alt Hacker NewsIf anyone is interested in telephone exchange technology at all, I highly recommend checking out the Connections Museum in Seattle. They have multiple eras of electromechanical switching equipment up and running, and a huge collection of cool old phones, teletypes and payphones. They also have a great YouTube channel with very knowledgeable people.
https://www.telcomhistory.org/ConnectionsSeattle.html
https://m.youtube.com/@ConnectionsMuseum
I feel like they're not well known and there's no place like it!
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Don't miss https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfOzyIib7wU for some young folk urban exploring what turns out to be a still active exchange, full of ancient and modern tech
I'm a volunteer there. It's always wonderful when we get groups who come through who have someone that worked for Ma Bell or who did work on the old analog telephone exchanges in the world.
We're opening a second location like the first in Denver, to take over the hard-to-visit one in the corporate head office.
I know one guy who make something cool with old Telephone and electronic stuff https://this-museum-is-not-obsolete.com/
Another excellent museum is the Kodiak Military History Museum at Fort Abercrombie, on Kodiak Island, Alaska.
It has some old working telephone and teletype systems. You can watch the physical switching equipment do its magic. It is truly awesome. The raw speed and accuracy of the mechanical systems is almost unbelievable.