Extremely collectable Fire Engine Red 800 Series Telephone
This colour is highly sought after and this telephone is in completely original (and working) condition
Don't be fooled by others I have seen online, one "original" I saw even had two number rings fitted! Most do not have the red line cord - but instead the horrible "wheat" colour that Telecom used later. Many years ago I worked closely with the telephone companies/suppliers and this telephone is NOT a Frankenstein beast (some try to pass off 800 series phones as being authentic but in fact they have non 800 parts in them to give the appearance of being authentic - psuedo 800's - like the abomination I saw with two number rings on the one phone!) - this an original, the real deal.
Post Master General Telephone - pre Telecom/Telstra
800 Series
Model: 802
This series began in the 1960's and ran through to the late 70's - this model I am offering is an early 1970's release
Complete with the old style PMG plug but I am also supplying an adaptor and cable so that this phone can be plugged into an RJ11 socket (looks a bit like a small network cable socket)
Underside (base) identifcation markings:
STC
PMG
802
S1/2
Manufactured by Standard Telephones & Cables (they used to have a very large manufacturing facility located Alexandria Sydney)
PMG being Post Master Generals department - later to become Telecom and then reborn as Telstra.
PCA-2 AWA manufactured board
Original red line cord
Original red handset curly cord
No insulation sheath damage to either cords
This telephone is absolutely stock standard authentic 802 from the 1970's - no parts from other models have been added.
The case/handset fire engine red is original - NOT A SPRAY JOB!
COSMETIC CONDITION:
CLEANED AND STERILISED - BOTH THE BODY OF THE PHONE AND THE HANDSET (lots of mouths have been "spitting" into the handset transmitter especially!)
Excellent condition - the case has NO cracks or chips/corners missing.
The colouring of the case is not faded or dulled - nice shiny fire engine red.
It has NOT been "touched up" in any way.
The dial perspex is not cracked or damaged
The centre paper label with the "click in" clamp is missing though - this is the label that says "Listen For Dial Tone" and some had a map of Australia on them as well.
No sheath damage to either cords
Handset curly cord is a bit "hows ya father" now but still pretty good - after years of the subscriber pulling on the cord while they are chatting, the curly cord usually suffers.
I offer my items "warts and all" - see the photograph of the base - that is top surface metal corrosion (liquid some time ago) but it is surface only and in no way affects the operation of the telephone or the appearance when viewed from above.
TESTING:
These 800 series telephones just go on working for years - this one is no exception even though it is now 50 years old!
Dial rotation is smooth (nice whirr) and at the correct speed
Handset plungers work smoothly
Connected to our home 2 wire telephone line (TPG Home Phone service)
Dial tone received fine
Dialled my mobile - but TPG Home Phone service seems to now (it used to work some years ago!) have trouble "understanding" pulse dialling. I do lose dial tone when I start dialling but the equipment doesn't appear to know what to do with the line pulses it is receiving, so in our case this phone is NOT compatible with TPG Home Phone service for making outgoing calls. I suspect NBN will be the same, afterall the provider would see no reason to support such antiquated signalling systems.
Next, I called this telephone.
All is fine on incoming calls
Bells ring (nice mechanical bells which are adjustable underneath)
Pickup the handset and all is good with the world!! Nice clean clear conversations can then be had.
So it is best to treat this telephone as a nice feature piece in the house, working on incoming calls but don't rely on this telephone to make calls from.
Very nice piece of Australian telephone memorabilia and being fire engine red, it REALLY stands out when on display.
SPECIAL NOTES REGARDING THE USE OF ROTARY DIAL TELEPHONES
These telephones were designed to use the old pulse signalling - sending pulses to the exchange to indicate the number you have dialled - these days tones are used however SOME Telstra telephone exchanges will still "understand" the phone but these phones will NOT work properly with modern private phone systems that are expecting to receive tones - For example: say you called a large business and you get an automated message saying something like "please dial 1 for customer service, 2 for billing enquiries etc" - this phone will not be able to "talk" to those systems (no tones possible)
To use this telephone you MUST have a two wire landline service, preferably via Telstra. Although ISP's provide a home telephone service it does seem that at least some no longer support pulse dialling - see my comments above regarding my tests using the TPG Home Telephone service.
This instrument is just too old and providers see no reason to support subscribers using pulse dialling telephones, which is pretty valid quite frankly.
These comments relate to making OUTGOING calls only - incoming calls will still work fine.
