Hello everyone!
I've been lurking the past few days, and decided to sign up. Figured I'd post a quick intro, then get into some of the questions.
I'm a network engineer/admin as part of my job. I primarily work with Windows-based OS'es, but occasionally deal with Linux as well. Love to play at the network level with everything, but in my current path, I'm rather limited as to what I can do, as it's a small environment (I'm the IT department at the location I'm at, and a major player when I'm down at the plant).
I recently received my grandfathers old butt set from his days working for Michigan Bell. I know it works as I took an old phone cable, stripped off one end, plugged it into the jack, then attached the butt set to it. Wasn't surprised that it worked, was very fascinated to find that rotary still works around here.
Anyway, with all that said, I've got some questions:
- What are the different types of blocks being used? What differentiates them? Why use one versus the other?
- I'm fascinated with installations and troubleshooting/testing. Is there a good book (I hate reading online for anything extensive) that covers basics when it comes to both sides of the demarc point? I'm as interested as what the telco does running lines to the demarc and their testing, as well as what an installer does with phone systems and their testing. Not sure I'm necessarily looking at a career change here, but you never know.
- I've seen references to the splitting of pairs, and how an installer had taken down an entire floor in an office building by using what he thought were inactive pairs (or something like that). I guess the question here is, what is the splitting of pairs/how does it work?
I've been fascinated with communications for as long as I can remember. Digital, analog, wireless, wired, etc. Telephones I guess fascinate me more than I thought, I just never realized it till I received my grandfather's butt set.
Just wanted to say thanks in advance for any answers. I'm still reading constantly here, so I may have answered some of my questions in the reading, but I still appreciate everything.
Thanks!
Scott
