LOL thrift store score "Bell Systems" / Simpson 260

Stole this photo off the internet, but same thing. Found a Simpson built for Bell Systems ks-14510-L11 AKA Simpson 260 multimeter for FOUR BUCKS. The one downside of these, and was for years........they suck for automotive. One scale is 12V---too low for running/ charging, and the next scale up is 60V---so difficult to accurately read 12-14V readings.

Nice shape came in a nice old "real" leather case and two sets of probes!!!

I used my trusty Triplett 310 for my 41 years in telephone repair. Still have it after I retired.

I never worked for Bell, closest I've come to telco work was a few years for a Motorola shop, I helped install (what was then) Centracom (radio consoles) and Centralink (used to be SRX) phone switches. These not only handled conventional building telco and office to office, but the 911 trunks as well as remote control functions, like sally port doors or remote fire sirens, etc.

WA, couple jobs in OR, and a few "touchups" in ID. One of our bigger jobs was Whitman Co. WA, which then had the WSU PD, the Pullman PD, and the Whitman SO combined dispatch ON CAMPUS. That was a complete nightmare. The campus "physical plant" was hard line union, and we constantly had to fight with them over "our" equipment, of course serviced by "their" lines as well as the local POTS

On top of that parking on campus was nearly non-existent, no real provision for service vehicles, and traffic tickets back in ?? 92--98 were over 50 bucks.

Never would use anything but Simpson 260 when I did TV/stereo repair. Analog > digital is every way for that job.

Some photos from the mid 90's

Below putting 50 lbs of **** into a 30 lb bucket. This is the tiny building on "RADAR Hill" outside Othello, WA. This is where, late one dark, three drunk Mexican itinerants thought they would mug me. No skill on my part, there happened to be part of a big pipe off an unused antenna bracket. "Equalizer." And lead wonders why I "carry"


Me up a 80ft? near Colfax, WA. Irony is, this was an abandoned site, and is now, again I hung both those sticks by myself. The top one was interesting. Those are 4x-dipole VHF which are over 20ft long

Below the phone switch (Motorola Centralink) going in at Davenport, WA. All I remember is the DICK----taphone connections were at top left. The DICK-taphone guy installed them first right in the middle of the brand new plywood I had just hung. So I moved them as far away as I could get them. His name was "Dick"

Below, more "me" on the little Colfax tower. I'm about 50 here

Colfax tower This was taken facing uphill. Where the pickup is parked was a dirt acces road. Now, it's a paved road with a house immediately behind the shack, and this site is abandoned. Since Google street view are behind times, I would not doubt it has been torn down. "Makes you think" (how old we are / how long ago this was)

Bottom two, the then sheriff of Othello, WA had gotten ahold of these truck camper like communications enclosures, to use for radio shelters. I think they were three. paging, fire and SO, and SO repeater. I built all this.

The small single radio by the door is a 900mhz low power repeater. It received pages from the main repeater down at the hill near the SO, and outputted them to the encoder chassis at the top of the main radio rack. Alpha numeric was "big" in those days. They bought them by the dozens. Lots of volunteer folk in those little wide spaced farming communities

The job at Oregon City, OR. This was a restrictive phone room, 10? ft wide or less with "junk in the middle" and maybe 20 ft long. All the wall space was covered with phone blocks or equipment. In order to make room to work, we actually tied up some of the blocks with slats, ties, and cardboard, and "hinged" them like a door over against the wall. The ones you see on the carboard at left had been mounted on the back wall---where the new system was mounted.

Old system used the old rack mount "button and key" so all lines had to go to each and all dispatch positions. The new stuff of course is digital, and uses a 4 pair data line I still remember one of the "girls." She had just been through a divorce, and if we weren't so damn far apart..................she was an absolute sweetheart.

This site used "computer flooring" which is as big a help as it is a PITA. You STILL have to crawl around on (my) bad knees to get stuff done. I don't remember anymore, I think there was about 12 operating positions in dispatch, only "some" of which were manned most of the time.

Switchover was the biggest PITA. You had to do this at 4AM or so on a Monday morning, the thinking is that crime and the drunks were "at a low." But you still had to prep for the worst, AKA both systems failing. At that point both systems were basically up and running, and after training on the new gear. So you pulled the old gear off line. We ad people standing all over the phone room with buttsets monitoring incoming lines and trunks LOL

I just scored one of my favorite old multi meters today....

Is that the old Rad-Shack with the "range doubler"? If so I've owned about 3 of those, maybe more. I the first years of my HVAC/R days that is what I used, and weather and hard use took their toll

Overhead view of the Colfax tower LOL. Nothing there when I did this work. Now some "lucky family" gets this view in their front yard. This is up on a hill overlooking the town. Of course if they build/ have built more houses, they won't have much of a view, anyhow

Mark2205 said:

I used my trusty Triplett 310 for my 41 years in telephone repair. Still have it after I retired.

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I got 2! 310-C's and a host of other meters. I find them in the E-waste bin or 'capital reclamation" box (ie. trash) But digital stuff today is awesome for trouble shooting, can get within a foot of a tip or ring ground between buried terminals and can easily give you the pole the fault is on @ +/- 60 feet over hundreds or thousands of feet. Used to use a Analog Sidekick T&D, (only one in the yard who could use it) until one day the meter movement fell apart, I found another broken one and snagged the movement out of it but It still doesnt want to work. I think a power relay is bad. I use a JDS/Viavi Onex 580 now. Its pretty nice, but reads SNI's as 8000 more feet of cable and DSL splitters as 4700 feet so you get some weird readings looking out to the field from cross boxes.

Blew a couple of the 260’s up in “A” school in Pensacola . Lol

tjpatte said:

Blew a couple of the 260’s up in “A” school in Pensacola . Lol

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What school was that? I was an ET (ETR-2) fixed GCA RADAR. Only thing digital we had in 68 school was the old HP counter I've forgotten the model, "nixie tubes" readout............had to look it up LOL HP 5245

pishta said:

I got 2! 310-C's and a host of other meters. I find them in the E-waste bin or 'capital reclamation" box (ie. trash) But digital stuff today is awesome for trouble shooting, can get within a foot of a tip or ring ground between buried terminals and can easily give you the pole the fault is on @ +/- 60 feet over hundreds or thousands of feet. Used to use a Analog Sidekick T&D, (only one in the yard who could use it) until one day the meter movement fell apart, I found another broken one and snagged the movement out of it but It still doesnt want to work. I think a power relay is bad. I use a JDS/Viavi Onex 580 now. Its pretty nice, but reads SNI's as 8000 more feet of cable and DSL splitters as 4700 feet so you get some weird readings looking out to the field from cross boxes.

View attachment 1715608051

Never got into anything that sophisticated, LOL. I do have an old HP time domain reflectometer, meant primarily for RF cable. It works still after a fashion. Thing is OLD a plug in for the old HP oscilloscopes in the early 60's.

Mainframe is an old 180 series

View attachment 1715608096

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Never got into anything that sophisticated, LOL. I do have an old HP time domain reflectometer, meant primarily for RF cable. It works still after a fashion. Thing is OLD a plug in for the old HP oscilloscopes in the early 60's.

Mainframe is an old 180 series

I got a Fluke TS-100 that shoot cable distances to 3000 feet, pretty cool that you can program the values of different cable (coax, RG-59, RG-6, 24G UTP, etc. maybe even 14g electrical wire in a car? Gets opens and shorts down to the foot)


But the Onex 580 does this too: it's an all in one telecom meter, even draws dial tone.

67Dart273 said:

What school was that? I was an ET (ETR-2) fixed GCA RADAR. Only thing digital we had in 68 school was the old HP counter I've forgotten the model, "nixie tubes" readout............had to look it up LOL HP 5245
View attachment 1715608115

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CTM school at Corry Station, went to Groton CT for my “C” school then San Diego for first duty station and pretty much stayed here till I retired.

Love Nixie tube displays and tube amps!

tjpatte said:

CTM school at Corry Station, went to Groton CT for my “C” school then San Diego for first duty station and pretty much stayed here till I retired.

Love Nixie tube displays and tube amps!

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What years was this? I went to ET-A at TI in 68-9.

67Dart273 said:

What years was this? I went to ET-A at TI in 68-9.

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A wee bit later than you, 87-88 at Corry

I had to look that one up. I nearly got sent to Jacksonville or Pensacola. I was something like?? 1/4 point ahead of two other guys graduating GCA maintenance school, which then was in one of the terrible old wood blimp hangers, at Glynco, GA. One of them burned shortly after I arrived at Miramar.