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Message-ID: <1ff4261f-96ca-4895-4d36-d0541982f431@panix.com> Date: 15 Oct 2021 20:20:42 -0400 From: "David" <wb8foz@panix.com> Subject: Speaking of Ten Digit dialing... DC is getting 771 overlaid atop 202. This means no more 7-digit dialing. DC is the last place in the metro region it still remained. I recall all the hue and cry about how HARD it would be to remember and dial all ten whole digits. I think since then cell phones have already provided most of the training needed. Now I wonder who still here has 7D? (Besides, of course, John Levine.) There's been little publicity over the permissive period, but while they say 202 10D started 10April2021, I recall using it previously; I could be wrong. MANY years ago, it was 7D across 202-DC/301-MD/703-Northern VA; the prefixes were not reused. Then we went to interstate 10D, while intra-DC was still 7D. That way there could be 703-867, 202-867, and 301-867, etc. When 301 got the 777 overlay, C&P/BA was rather clever. (BTW: 301 is due a 2nd overlay, 227, at some point.) The number of intercept lines on a 5E/DMS is limited; overflowing those would get ugly. So She initially allowed say 90% of the 7D calls to go through, with 10% going to intercept. Over the Permissive Dialing period, while people learned & the percentage of 7D calls dropped, they kept increasing the intercepted percentage; finally they got to 100%.

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Message-ID: <20211017145627.GA801@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Date: Sun, 17 Oct 2021 14:56:27 +0000 From: Bill Horne <malQassRimiMlation@gmail.com> Subject: Winter Is Coming I knew a CO Tech back in the day: a guy named Lenny I admired and respected, who took a bid to "I&R", which was the Instalation and Repair department that handled new phone installs and repair work on existing lines, and equipment such as PBX sites. I saw him, one day, shooting the breeze with another CO guy, and I askd him if he was thinking of coming back in from the cold: one of those jibes that union men trade with each other when they're wondering how the other half lives. He told me that I needed to involve myself in a sexual act, and that he would never even think about giving up the freedom he enjoyed by being an "outside" man. I thought about that for a few seconds, and told him that I might try it myself. He smiled, and said something I've always remembered: "Bill, I love working with the stuff in your office: every time I have to borrow a T-Bird or an impulse box, I always come here, 'cause I know everything in your closet is good to go. It's really nice to have a place where everything always works. You're a good 'Inside' man." I was surprised. It seemed obvious to me that everything had to work: it was part of my job to make sure that it was so. If test equipment failed a readiness test, I would send it out to the repair depot. I even sent one of the battery-powered units off to a battery company which promised to repair anything damaged by leaking batteries: they took a month or two, but they /did/ repair it. Anyway, the subject turned to overtime, and when I asked Lenny if he was going to take the vacation time he was owed, or agree to accept the extra pay instead, he told me that he couldn't take any time off, since his foreman had everyone assigned to "Winter Work," which he told me was work the "Outside" guys did every Fall in preparation for winter. There was quite a list: not only checking seals on vault doors, but also laying in emergency food and fuel at various sites where the crews could shelter if their trucks broke down or got snowed in. We said goodbye, after we agreed that I would do best staying "inside," and he got back in his truck to do battle with Boston traffic. It was about 1988: a year later, I had accepted a job as a computer programmer, and I don't remember ever seeing Lenny again. I remember that "long ago and far away" conversation now, since I just got back from seeing a surgeon about the injuries to my wrist: his "second opinion" boils down to a prediction that I'll probably need to learn to write with my other hand, and that my left wrist will wind up locked in a fixed position, even though he said I'd still be able to type. I've got some "Winter Work" to do: I'll need mechanical aids to open cans and jars and bottles with a single hand, and shoveling snow will be out of the question, so I'll have to make a list of supplies to lay in: Kerosene, dry goods, medicines, batteries, books to read, and traditional winter clothes such as Long Johns and watch caps. I'll need a few smaller fuel cans to divide my emergency fuel into: containers small and light enough to pour from with one hand. Plus, of course, time for practice runs. It's quite a list, and if there are gaps in the Digest during the next few months, it's because I'm doing Winter Work. -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly)