[VoIP] Welcome to CNET - two more join us.

[Ian Jolly]

Welcome to two new Asterisks in the UK.

A 20 hour day on Sunday with a 500+ mile round trip from Wales to Scotland had Iain MacDonald in Paisley connected up, to initially his London 16. A number of us were involved in the 'project' - Jon Kay for the PC, I wrote the configs and Peter Duffield loaded them up. Peter & I tried them out in Wales before the move to Scotland.  Ian will be publishing his numbers shortly but the following codes are set up on his Asterisk  -

041 826 - Tannahill
041 889 - Paisley
0870 - Benbecula
08784 - Lochboisdale
08785 - Bornish
08786 - Eriskay

Welcome to Iain - our first Gaelic speaking member - reflected by his choice of 0870/0878X  exchange codes  - where his family comes from in the Outer Hebrides http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=57.128127&lon=-7.267417&z=10.4&r=0&src=msl   (Note the island of 'Canna'. - bottom right of the map - the tiny island whose 20line exchange I recovered in 1997)

Welcome also to Ken Dexter, in another 'remote' corner of the UK - Marazion - just outside Penzance in the very south west corner of England http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=50.11169&lon=-5.462899&z=10.3&r=0&src=msl. 

Ken has managed to get his Asterisk up and running with the codes 0736 (Penzance) and 0736 71 (Marazion).  Ken is currently awaiting the arrival of a PAP2 ATA to allow outgoing calls and linking to his Strowger collection. - hence the Asterisk isn't always switched on.  The configs are based on more of my writings - which set up a Group Switching Centre with its dependent exchanges and the correct dialling codes between them.

Is this a record?   Ken and I have known each other for over 50 years - at the time, we both went to the same school in Chester.   We were 'playing telephones' even then ! 

I left and joined the Post Office Telephones whilst Ken went to join the Automatic Telephone & Electric Company (ATE) at Strowger Works in Liverpool in their Strowger design department.  I still remember the Strowger exchange that Ken built in a shed at the bottom of his garden with what seemed to be half the neighbours in the village connected to it. Not quite legal in those days but done in the interests of research of course!  :-)

Who will be next ?    I know of another Asterisk due to join us before too long in South Wales complete with a Strowger exchange ( a Plessey 25 Line '112' PAX).  

There are still a number of STD codes in the UK which have been reserved for over a year. Anyone know who some of the folk are?    Do they need any help?

Ian Jolly