Oh my goodness.
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Oh my goodness. I think this is the only place on the internet nerdy enough to help me locate this info.
My parents met on a what was effectively an unofficial chat room hosted by capital radio (London). In the 1980s, Capital Radio used to leave their switchboard open at night (unintentionally, they didn’t realise it was happening) and people would call the regular radio phone and just end up in what was effectively a giant group call for Londoners late at night. (I say Londoners due to the reach of the radio rather than the phone line itself, people wouldn’t know the number unless they listened in).
I understand they changed how the phone system worked later in the 80s and closed this loophole off.
So what I’m after is…
- the nature of the switchboard that allowed this to happen - edit now answered
- what change would have blocked this later on - edit now answered
- any historic info on the period it was left open, or personal accounts - still pending, trying other social media too for this#radio #capitalradio #phreaking #VintagePhoning #1980s #retrochatroom
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Oh my goodness. I think this is the only place on the internet nerdy enough to help me locate this info.
My parents met on a what was effectively an unofficial chat room hosted by capital radio (London). In the 1980s, Capital Radio used to leave their switchboard open at night (unintentionally, they didn’t realise it was happening) and people would call the regular radio phone and just end up in what was effectively a giant group call for Londoners late at night. (I say Londoners due to the reach of the radio rather than the phone line itself, people wouldn’t know the number unless they listened in).
I understand they changed how the phone system worked later in the 80s and closed this loophole off.
So what I’m after is…
- the nature of the switchboard that allowed this to happen - edit now answered
- what change would have blocked this later on - edit now answered
- any historic info on the period it was left open, or personal accounts - still pending, trying other social media too for this#radio #capitalradio #phreaking #VintagePhoning #1980s #retrochatroom
@leymoo I sadly do not have this information, but this story makes me smile because I have a pair of acquaintances (one Irish, one American) who met online in a Christian chat-with-avatars room back in the early aughts (one of the early experiments in that kind of thing; the avatars were like Final Fantasy icons and the world was a tiled grid). They eventually wed.
... they were two atheists who had logged in to gawk at the existence of the thing.
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Oh my goodness. I think this is the only place on the internet nerdy enough to help me locate this info.
My parents met on a what was effectively an unofficial chat room hosted by capital radio (London). In the 1980s, Capital Radio used to leave their switchboard open at night (unintentionally, they didn’t realise it was happening) and people would call the regular radio phone and just end up in what was effectively a giant group call for Londoners late at night. (I say Londoners due to the reach of the radio rather than the phone line itself, people wouldn’t know the number unless they listened in).
I understand they changed how the phone system worked later in the 80s and closed this loophole off.
So what I’m after is…
- the nature of the switchboard that allowed this to happen - edit now answered
- what change would have blocked this later on - edit now answered
- any historic info on the period it was left open, or personal accounts - still pending, trying other social media too for this#radio #capitalradio #phreaking #VintagePhoning #1980s #retrochatroom
@leymoo
Try to get in touch with the person behind the YT channel “Look Mum No Computer” and “This Museum is not Obsolete”.
The latter will probably explain my recommendation (TL;DW: a museum for musical implements and telecom equipment in the UK from days past). -
@leymoo I sadly do not have this information, but this story makes me smile because I have a pair of acquaintances (one Irish, one American) who met online in a Christian chat-with-avatars room back in the early aughts (one of the early experiments in that kind of thing; the avatars were like Final Fantasy icons and the world was a tiled grid). They eventually wed.
... they were two atheists who had logged in to gawk at the existence of the thing.
@mark I love this! Both of them maybe thinking
“Wait, I’m not the only imposter here?!” -
Oh my goodness. I think this is the only place on the internet nerdy enough to help me locate this info.
My parents met on a what was effectively an unofficial chat room hosted by capital radio (London). In the 1980s, Capital Radio used to leave their switchboard open at night (unintentionally, they didn’t realise it was happening) and people would call the regular radio phone and just end up in what was effectively a giant group call for Londoners late at night. (I say Londoners due to the reach of the radio rather than the phone line itself, people wouldn’t know the number unless they listened in).
I understand they changed how the phone system worked later in the 80s and closed this loophole off.
So what I’m after is…
- the nature of the switchboard that allowed this to happen - edit now answered
- what change would have blocked this later on - edit now answered
- any historic info on the period it was left open, or personal accounts - still pending, trying other social media too for this#radio #capitalradio #phreaking #VintagePhoning #1980s #retrochatroom
@leymoo Early 80s… likely still strowger equipment
The details get a bit tricky, but a fault could lead to equipment not properly being marked as busy, so subsequent callers end up connected to the same pair
Capital would have had dedicated main exchange equipment, and its own PABX on-prem, which complicates things
I expect the “night service” function on the PABX put a fault on the busy marker wire
I know a couple of BBC switchboard ops from that time who might be able to confirm… I’ll ask!
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@leymoo Early 80s… likely still strowger equipment
The details get a bit tricky, but a fault could lead to equipment not properly being marked as busy, so subsequent callers end up connected to the same pair
Capital would have had dedicated main exchange equipment, and its own PABX on-prem, which complicates things
I expect the “night service” function on the PABX put a fault on the busy marker wire
I know a couple of BBC switchboard ops from that time who might be able to confirm… I’ll ask!
@lpbkdotnet ok this is amazing detail - I have friends of friends in THG but it’s not something I have detailed knowledge of.
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@lpbkdotnet ok this is amazing detail - I have friends of friends in THG but it’s not something I have detailed knowledge of.
@leymoo sorry for being a bit light on detail, character limits etc!
If this was a fault, that was either fixed when they noticed it, or resolved when their exchange was upgraded to an electronic exchange. Hard to say!
Early feedback from my phone friends is that a fault on the p-wire of the night service extension on the PABX at the studio could cause calls to be stacked together like this, it’s a workable theory… but so far i haven’t had a response from anyone who knows what kit capital had
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@leymoo sorry for being a bit light on detail, character limits etc!
If this was a fault, that was either fixed when they noticed it, or resolved when their exchange was upgraded to an electronic exchange. Hard to say!
Early feedback from my phone friends is that a fault on the p-wire of the night service extension on the PABX at the studio could cause calls to be stacked together like this, it’s a workable theory… but so far i haven’t had a response from anyone who knows what kit capital had
@lpbkdotnet I just complimented you on something you then apologised for, you must be British or Canadian 😂.
I’d say maybe upgraded to an electronic exchange - timing is right - I am very very limited in knowledge here, but I’m aware of the switchover to System X in that period. Hoping the radio parts of fediverse might chip in on whether the radio station had any idea this was going on, or even any people who also called in, or whether the timing of the switchover to an electronic exchange triggers any memories for them.
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Oh my goodness. I think this is the only place on the internet nerdy enough to help me locate this info.
My parents met on a what was effectively an unofficial chat room hosted by capital radio (London). In the 1980s, Capital Radio used to leave their switchboard open at night (unintentionally, they didn’t realise it was happening) and people would call the regular radio phone and just end up in what was effectively a giant group call for Londoners late at night. (I say Londoners due to the reach of the radio rather than the phone line itself, people wouldn’t know the number unless they listened in).
I understand they changed how the phone system worked later in the 80s and closed this loophole off.
So what I’m after is…
- the nature of the switchboard that allowed this to happen - edit now answered
- what change would have blocked this later on - edit now answered
- any historic info on the period it was left open, or personal accounts - still pending, trying other social media too for this#radio #capitalradio #phreaking #VintagePhoning #1980s #retrochatroom
You might be amused to know that my mother is now deeply bored of the phone kit and phone system details I am showing her (please don’t stop sharing it, I’m loving it) but I suspect my dad would be bored instead about the radio and human interest aspect of this (and would also be deeply squeamish to talk in detail about meeting my mother, someone he broke up with 32 years ago) so it balances out l reckon #radio #capitalradio #phreaking #VintagePhoning #1980s #retrochatroom
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@lpbkdotnet I just complimented you on something you then apologised for, you must be British or Canadian 😂.
I’d say maybe upgraded to an electronic exchange - timing is right - I am very very limited in knowledge here, but I’m aware of the switchover to System X in that period. Hoping the radio parts of fediverse might chip in on whether the radio station had any idea this was going on, or even any people who also called in, or whether the timing of the switchover to an electronic exchange triggers any memories for them.
@leymoo lol “sorry” 😂
a friend says:
Capital Radio had a PABX 7, but phone-ins used a completely separate group of lines which were termed on Key and Lamp units (callers who actually got on air were called back on another group of lines).
I can’t think how this would have worked on a normal KLU set-up.
I also have a memory of some sort of late-night chatline which was “official” rather than being something discovered accidentally. But it was a long time ago
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@leymoo lol “sorry” 😂
a friend says:
Capital Radio had a PABX 7, but phone-ins used a completely separate group of lines which were termed on Key and Lamp units (callers who actually got on air were called back on another group of lines).
I can’t think how this would have worked on a normal KLU set-up.
I also have a memory of some sort of late-night chatline which was “official” rather than being something discovered accidentally. But it was a long time ago
@leymoo Capital phone-ins are mentioned (with photos) here:
http://www.samhallas.co.uk/repository/journals/Post_Office_Telecommunications_Journal/POTJ%20Vol%2025%20No%204%20Winter%201973-74.pdfThe unit with all the switches in the bottom left of the cover photo is the key-and-lamp unit
The use of KLUs changes my technical theory, but there are other options. the announcer mentioned in the article may have been switched off or faulty, or multiple keys on the KLU could have been left operated, or something else entirely!
This has been quite a fun little technical research jaunt!
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