[BC] NBC and Blue

[RichardBJohnson at comcast.net]

I don't think AT&T ever used any colors but basic black and "Western Electric Gray". The Web Sources all claim it was either the colors of the lines on a wall-map or the colors of push-pins on that map.

Note that in the days of those networks, AT&T wiring wasn't even color-coded! It was paper-insulated pairs run out to a "Christmas tree" terminal block. Linemen and splicers learned how to wire these things up using tones. The TELCO "tone" was a Bakelite box containing a battery, a neon bulb, resistor, and capacitor. It ran as a relaxation oscillator and was immune to mishandling. Eventually they made the boxes out of "WE Gray" plastic and used the exact same circuit.

Cheers,
Richard B. Johnson
Book: http://www.AbominableFirebug.com/

----- Original Message -----
From: "Alan Kline" <akline at netins.net>

Also, and I wish I could remember the source--I recall reading something 
indicating that the Red and Blue names were derived from the colors of 
the plugs on the AT&T patch cords used to put the networks together...