Death of Analogue

[Worldsend]

OK. A bit of social history. As some of you may know, in a previous life I was a police officer. In 1980 I took on a country beat for nine years as I had young children and we were given a nice country house to live in and the children could go to a rural school. In the office attached to the house was a cupboard and in that cupboard was a speaker system and an air raid siren. Every six months or so I was sent a postcard with a time and date. It could be any time of the day. I would have to go to the speaker which until then would have been silent. It would leap into action with a test call. It would sound various pips and then I would be given a password which I would have to send off to prove I had been listening. The idea was that in the event of nuclear war I would have to listen to this device and would be given a five minute warning for a nuclear warhead landing. In that five minutes I would have to sound the air raid siren to give the local villagers a three minute warning. Quite what we were supposed to do in those three minutes I will leave to your imagination. Put your head between your legs and kiss your arse goodbye was the joke phrase of the time.
The reason I tell you all this is that the early warning speakers were linked to the speaking clock system. On the third pip and all that. The speaking clock system was set apart from all other telephone systems and the majority of lines to main bases were buried. the idea being that should all other communications fail the lines for the speaking clock would stay open between strategic places.
The whole system has now gone but in the day these hidden speakers were in many public buildings. All police stations had one as there were police stations or beat offices in most towns and villages.
I had to test the siren once a year. It would lead to numerous phone calls as to what was going on in the village!
Those were the good old days before internet and sputnick was about the only satellite we knew about.
Just thought I would share a bit of old history for those that are interested.

And the three day course about what to do if we were under nuclear attack....

 

[pargyle]

And the three day course about what to do if we were under nuclear attack....

Which, basically, suggested putting your dining table on its side under the stairs and barricading yoursef into the space with your bed mattresses whilst waiting for the end of the world ... and all this in two minutes (you wasted the first minute panicking). What you did if you lived in a high rise flat or a bungalow was stick your head between your legs and pray.

Nothing much has changed - I assume the great and good will occupy the few proper nuclear shelters which we are not supposed to know about and the only real survivors will be those of us living so far away from any real population centres, ports or militay establishments and all they will suffer is a return to stone age living and radiation sickness .. and the crews of our Trident subs - although where they would go afterwards ?

We have been pretty complacent about the potential for some rogue state dropping or initiating a nuclear device in our midst since the cold war eased - we were probably better prepared in the 1960's than we are now.

 

[Swarm]

Good riddance. The only pity is the innocent wildlife that's suffered us for long enough.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Nobody cared when it was privatised, all we heard were stories of how awful the old GPO service was. That was when non essential maintenance was being carried out and that came to an abrupt halt after we were sold off, which was kind of ironic, selling something which was already publicly owned but a few players made some big bucks. Us minions watched the service we took pride in being eroded and our skills being devalued but the public don't care about that, all they care about is getting what they want, yesterday.
Broadband was rolled out on an aging copper (copper? not always, lots of ali still existed!!!) network, in some mainly rural areas, where it was the bare essentials necessary to cobble together a circuit that was capable of carrying speech. The latest laugh has been watching the multitude of fibre dropwires going up, linking from pole to pole and this is in built up areas, standards that were not acceptable back in the days of copper!! The lack of non essential maintenance to the infrastructure means most of the existing ducts are already full to capacity or blocked or both.
Though people consider it as such, telecommunication was never one of the essential services and we were being told that back in the seventies, nothing changed. I would like to see a reliable, working alternative in place beforehand but that doesn't happen in this country.

Remember when there was an interminable wait to get a telephone line installed? Employers regularly wrote pleading letters explaining that Joe or Fred was an essential worker with call out duties and needed to be provided with a telephone to facilitate that. Party lines where lifting a handset would find a neighbour chattering away on the line. PO Telephones and subsequently BT had little incentive to improve until competitors moved into the market. I don't know what Strowger would make of the current systems.

 

[BeeKeyPlayer]

Remember when there was an interminable wait to get a telephone line installed? Employers regularly wrote pleading letters explaining that Joe or Fred was an essential worker with call out duties and needed to be provided with a telephone to facilitate that. Party lines where lifting a handset would find a neighbour chattering away on the line. PO Telephones and subsequently BT had little incentive to improve until competitors moved into the market. I don't know what Strowger would make of the current systems.

I remember when starting as self-employed working from home in the mid 70s. I was told there was an 18 month waiting list - which they reduced when I described my situation.

 

[Swarm]

Remember when there was an interminable wait to get a telephone line installed? Employers regularly wrote pleading letters explaining that Joe or Fred was an essential worker with call out duties and needed to be provided with a telephone to facilitate that. Party lines where lifting a handset would find a neighbour chattering away on the line. PO Telephones and subsequently BT had little incentive to improve until competitors moved into the market. I don't know what Strowger would make of the current systems.

Yes I do remember, I had a party line. I also remember the ten year plan and changing lengths of ali cable identified as rubbish, by skilled engineers, more of a development than simply replacing a faulty section, that really did improve service. I remember exchange areas where underground faults were eradicated, they became a thing of the past. Privatisation brought an end to to that, DACS units and cheap work arounds instead of proper alternatives, anything to keep the shareholders happy. All our good work was undone in a few years by zero investment and cutting corners, short term fixes by short term sea gull management.
Competitors moved in? Maybe in a few cities but the rot had well and truly set in by then and most of these competitors still used the same network anyway, all that changed was the name. Not all exchanges were Strowger, even back in the 70's, there were more TXE2's before System X and Y were introduced.
There were also a number of CEO's who left with a huge wedge as reward for their failure but I include those under the sea gull banner.

 

[robmort]

Personally I think it's a disaster waiting to happen. Any loss of power with digital and there's no means of calling an ambulance! Talk about setting up the UK for a fall at a time of energy insecurity!

Inevitable. Who regrets the end of analogue TV?
Most younger people don't even have landlines as mobile phones have proved to be reliable for most people. The cost of maintaining the analogue network for the few is not affordable when few want to pay for it

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Party lines where lifting a handset would find a neighbour chattering away on the line

we had a party line when we had a phone installed in the shop, didn't really bother us as it was primarily for people phoning orders in and our neighbours had their phone installed as Roderick was an amblumance man and was 'on call' as the 'station' was only two hundred yards up the road.
My grandparents also had a party line when they first had a phone - they thought it was great as the 'other' line was my grandfather's old rugby mate and his wife Esme (still going at a hundred) so whenever either wanted a chat, you just picked up the phone and rattled the cradle a few times which made the phone the other end give a single 'ting' and you could talk for ages without running up any charges. Handy when it was raining and/or there was an interesting match on the telly

 

[Dodge]

welcome to the neo liberal free market economy. everyone sat back and watched successive governments sell off our national assets, rubbed their hands with glee when a few scraps in the form of discounted share purchases at the launch. And now it's all gone into the pockets of their mates.
No need to worry about the ability to call an ambulance in an emergency - once the next lot of shysters (regardless of political flag, as they are all much the same now) sell the NHS off to their sponsors, nobody will be able to pay for the ambulance - or the medical treatment at the other end.

Shush, don't tell Sid!

 

[Karol]

Inevitable. Who regrets the end of analogue TV?

Not the same thing.

Most younger people don't even have landlines as mobile phones have proved to be reliable for most people.

Reliability is a separate issue. It's one thing to have a phone on the blink that can be fixed or changed. Quite something else to lose phones completely during power outages or network disruption. Many young people would have a mental meltdown if they were to lose their phones.

The cost of maintaining the analogue network for the few is not affordable when few want to pay for it

Agreed but then the cost of digital is considerably greater not least environmentally.

 

[enrico]

Made the mistake of going to Sainsburys yesterday. Forgot they had had problems. All the people who didn't get their shopping delivered came to the store. No one could pay as all the machines were down, the cash machine had run out of money. the tills were queued back up all the isles...... I turned round and walked out. Doesn't taker much to upset the apple cart

 

[Murox]

Putting all the eggs in one basket has always been a dodgy strategy. And then there is the latest epidemic which seems to affect mainly certain city dwellers under 40 years old, “nomophobia” (no-mobile-phone-phobia).

 

[roche]

Inevitable. Who regrets the end of analogue TV?
Most younger people don't even have landlines as mobile phones have proved to be reliable for most people. The cost of maintaining the analogue network for the few is not affordable when few want to pay for it

Analog TV was better, in many ways. More energy efficient, less reliance on infrastructure, better performance in low signal areas - but those advantages get overlooked by the Governments commercial desire to sell spectrum.

 

[Buzby]

Remember when there was an interminable wait to get a telephone line installed? Employers regularly wrote pleading letters explaining that Joe or Fred was an essential worker with call out duties and needed to be provided with a telephone to facilitate that. Party lines where lifting a handset would find a neighbour chattering away on the line. PO Telephones and subsequently BT had little incentive to improve until competitors moved into the market. I don't know what Strowger would make of the current systems.

I was in Birmingham Central exchange from 3rd year apprenticeship. It was a mixed 2000, pre2000 24hour rota with about 25 staff. Went to TXE4 with about 12 staff and then system x which was visited occasionally.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Analog TV was better, in many ways. More energy efficient, less reliance on infrastructure, better performance in low signal areas - but those advantages get overlooked by the Governments commercial desire to sell spectrum.

And the programs were better in them days. Anyone remember the Grove family?

 

[Gilberdyke John]

I was in Birmingham Central exchange from 3rd year apprenticeship. It was a mixed 2000, pre2000 24hour rota with about 25 staff. Went to TXE4 with about 12 staff and then system x which was visited occasionally.

My very first job from school was at Milnsbridge new exchange, working for GEC Telecoms installation team as part of the first intake of Trainee Installers. Lodging at The Shoulder of Mutton in Slaithwaite, with 6gns a week lodging allowance, which was more than the wage. Moved around various exchanges in the region - York. Wakefield, Leeds. Then down to the Midlands, South Africa, back to the UK and left telecoms to move into process plant engineering at a new T&L Glucose refinery. Luckily I was mostly working on new exchanges so apart from an exchange extension at York exchange I didn't encounter asbestos insulated cabling. York was memorable because of the excellent canteen and a blind TO who refurbished rotary dials and set them up by ear. There was a wiring gangway reserved for him to walk from the lift to his work area. It had to be kept clear of trip hazards.

 

[roche]

And the programs were better in them days. Anyone remember the Grove family?

There is a finite quantity of quality programmes. More channels just spreads them thinner.