Using two GE Deskon II's as an intercom

[Adam-14]

Hi Folks,

Years ago, I was given two working GE Deskon II's and they ended up in boxes in the basement.
I don't need an intercom but was wondering if there is a way to hook them up to be used as an intercom.
I am thinking that they can not be, that there needs to be a base station of some sort to create an interface between the two Deskon's.

Thank you.

 

[jim202]

Hi Folks,

Years ago, I was given two working GE Deskon II's and they ended up in boxes in the basement.
I don't need an intercom but was wondering if there is a way to hook them up to be used as an intercom.
I am thinking that they can not be, that there needs to be a base station of some sort to create an interface between the two Deskon's.

Thank you.

It would sort of depend on what the configuration of them was. Normally just one pair of wires was used years ago for a remote connection to distant radios. Multiple remotes could be bridged across the line and when one talked, the others could hear what was being said.

If they are set up for 4 wire operation, then you would have to make sure the TX pair on one went to the RX pair on the other remote.

If they were set up for DC remote control, that was in most cases using only one pair of wires. So it should work again to be heard on the other remote.

 

[SteveC0625]

Hi Folks,

Years ago, I was given two working GE Deskon II's and they ended up in boxes in the basement.
I don't need an intercom but was wondering if there is a way to hook them up to be used as an intercom.
I am thinking that they can not be, that there needs to be a base station of some sort to create an interface between the two Deskon's.

Thank you.

We did exactly that years ago with some old full size multi-channel GE consoles. It took two pair for each channel so we used some old telco cable that was laying about. I think we ended up with at least 8 working channels between the two consoles. We used this setup as a training facility for new dispatchers. It worked marvelously well.

Have fun.

 

[Adam-14]

Thank you for the responses, guys.

Jim, I'll open them up sometime and should I expect to see some jumpers that set the configuration to a 2 or 4 pair system?

If I make a mistake hooking them up, is there enough DC that I could turn both into paperweights?

Thanks again.

 

[Adam-14]

I opened the one Deskon and noticed what looks like many terminals for output and input wiring. There is also a sticker on the back that says the unit puts out 150 VDC.

Does anyone out there have an idea which terminals would work for just an audio output vs a DC control signal? I could use a meter to find the DC but wondered which terminals were correct to use.

Thank you.