[BC] Remembering Telco loops

[Barry Mishkind]

At 11:03 AM 7/12/2005, Phil Alexander wrote
>Aw, Mark, you missed it all. Just think, never having to fight with a
>telco testboard to get the pair you bought without a wet humming
>cable in the loop. Man, your education is just not complete. <ggg>
>
>Ah, those famous words, "Whaddya mean this circuit is not supposed to
>have load coils on it?"  Those were the days. LOL  I DO *NOT* miss them.

         Should I pipe in with the day, a
         Saturday, when the FM station I
         chief'ed called me to say they
         "sounded flat."

         A call to the test board (Yes, I
         had the number ... you may
         speculate as to why <g>),
         confirmed my suspicions ... someone
         had decided to add loading coils
         to a loop that had run nicely for
         several years.....

         A few hours of FMaTB (FM at
         Telephone Bandwidth) later and
         "magically" the audio suddenly
         "brightened up" to normal.

         As with many stations of that era
         (late 1970s), the FCC shortly thereafter
         deregulated the telco loop feeds ... and
         we - like many stations - moved to STL
         operation via microwave.