fiesta@homxb.ATT.COM (E.BECK) (05/09/89)
All this talk about ringing voltages has brought to mind a yarn that one the "old timers" here used to spin .... Many years ago in a rural part of the country there was a woman who just received her first telephone. Now bear in mind that this occured during the days when personalized service meant the lineman would stop by a month or so after installation to check if everything was working. When asked how the telephone worked she replied "I hear everyone fine, but it never rings". The puzzled lineman just had to inquire on how she knew when to answer the phone. "Oh" she replied, "the dog always barks and jumps in the air until I answer the thing". Apparently the lineman had improperly grounded the phone - but did wire the dog - via the outdoor faucet and chain that was used to keep fido in place. Eric Beck AT&T Bell Labs fiesta@homxb!att
wtm@neoucom.UUCP (Bill Mayhew) (05/11/89)
The following story was posted in days of yore in the mod.telecom
news group. The journal citation is at the end of the article. The date
of the citation is somewhat suspicious, however...
--Bill
wtm@impulse.UUCP
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From GERSHO@GREEN.RUTGERS.EDU Mon Aug 25 15:59:25 1986
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From: GERSHO@GREEN.RUTGERS.EDU
Newsgroups: mod.telecom
Subject: An Interesting Call (Foo Bar)
Message-ID: <8609010137.AA08357@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>
Date: 25 Aug 86 19:59:25 GMT
Date-Received: 1 Sep 86 13:09:42 GMT
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AN UNUSUAL TELEPHONE SERVICE CALL
This story was related by Pat Routledge of Winnepeg, ONT about an unusual
telephone service call he handled while living in England.
It is common practice in England to signal a telephone subscriber by
signaling with 90 volts across one side of the two wire circuit and ground
(earth in England). When the subscriber answers the phone, it switches to
the two wire circuit for the conversation. This method allows two parties
on the same line to be signalled without disturbing each other.
This particular subscriber, an elderly lady with several pets called to
say that her telephone failed to ring when her friends called and that on
the few occasions when it did manage to ring her dog always barked first.
Torn between curiosity to see this psychic dog and a realization that
standard service techniques might not suffice in this case, Pat proceeded
to the scene. Climbing a nearby telephone pole and hooking in his test
set, he dialed the subscriber's house. The phone didn't ring. He tried
again. The dog barked loudly, followed by a ringing telephone. Climbing
down from the pole, Pat found:
a. Dog was tied to the telephone system's ground post via an iron
chain and collar
b. Dog was receiving 90 volts of signalling current
c. After several jolts, the dog was urinating on ground and barking
d. Wet ground now conducted and phone rang.
Which goes to prove that some grounding problems can be passed on.
This annecdote excerpted from Syn-Aud-Con Newsletter, Vol4, No 3, April 1977.
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