Traffic Service Position System No. 1: Operator Training Facilities

Vol. 58, No. 6, July-August 1979 Printed in U.S.A. Traffic Service Position System No. 1: Operator Training Facilities By G. RIDDELL, C. R. SWANSON, and R. T. STEINBRENNER (Manuscript received December 11, 1978) The evolution of operator training facilities for TSPS NO. 1 has involved the development of new program-controlled positions which have much greater flexibility and reliability than preceding training equipments. These PROCON-controlled positions and associated facilities are now the standard means for training TSPS operators. Coincident with the development of these facilities, a minicomputer system for generating master training tapes was designed to facilitate the generating of new training tapes and modifying existing ones to add new operating features. Since the beginning of telephony, there has been a need to train switchboard operators in the procedures required to handle and complete telephone calls. These procedures started with "on the job" training and gradually improved over the years to specialized training facilities to give the trainees the ability to handle calls before they sat down at a switchboard handling traffic. With the advent of the crossbar tandem Traffic Service Position in 1961, a new specialized training facility (100A trainer) was designed to train operators in the basics of handling traffic on this new type of switchboard (Fig. 1). This consisted of an operator position with two equipment cabinets. One of the two cabinets contained a paper tape reader, a magnetic tape player, power supplies, and racks for tapes.