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Telephone Tone Menagerie
Ringer 2A
Ringer 2A (the actual one featured here!)

A Collection of Vintage Telephone Tones converted into WAV files. This enchanting sound library can be yours - simply download them and play in the comfort of your own hovel. Impress friends and entrap potential lovers by playing these tones to them over and over again. I made most of these recordings many years ago and have since immortalised them digitally. If you do want to use them elsewhere then please acknowledge this site - that's all I ask...

The files have been edited so that where appropriate they may be looped to give a continuous rendition of your favorite tone. Hours of uninterrupted pleasure await you....

Click on a link to hear (or download depending on your browsers settings) a file.

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Signalling System AC9
Those little blips were sometimes heard by the caller when an STD call was answered... and are still used by BBC sound effect departments despite the fact that the trunk network was digitised years ago (they also use old fashioned dial tone too). They are not a proper 'tone' as such but little snippets of 2280 Hz tone used by the trunk signalling system AC9 which unwittingly found their way back to the subscriber. These are the only two known in captivity on show to the public outside private collections.
Transit Tones
The MF Signalling system used on the old GPO 4-wire transit trunk network. These tones could sometimes (unintentionally) be heard during a long distance call set up before ring tone was heard, not unlike the AC9 pips mentioned previously.
Busy Tones
Most people think that when they hear Busy Tone it means that the person they are calling is talking on the phone. Sometimes it does, but it could also mean that somebody else is ringing the same number and nobody is answering. Such is life.
Continuous Ring Tone
You never actually heard this on a 'real' call - but it was output from the ringer and used for special engineering purposes...
  • CR_R2A.WAV 30KB Continuous Ring Tone - Ringer 2A c1980
  • Crackly lines
You know - I forgot how really bad the telephone system used to be. Happy days!
Dial Tones
Equipment Engaged Tone & Announcements
  • EET1.WAV 45KB Equipment Engaged Tone
  • BRISTOL.WAV 31KB Lines from Bristol are engaged
  • blackpool.mp3 NEW! 54KB Lines from Blackpool are engaged (donated by Andrew Hewkin)
  • LINESENG.WAV 82K Lines from London are engaged
  • BTNETBSY.MP3 27KB Network Busy Announcement (collectors item - kindly caged and donated by P Duffield)
Inverted Ring Tone
Sometimes used in UAX's to indicate that all was well. If a fault occured then it would be replaced by NU tone. The number to hear it on was usually 299.
Number Unobtainable Tones
Paytone
These enchanting pips were heard on the old 'Pay on Answer' coinboxes when it was time to put some money in. If you don't know what a Pay on Answer coinbox is then ask a pensioner. They'll also tell you about shillings and Press Button B etc.
Ring Tones
The Speaking Clock
This is the clock that speaks. London people call it Tim. In the sticks we used to dial 8081 for it.
Miscellaneous
Here - each tone is carefully labelled for your enjoyment.
  • SWEEPAC9.WAV85KB Frequency Sweep Test Tone
  • OFF_HOOK.WAV 64KB The noise heard when a PABX extension is left off-hook
  • CNA1.WAV84KB Reading Changed Number Announcement
  • CNA_5332.MP3 67KB Leicester 2xxxx changed to 62xxxx
  • CNA24029.MP3 42KB A Very Posh Lady makes a Changed No Announcement
  • CNA92.MP3 54KB A Drab voiced lady tells of of the death of a short dialling code
  • SCARFIRE.WAV 81KB A hastily made announcement after a devastating fire at Scarborough exchange
  • SORRY.WAV23KB Sorry - no - she really is.
  • TNUHDII.WAV48KB "The number you have dialled..." spoken in a sexylatin accent.
  • WARBLE.WAV15KB A warbling warbler type warble thing
  • REPLACE.WAV 54K "Hey fat fingers you've misdialled" recorded through a sock.
  • DIALDISC.MP3 52K The Dial a Disc Service. Strangely in 1968 people actually sat and listened to the same record over and over again through a 3KHz bandwidth and paid for the honour. Sometimes if you shouted loud enough between the record you could hold a conversation with other listeners. Of course this was before CB.

  • TELEM1.MP3 41KB Telemetry Water Level - this was used by the water company to automatically indicate the height of water in a reservoir. The water company central office would dial the access number and listen to this cacophany coming from the pump house at the reservoir. The bell indicates 'feet' and the fart indicates 'inches'. The device at the reservoir was not electrically connected to the telephone line. It was a mechanical device which actually lifted a telephone receiver to answer the call and then made the noises into the handset! This overcame any legal problems with interconnection.
Test Numbers
These are numbers that can be dialled either manually or automatically by engineering staff/automatons to test the telephone service. 
The file names are made up as follows:-
T= Test No
N= Nu based
P= Paytone based
R= Ring Tone Based
 A= Alternating short/long bursts
 S= Same length bursts
 F= Faulty!
 12345 = Exchange/Number dialled was 012345299
Wow! - That's all for the time being - I hope you enjoyed them. If you've got any that you think I might like, or a 'tone' site I could link to then let me know, and remember - it's only a hobby.
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