[VoIP] Help with getting SOMETHING to get onto CNET

[john jones]

So I think you need to decide if you want to go the OpenWrt (Linksys) route or the thin client route.  The OpenWrt is pretty straightforward; I've got a document  that  gives pretty good detail  on how to build it.  Between the router  and a USB memory stick, you're looking at about  $120 bucks .  John Novack  has been  blazing the  trail with the thin clients; I think you can get one for 25-30% of the cost of  Linksys solution.   You might want to pick a product that is known to work.

John




----- Original Message ----
From: Spock71 <spock71 at paonline.com>
To: Voice Over IP Tandem for Analog Switches <voip at ckts.info>
Sent: Saturday, November 3, 2007 3:04:40 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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