[VoIP] Help with getting SOMETHING to get onto CNET

[Jayson Smith]

Sounds like an interesting project. About twenty or so years ago, I had some 
plastic toy telephones probably like you describe. Don't know if they were 
Radio Shack, but they had a hookswitch, and ten pushbuttons, 1-0, in their 
proper place on a DTMF pad. No star or pound. I think the way they worked, 
not sure if they were wired or radio, but anyway, I think you picked up one, 
and hit any touchtone button, and that rang the other phone, actually it 
kind of buzzed. When the called party answered, you could talk. I never 
really played with them that terribly much, and by the time I had thought of 
wondering how they worked from a technical standpoint, they'd either broken 
or gotten lost, I can't remember which.
Jayson

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Spock71" <spock71 at paonline.com>
To: "Voice Over IP Tandem for Analog Switches" <voip at ckts.info>
Sent: Saturday, November 03, 2007 3:04 AM
Subject: [VoIP] Help with getting SOMETHING to get onto CNET


> 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 Edd
> ie 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.  Unf
> ortunately, 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 D
> TMF 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)
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