the mechanical parts needed constant maintenance
and care.
- 2 -
Luff said in the days before air conditioning, the
electrical contacts in the racks were especially sensitive
to humidity in the summer. To dry out the equipment,
officials were forced to turn up the heat, frequently
pushing the temperature above 100 degrees.
"We had to bring in tubs of ice and fans to cool down the
operators," Luff said, recalling that Bell had a strict
dress code in the 1940s that required operators to wear long
skirts and starched white blouses.
Luff said the Avon Avenue panel office had been retained by
New Jersey Bell because the area was experiencing a negative
growth rate and the mechanical switching racks continued to
work.
However, the office will be closed on Sept. 11 and its
operations will be taken over by electronic switching units
at 95 Washington Street.
The transfer will make it necessary for 3,800 customers to
get new telephone numbers, but the rest of the people
switched through the Avon Avenue office will not notice the
change.
"It's like the last of the old steam engines," Luff said of
the panel office. "The machine can handle the job, but the
cost of maintenance is so high."
When all of its circuits were used in the 1940s, it took 18
persons to look after the switching racks. As its use was
phased out, Luff said, 12 technicians were needed to
maintain the facility, which has to be staffed 24 hours a
day.
The new electronic switching systems do not have to be
staffed. Luff said an electronic switching system can
diagnose its internal problems, fix what is wrong or tell
someone what the problem is in a blink of an eye.
The technology changes I've seen in the past 40 years are
just incredible," he said.
Luff said the panel office would be retired in place,
noting: "The machine is going first and I'm going very
shortly after."
*start*
00771 00024 US
Date: 15 Sept. 1982 11:44 am PDT (Wednesday)
From: Swenson.PA
Subject: Re: Last Panel Office Going... Going... Gone
In-reply-to: Your message of 15 Sept. 1982 10:53 am PDT (Wednesday)
To: Stewart,VoiceInterest↑
cc: Swenson
BELL TO SILENCE NATION'S LAST SWITCH RACK
by Ted Sherman
For nearly 60 years, the tall circuit racks at the telephone
building on Avon Avenue in Newark have been loudly clicking
I took this message home & read it to my family--we live in Newark--and my
wife responded "where is Avon Avenue in Newark?" When I was about 2/3
through the message she realized, as I did when I got to the same place--this is
about Newark N.J., not Newark, Calif.
Bob Swenson
*start*
00350 00024 US
Date: 17-Sep-82 16:10:00 PDT (Friday)
From: Dalal.PA
Subject: Re: Statement for Operating Plan
In-reply-to: ornstein's message of 13 Sept. 1982 11:46 am PDT (Monday)
To: ornstein
cc: Irby, Dalal, Verplank, Stewart, Swinehart
Severo,
The statement sounds accurate to me, though I am disappointed at its implications.
/Yogen