PMG Telecom Radio Laboratory Books and Calibration Box Information - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: The1
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: May 14, 2021, 10:02:46 am
content: Hi all, im sure we have some PMG/Telecom/Telstra techs on here.I have been helping my Uncle recently, he used to work for PMG in the Calibration Section.I havn't been able to find any information on any of these books or diagrams. I am thinking i will scan them all in and share publicly.The 2 PMG books would appear to be training manuals and the third book i have with one example contains lots of schematic diagrams in reference to no16, im presuming telephone and other diagrams labeled with exchange and MDF side it has perhaps 30 pages or more of information, some hand drawn, the only information i can find on no16 is the Ericsson skeleton telephone, which he had some of.The other interesting thing i found were these wooden box's with some very detailed work inside them, im guessing they were used and built to be a calibration standard. I hooked one upto my bench meter and it reads as labeled even after all these years.

author: The1
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: May 14, 2021, 10:38:51 am
content: Also if anyone knows of a good telephone type forum that would be good to post this information on let me know.

author: LaserSteve
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 14, 2021, 04:30:58 pm
content: Coldwarcomms on Groups Io would like to see the books..They can link you up to the telecom hardware folks.Steve

author: The1
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: June 18, 2021, 11:34:54 pm
content: thanks i have posted on there, here's the scanned books for those interested also.PMG Long Line Course Technical Handbookhttps://eyeit.org/pmgtelecom/PMG%20Long%20Line%20Equipment%20Course%20of%20Technicial%20Instruction.pdfPMG Radio II Course Technical Handbookhttps://eyeit.org/pmgtelecom/PMG%20Radio%2011%20Technical%20Instruction%20Book.pdfSiemans No16 Schematicshttps://eyeit.org/pmgtelecom/Siemans%20No16%20PMG%20Padington%20Brisbane.pdfTX35 Sagemhttps://eyeit.org/pmgtelecom/Telecom%20Australia%20Sagem%20TX35%20Course%20Handbook.pdf4RK Transmitterhttps://eyeit.org/pmgtelecom/4RK%20Gracemere%20Rockhampton%20Transmitter%20Circuits%20and%20Photos.pdf

author: Kerlin
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 19, 2021, 11:47:52 pm
content: Yes I was a PMG Tech. The last year of the T.I.T.s (1970).I was trained and examined using those kind of books.Thanks very good to see some of these books again.The previous intake years have had a tradition of 5 and 10 year celebrations, being the last we were not introduced to that idea, always felt a bit left out.Bet Mr Miles is up there, still riding that Triumph.

author: vk6zgo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 20, 2021, 01:23:02 am
content: Quote from: Kerlin on June 19, 2021, 11:47:52 pmI joined in 1965 as an "Exempt Tech", & did the old "Open Tech's" & "Tech's Salary Barrier" exams, so wasnever a T.I.T.I stayed a Tech up to the early '80s, when I did the "TO's Bridging Training Course".I read, & studied, a lot of stuff out of the old "Radio 1" & "Radio 2", as well as other stuff from the Dept.

author: The1
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: June 20, 2021, 01:49:37 am
content: It's great to see you all here, my late uncle also did a lot with the telex typewriters something the younger generation will know nothing of except if you visit a museum. The Telstra Museum in Brisbane has taken most of my uncles collection now which will be housed on display.There's alot of good info in those books. They dont teach alot of the basics anymore at tafe/uni, things are to complicated for that now.

author: johnh
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 20, 2021, 02:48:00 am
content: Quote from: Kerlin on June 19, 2021, 11:47:52 pmInteresting tit bit about Wilf Miles. Before he joined the training school, he used to work in country installation. Back when it was still the PMG not Telecom AustraliaThe story goes instead of using travel allowance to stay in the country hotel.He set up a camp with all the mod-cons. Back in those days that was chip heater for hot water and some camp bedsOther work mates stayed with him and they all saved some money.Everything was going fine until some woman complained at local Post Office.Saying that it was deplorable, that they forced staff to camp out, instead of paying them enough.After a short investigation, he found himself working at the training school

author: Circlotron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 20, 2021, 06:21:41 am
content: Quote from: Kerlin on June 19, 2021, 11:47:52 pmWhen I was in form 2 at school I would see him riding home some afternoons toward Mt Waverley. Wondered who he was on that 52 Triumph. Looked like someone from a bygone age. Several years later I was blown away to see it parked in Sturt St outside the training school. I started as an ATT at Tooronga in Jan 76. Left in Jun 82.

author: Kerlin
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 20, 2021, 07:05:42 am
content: I have a good copy of Telephony 4 if that is of interest.Mr Miles was quite a site on a delapidated thoughly rusted old Triumph with his half bowl leather sided crash helmet. He used to wear what he called a flying suit, which looked like blue overalls. He told me he bought that thing when he was in training and rode it to work every day and its never been repaired. I didn't quite believe this about a British machine so a couple of times I quizzed him about the repairs that had been done on it. Then about six months later I did the same, to see if his stories matched or had a hole in them. The result was that I didn't catch him out so seems he road that to work for near on sixty years.I saw him travelling around on it for his remaining time, over 30 years.If there is any interest in my Tele 4 book I would scan it.

author: The1
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: June 20, 2021, 07:45:13 am
content: i guess it would be good to have them up somewhere searchable hence why i put them here and other places. I guess there's not really anywhere for the physical books to go? The Telstra Museum, NLA and State library's dont want them as they are internal books not published.

author: The1
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: June 20, 2021, 07:58:48 am
content: I have 3 of these box's now has anyone used them? I am guessing there calibration or used to test inline Equipment? this one's a different one than the other one above.

author: vk6zgo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 21, 2021, 01:08:55 am
content: Quote from: The1 on June 20, 2021, 07:58:48 amIt looks like a 600to 200matching pad.Unlike the ones normally available for general use in telephony, or those made up with discrete resistors by Techs, the impedance matching will be very accurate, with the resistor values closely following those spat out by the design formulae.

author: Kerlin
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 22, 2021, 10:42:26 pm
content: From my experience that was not used for calibration.Equipment for everyday use was made to that kind of standard, that's how things were done.Calibration gear would have been of a much higher standard.It was probably used in conjunction with a transmission measuring set (TMS) for terminating a line into the correct impedance.The TMS used was the AWA A220 and there was also another model of the same thing but was a longer shorter format.I can recall using a box similar to that when doing what was called a "line up" (level check and adjustment) on long line carrier systems for telex use.The resistances provided by it does match with the impedance of the various types of communications lines, however it is missing 135 ohms for twisted pair cables but 200 would be close enough as practical line impedances do vary.I had a great laugh at a linesman who called me when I was working on a test desk, he asked me to check a particular pair in a cable because he thought it had a "partial short".So he would have thought it was for putting partial shorts on lines.I should have asked him how many ohms a standard partial short was - Hahaha

author: The1
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: June 26, 2021, 08:37:22 am
content: thankyou for the reply, most interesting!I will use these to check my meters regardless i think as they all read the same, handy boxs for extra resistance checking.I had not looked on the bottom but one has stamped May 1951.They all also have numbers on them, the 600ohms ones are no12 and the dual 600/200 ohms are 14 so perhaps there are many others out there with different configurations.The 600/200ohms one also has written on it 10db loss @ 1kc/s So used with transmission equipment sounds right, also being that they are from the PMG Radio Laboratory.

author: gbaddeley
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 29, 2021, 09:19:00 am
content: I have a some of these PMG course of technical instruction books, dated 1949-1964. My father used these during his PMG / Telecom career, ca. 1938-1977, finishing as the STOIC running the telephone exchange in a rural city in Victoria.Radio 1, Radio 2Telephony 1, 2, 3, 4Long Line Equipment 2, 3Heat, Magnetism & ElectricityDrawing for TelecommunicationApplied Electricity 2 (very good on DC & AC theory)Australian Post Office Workshops Data HandbookI drooled over these from about 10 years old, in early 1970s. These books and Electronics Australia mag got me into the hobby. Still going.

author: The1
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: June 29, 2021, 01:03:28 pm
content: Sounds like your nearlly have the full collection! id so love copies if you scan them! Im still re-reading these, good stuff.

author: gbaddeley
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 30, 2021, 02:07:20 am
content: To properly scan them, I would need to slice off the book binding, and I’m not going to do that on my only copies!

author: The1
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: June 30, 2021, 02:09:30 am
content: that's fair enough, mine were already used and the outside paper was gone already, so i just undid the staples and scanned them all. Hopefully someone will scan the rest someday so they are not lost.

author: gbaddeley
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 30, 2021, 09:07:53 am
content: They’re not lost, just not viewable to the Internet audience. One day. Maybe.

author: The1
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: June 30, 2021, 09:24:19 am
content: i fully understand.Im not sure how many copies of things like these exist seeing that it is a Australian specific book and i suspect that these were internal training books only.I have contacted state library's and the National Library of Australia but they have no records of these books and i offered them the books but they wont take them as they were never published. So perhaps some museums would have them but likely not as there isn't likely much value in them as a display item.In my case these were in the bin along with a lot of the other things i saved. When people pass on their houses get cleaned out for sale.