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[Keith ABS]

 And of course, with a fax, you got the little slip that printed out to confirm it had arrived at the destination.
Email, they can all lie saying you sent it to the wrong address

Keith ABS

[zirk]

I have a small fax/phone machine in my attic that you can have if you need to do this regularly Zirk.

Thanks for the Offer Sir T but I gave up my Home Land Line a long time ago. 

[Kevin Wood]

Why don't you ask them if they have a telex machine?

I can do morse code if you've got a blanket and a bonfire to generate the smoke signals? 

[zirk]

Why don't you ask them if they have a telex machine?

I can do morse code if you've got a blanket and a bonfire to generate the smoke signals? 

Strangely enough, Ive been to their Buildings many times, and yes they do have a Telex and a dirty great big directional HF Yagi on the Roof that they use it with. 

Forget the Smoke Signals Kevin, I can set a 10 Ghz link from here to your House via the Telecom Tower but the difficult bit is getting a Fax to them. 

[Kevin Wood]

HF YAGI, you say?

I'll bring my Elecraft K2.

[TheBoy]

Telecom Tower

So its going back in time 27yrs, as it got renamed BT Tower in 1991

Ever been up it?

[zirk]

Telecom Tower

So its going back in time 27yrs, as it got renamed BT Tower in 1991

Ever been up it?

GPO Tower, Post Office Tower, BT Tower, Telecom Tower then back to BT Tower, they even tried to call Museum Tower at one point but that soon got overruled. 

Yea, Ive been up it more times than I care to remember tbh, in the early 90's, difficult place to get into even if you worked for BT, I never did I was a Contractor, I had a whole Floor (T32) pretty much all to myself for about 3 years, it was the floor under the Restaurant which was about 6 Floors from the Roof Area (T40) as said getting Security Clearance was almost impossible without an Escort, I was popping in and out some much to different Floors that Security gave up on me in the end and just gave ongoing Access Pass to All Areas including the Roof with the occasional Parking space under the Tower if available..

BT had just recently de installed all there System 3 and 4 Car Telephone Equipment on that Floor, I had managed to convince the Tower Engineers to remove all there System 4 VHF Dipoles which were scattered all over the Roof Area in favor of a VHF Omni 4 Stack Dipoles mounted on the top o of the Weather Mast making it the tallest Aerial on the Tower, I had excursive Rights to The Aerial, the Heliax Feedrers and about 8 Racks worth of Equipment Space on T32, what I ended doing with all that is another story. 

[aaronjb]

My favourite thing is businesses (legal, usually) who feel that a fax - which is unencrypted and therefore entirely open to tapping - is somehow more secure than something you could encrypt, cryptographically sign and send electronically.

But I guess that's why lawyers get paid the big bucks  (Financial industry was just as bad up until a few years ago)

Article from 1990 on fax tapping - http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1990-09-09/business/9003150519_1_fax-facsimile-machine-tapping - just because the opening paragraph amused me.. the more things change, the more they stay the same?

[Viral_Jim]

Print it and Ups it

This.

All the to and fro, petrol, time etc it’ll pay for itself. I’d just print, sign, do whatever and have fed ex or someone come collect it from my door.

However, the costs may be steep, as it appears they need to deliver the package to the 1980s!

Bloody fax indeed...

[TheBoy]

I had a whole Floor (T32) pretty much all to myself for about 3 years, it was the floor under the Restaurant

Presumably 2 floors below restaurant, as the viewing gallery is just below, and is the lowest floor that rotates.

I get to wander around it more often than I'd like, but the amount of legacy comms stuff in there is shocking.  I wonder if some remains because there is nobody old enough around still to know if its important or not

[zirk]

Presumably 2 floors below restaurant, as the viewing gallery is just below, and is the lowest floor that rotates.

Yep, sounds about right, thinking about the Restaurant was as you say T34, its been a while.

I get to wander around it more often than I'd like, but the amount of legacy comms stuff in there is shocking.  I wonder if some remains because there is nobody old enough around still to know if its important or not

Sounds like nothing much has changed then in the 20+ years since Ive been there then, because that was exactly my thoughts back then, lots of Cream Coloured Control Panels with Bakelite Knobs on them 

You did get the impression that if BT Fred didnt turn up that day the Floor or Dept would shut or go On Hold until He's return. 

Out of interest do they still have them stupid Second Security Doors outside each Lift Floor that if you couldn't remember the Code and the Lift Doors shut behind you you were stranded there until someone just happened to pop in to your Floor?  or if like me, you could get locked in the Tower over a Bank Hol Weekend because they switch the Lifts off 

[Kevin Wood]

I get to wander around it more often than I'd like, but the amount of legacy comms stuff in there is shocking.  I wonder if some remains because there is nobody old enough around still to know if its important or not

Yep, exactly that. A mate of mine recently got made redundant from a water company. He got back in as a consultant on the basis that he thought he could save them money by tidying up the comms services that they are paying for but no longer need. I think in his first month he saved them 20 grand cancelling SIM cards and phone lines that were clearly not being used, because the buildings where they terminate no longer exist. Then he started to drill down to stuff that is harder to prove is redundant - often visiting sites to find leased lines still connected but going no further than an old patch panel or where the kit on the end has expired, sometimes spectacularly.

Basically, the "new broom" comms providers come in every few years and install the next generation of shiny but none of them know exactly how much of the older kit they've made redundant and it's not theirs to touch anyway. If nobody wants to risk putting their @rse on the line to find out it stays there and continues to be paid for.

[TheBoy]

Out of interest do they still have them stupid Second Security Doors outside each Lift Floor that if you couldn't remember the Code and the Lift Doors shut behind you you were stranded there until someone just happened to pop in to your Floor?  or if like me, you could get locked in the Tower over a Bank Hol Weekend because they switch the Lifts off 

Its all proximity cards nowadays, and most of the (people) lifts are near a stairwell that remains accessible.

As its a 24/7 site, lifts remain on.