European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - December 10, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday. December 10, 1985 the stars and stripes Page 17 Frankfurt s disastrous first week Ello in Frankfurt they 0ke wryly about sept. 10,1984 As a Day Hal will live in  Telephone system technician remember the Day Well. When we activated the Frankfurt ets switch Hal monday it was a total  said Nelson Riffe. Deputy project manager for ets. Community leaders remember it Well. The first week was  said maj. Clifford Pluimer. Executive officer of the 102nd signal in. We got a lot of phone Calls. But we pretty Well knew everybody s  and he Public remembers it Well. The first week everything was  said june Gillis from Frankfurt s army Community service outreach office. The big joke then was calling ets the elimination of the Telephone  the fran Murl ets twitch came close to breaking Down that morning. People used the hell out of it. It was a new thing. They wanted to try it  said a. John Thomas an Engineer with the information systems engineering come Europe. The system could t Lake  trainers had Given customer education classes to 3,000 people More than what we expected said Plummer. We advertised the classes on radio to. Flyers pamphlets and announced the classes in stall meetings. We used every Avenue to gel he word  but the Ellort did t prepare ets workers or the Public for the disaster that took place after the new switch was turned on. Software problems were aggravated when callers used the system incorrectly. Many forgot Hal once the new system was activated Only seven digit numbers would work. Others believing they were hanging up tapped the disconnect Button and accidentally activated he system s special features. And there was the confusion that comes from simply being unfamiliar with the system s habits. With the old system a caller could hear the phone making noises counting out the numbers dialled. You did your part the phone did  said col. John Bashore. Deputy project manager of ets. The new switch is quiet. The user does his part but he s no sure if the phone is doing its. We finally had to limit the number of Calls the switch would take so thai it would t overload itself he said the software problems came As a Surprise to the ets stall. Operational tests in Munich indicated there would be no problems with the Frankfurt Cut Over unfortunately the testing device could t simulate the amount of Calls of which Many were dialled incorrectly that were made that monday morning Riffe said. Because the system was t working properly. Rifle said Many callers gave up. That helped relieve stress on the system he said so that Siemens which buil the switch could work on the software. A lot was Learned from the Frankfurt affair. Kaiserslautern. Heidelberg and All the other switches owe their smooth transitions Inlo ets to Frankfurt we turned out to be the Guinea pigs said Plummer. That s Why everybody after us has had smooth  is photo by Dave Oldie sat. Craig Jewell Monitor a Lignoul on a pan pm repeater and Heckt the Tignal displayed on an Otrillo scope. Repeater equipment it located Between Telephone twitch and microwave station. Projected dates of ets switchover 1985 Heilbronn dec. 13 Sieg Elsbach dec. 13 1986 Schwa Ebisch Hall Jan. 10 Necka sulm Jan. 10 Schwa Ebisch Gemuend Jan. 31 Tilburg feb. 7 Crail sheim feb. 14 maastricht March 7 Rotterdam March 7 Oechsl March 7 Eschborn March 7 Roedel Heirn March 14 Aschaffenbur March 21 Friedberg March 21 Glessen april 18 Butzbach april 18 Augsburg Reese april 18 Gablinger april 18 Heidelberg army Hosp. May 2 Kirc Goens May 9 Arnberg May 16 Vilseck May 16 Worms May 23 Mannheim Coleman june 6 Karlsruhe june 13 Ellingen june 13 Grafe Woehr june 27 Bundlach july 11 Bremerhaven july 18 Bremerhaven army Hosp. July 18 Babenhausen july 25 Darmstadt aug. 15 Griesheim aug. 15 Ober Ramstadt aug. 22 Muenster aug. 29 bad Kreuz Nach sept. 12 Hohenfels sept. 19 Regensburg sept. 19 bad Kreuz Nach army Hosp. Sept. 26 Schwabach oct. 3 North Point oct. 10 Baum older oct. 17 Neu Bruecke oct. 24 nah Bollenbach nov. 7 Hohenfels sept. 19 Regensburg sept. 19 bad Kreuz Nach army Hosp. Soul Schwabach oct. 3 North Point oct. 10 Baum older oct. 17 Neu Bruecke oct. 24 nah Bollenbach nov. 7 Idar Oberlein nov. 7 Sermersheim nov. 21 Bamberg nov. 21 Berchtesgaden dec. 5 bad sibling dec 5 Badt Oelz dec. 12 Garmisch dec. 12 1987 Herzo base Jan. 9 Erlanger Jan. 16 Feuchtl Jan. 23 Hillesheim Jan. 30 Ansbach Hindenburg feb. 6 Ansbach Bleidorn feb. 6 Nuernberg Merrell feb. 13 Nuernberg Monteilh feb. 13 Nuernberg tinder feb. 13 Mannheim Funari March 13 Wuerzburg March 20 Wuerzburg army Hosp. March 20 Nuernberg Monteilh feb. 13 Nuernberg finder feb. 13 Mannheim Funari March 13 Wuerzburg March 20 Wuerzburg army Hosp. March 20 Wuerzburg Emory March 20 Wuerzburg River March 20 Werl Heirn april 24 Schweinfurt april 30 bad kiss Ngen april 30 Kitzinger Larson May 15 Kitzinger Harvey May 15 Span Dahlem May 29 Chomsee june 5 monchengladbach june 12 Herronen june 19 Miessau june 26 Hess Isch Oldendorf july 3 Prem july 3 Kalmar july 24