The Virginia Telephone Museum Historian (Docent):  Curtis Anderson

Left to right:  Curtis testing a telephone circuit in 1972,  Curtis testing a circuit in 2009,
Curtis as tour guide in telephone museum,  main entrance to the museum in Richmond.

Curtis Anderson

Curtis Anderson received his A.A.S. degree in Electronic Technology from John Tyler Community College in 1969 and his B.S. degree in Industrial Technology from Virginia State University in 1977.  Currently a retired employee from Verizon Communications, Curtis started teaching classes in new technologies in 1978 at such places as Richmond Technical Center, John Tyler Community College, Virginia State University, Bell Labs, and has traveled to China to conduct classes.  From vacuum tube theory to integrated chip technology, his work experience with analog and digital technologies, Curtis still brings into the classroom a broad base of knowledge and experience.

Curtis got involved with museum founders Tommy and Eleanor Harris in 1999 and joined the Old Dominion Pioneers Chapter 43 helping with their website design and posting images for promoting the museum.  Several years later, Curtis started giving tours to the museum while still employed with Verizon and continued giving tours and other speaking engagements after retiring.

Personal Information

Personal Web Site

 Resume
(includes work experience and job titles)

As a ham radio operator, station N4ON Curtis operated RTTY in the mid 1970's.
In today's terms, that is sending and receiving wireless text messages. 

My first personal PC by Radio Shack using a model 33 ASCII teletype for a printer
in 1980.  Using a reed relay and machine language code to convert parallel data
to serial data format, the printer ran at 100 wpm speed.

 

Verizon Communications Retiree  12/2009 - Present

Verizon Communications
Special Services Technician  01/1998 – 12/2009

 Provisioning 

• Manage all daily operations in providing customers new or upgraded voice and data circuits
• Coordinate administrative tasks between departments to meet tight time schedules
• Communicate with customers, service representatives, engineers, central office technicians, field technicians and vendors
• Meet all FCC required specifications for circuit parameters including testing, measuring, and adjustments using engineering drawings

Maintenance

• Interface with customers, vendors, and repair technicians to resolve complex telecommunication problems
• Test and isolate network and circuit outages related to both hardware and software technologies  
• Maintain accurate database records using various computer systems
• Communicate and coordinate efforts with customers, dispatchers, and repair technicians  

Bell Atlantic of Virginia
Computer Field Engineer  10/1982 - 12/1997

 Operations 

• Backup and restore computer operating systems using disk and/or tape media 
• Troubleshoot and isolate hardware and software problems for corrective action 

Maintenance

• Troubleshoot and repair complex computer hardware systems and devices
• Use various diagnostic procedures and test equipment in restoring large multi-user computer systems
   

C & P Telephone Company
Technician  12/1969 - 09/1982

 Switching 

• Repair long distance call switching equipment
• Requires knowledge of relay logic, solid state logic, electrical and mechanical theory of operation

 

 

 

 

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