[VoIP] Help with getting SOMETHING to get onto CNET

[Spock71]

For 3 months now, I've been wanting to join CNET and get SOMETHING set up so I can dial in and listen to all the test numbers, recordings, monitor-lines, etc. that you guys have set up, but unfortunately, I've been wasting alot of time with trying to get an Asterisk solution that would work 24/7, AND not have a fan in it [I HATE FANS running 24/7], i.e. a thin client PC (or even a router like the WRT-54g which I still haven't used yet, that I've heard can be turned into a thin client and run Asterisk).  The only thing I've managed to do so far is get Asteriskwin32.com's version of the software, and I've been toying around with the extensions.cfg and sip & iax.cfg files to get a better understanding of how to set up trunks and lines, only to find my efforts were in vain: I couldn't even get an extension "81" to dial into FWD to dial my '547881' number I've got on a phone on my Sipura SPA-2002.  I did however manage to set up the Sipura's 2nd FXS port to access my asteriskwin32.com server (running on my reg. pc) and get ext.#71 assigned to it and get it to register.
My ultimate goal is a bit unusual though:
When my lil cousin and I were pre-teens in the early-to-mid '70s (oo I let cat-out-of-bag about age), I had gotten 5 Radio Shack plastic intercom-telephones and had 'em all wired together at first, and then lil Eddie (my cousin) wanted to be a switchboard operator when ever he visited, so I build a small slanted switch panel with mini-phone connectors, rocker switches, LEDs, and cords so he could sit and switch calls between my aunt, mother, dad, Cousin Brenda, etc. all throughout our home. The intercoms where vanilla-colored on the outside, and had a dark-yellow call button that sent  9 volts down the line (from the 9V batt. each of 'em had within) meant to signal only 1 other phone tied to it.  Eddie's board had mini red push-buttons to send the 9V thru the cords to whatever ext. phone he plugged 'em into, (after I ran lines from all 5 phones to the board), and you could hear a beep LOUDLY at the called ext., and "softly" on the caller's (and Eddie's) hand/headsets when Eddie pushed the signal button associated to one of the two cordsets he plugged up to an ext.  The handsets (extensions) also had a very small switchhook that controlled power to the lil mini audio amp within each handset so it wouldn't drain power when not in use.  However, the phones had no dial mechanism or way to SELECT anything.  About a year (or was it two) later, after my 13th birthday, I came up with an ingenious idea:
Why not do a selecting scheme similar to what the railroad company (ConRail) does with their radios (since Eddie's dad, my Uncle Ed worked for them)): use a mic-keying, numerical window-timing system to select extensions?!  So, on paper, I drew up a relay-driven selecting mechanism using resistor-capacitor circuit elements on the relays' coils to perform the delayed timing of the "group-window-digits" control relays (as I USED to call them).  2 different progression tones (low, and then high-pitched) would tell the caller to start and/or continue with the slow clicking of the digit they desired.  The entire mechanism could only handle 2 digits (but could of course be expanded).  I also came up with a scheme to use only 1 of the mechanisms (I'll call it the "dial" circuit from now on) and make it commonly shared with all 5 extensions (like a mini-LINEFINDER Strowger switch, [or maybe a PLUNGER lineswitch]), using flip-flop AND-OR logic solid-state SSI integrated circuits.  Unfortunately, the project never materialized as I had aspired it, because of school, then my first job, and then eventually my stint with the U.S.M.C. for 4 years; added to that, my dad's passing that put me into a VA hospital for awhile, followed by a career with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and then a breakdown, which forced me back into part-time employment.

NOW that I've discovered CNET, this aspiration of mine (and maybe still Eddie's) can possibly become a REALITY.  I'd like to construct the dial circuit AS IT WAS ORIGINALLY ENVISIONED with the relays/old logic circuits, find some more of those R.S. plastic telephone-intercoms, and tie 'em both into an Asterisk box via an interface.  The interface would generate DTMF into an FXO port as well as receive DTMF (OR even dial-pulse, if Asterisk can generate dial-pulses) to complete calls both ways, and ringback tone would be generated by combining 2 or 3 slightly-off-tuned RC audio oscillator mini-circuits (just the same way it sounded when we had 2 or 3 of the phones tied to the same line and they ALL rang together - the effect heard was very interesting).  Of course only the plastic intercoms and an MGCP-type telephone VoIP adapter for each intercom phone would be needed at Eddie's home since I plan to decode pulses from his phones in MY home.  I'd also like to connect antiquated answering machines to some of these intercom lines (bypassing the machines' ring-sense relays) so that people could call/pulse into them and listen to various recordings or messages to hear the quality and operation of the machines (like the old Code-a-Phone 111 or the T.A.D. Avanti answering machines).

I'm SURE at least a few of you out there would get a real EAR-FULL of unusual activity dialing into my lil network, IF I ever get it set up.  I understand also that there's a patch to allow audio to pass back during the "signalling" or progression stage(s) of calls through Asterisk (which may be of benefit in this type of setup).  Callers from CNET (without plasic R.S. intercoms, lol) could use the "0" DTMF digit to "pulse out" into my "dial circuit" of relays, which will have a number assigned just for IT, ...or simply dial to the 'plastic extensions' (of which there'll be 2-digit number-assignments) directly.
So, if this aspiration ever materializes, all CNET members will be able to reach all extensions on the "Plastic Network".  When I am ready to begin building the dial circuit and attempt to aquire about 15 of those old Radio Shack intercoms (IF I can find any anywhere anymore), I'd like to reserve the prefix 652, but not the ENTIRE prefix.  If possible, reservation of "652-2xxx" would be MORE than sufficient for my "Plastic Network" as well as a dozen other numbers I'd like to have for family/friends/my 2 godkids, as well as some other interesting ideas I have (a few oddball ones, like a Plastic Network MilliWatt and Loop-Around test #s, a "water-sample" report desk mic monitor line so my mother can sit down and give a 10-minute report of her volunteer water sampling results of area Cumberland County streams and rivers on a weekly or bi-weekly basis (mainly to be used for auto-recording by Asterisk servers, a line to dial into my Amateur Radio receiver's audio output and use DTMF to set it's VFO (frequency), a home-automation control line (PIN-protected) for my own personal use to turn on/off lights and AC/heat, and whatever other unusual applications I might dream up.

FIRST things first however:  I'd like to get an Asterisk box (or actually an Asterisk appliance) up and running so I can learn .cfg file principles without relying on this PC and a somewhat inefficient version of Asterisk (AsteriskWin32) on an intermittent level.  After THAT, I believe the fun begins, as it was like "back in the day".

Jeff Kauffman  KA3RXE  (Amateur Radio Callsign)