The White Falcon - 17.12.1971, Side 7

Telephone
Wright test an Autovon circuit.
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In July 1961, the Naval Sta-
tion assumed responsibility for
the 1200-line telephone exchange.
To keep pace with an expanding
.^se, an additional 800 lines
e added in 1968 to bring the
lal available line capability
1,200. At the present time,
more than 1,800 lines are in use
with the number increasing every
day.
The Public Works Officer is
responsible for the operation of
the telephone exchange and all of
the associated systems. Daily
operation of the system is taken
care of by the telephone officer,
Chief Ralph Wright, a four-man
telephone installer /repairman
crew, a three-man inside plant
crew, 14 telephone operators for
the three-position switchboard,
and a six-man Icelandic telephone
contract crew to maintain the ca-
bles and switching equipment.
One of the recent additions to
telephone exchange service is the
Telephone Toll Calling Facility
located in the telephone exchange
in bldg. 839. At this facility a
person can make a long distance
call to the United States and be
billed here. About 200 calls per
month are placed at the facility
by Defense Force personnel.
The only requirement is that
ri appointment be made with the
ef telephone operator at ext.
'0 during normal working hours.
'cause of the shortage of per-
Office has lines for you
sonnel, the facility cannot be
manned continually. With the ap-
pointment system, arrangements
can be made to have someone at
the facility to place the call
for those desiring the service.
Bills are presented at the com-
pletion of the call. The caller
has 15 days in which to pay at
the American Express Bank.
During a normal working day,
each telephone operator places
more than 1,000 calls on one of
the switchboard positions. Be-
sides placing calls, the opera-
tors provide information service,
Autovon subscriber service, con-
ference calls, and, one of the
most important parts of their
job, all emergency and fire calls
from the caller to the fire de-
partment. The operators work in
8-hour shifts and are instructed
to always try to be courteous and
helpful when answering calls.
The telephone inside plant is
where all the switching equipment
necessary to complete the daily
calls is located. During normal
working hours, there is one mili-
tary and one Icelandic worker on
hand to maintain the equipment
and receive trouble calls. The
inside plant is manned 24 hours a
day by a military duty section.
The outside plant personnel do
all the telephone installation
and repair. Each day an average
of 80 telephone trouble calls
are received and processed by the
four-man crew. In addition, they
complete more than 100 work or-
ders for installations or reloca-
tions each month.
Of course you remember the big
number change that took place re-
cently. Also, you probably remem-
ber having difficulty in placing
telephone calls before the
change. Some of the most common
problems were no dial tone, or
waiting a long time for a dial
tone or dialing one number and
getting a dial tone again. Or
maybe you picked up your phone
and found a conversation on it
when you did not have an exten-
sion or a party line.
After the number change was
complete most of these problems
disappeared, according to the
telephone officer. This number
change was to balance the system
and improve the telephone serv-
ice . Now that the inconvenience
of the change is over and things
are back to normal, the telephone
officer reports the quality of
the service is much better and
people are having less problems
completing their calls.
Telephone exchange personnel
are always looking for ways to
improve service and make things
better for the telephone subscri-
bers at the NATO base. Whenever
you have problems with your tele-
phone, don't hesitate to call the
telephone service desk, at Ext
3101. If you have plans for a
move or for special telephone
services, the telephone mainte-
nance personnel are available to
assist you and give you the type
of service that will best suit
your needs.
WHITE FALCON
7