sundance-communications.com/forum Forums General General Telephone & Systems Information Need help with a Line Test Set

New to troubleshooting and need help using a Butt Set/Line Test Set. Searched google for instructions on how to use a Test Set, but I can't seem to find anything on how to use the equipment. I recently bought a TS30 and need to be able to test some lines in a punch block. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I assume yo are trying to find out where on the block you should connect the Red & Black leads to see if DT is present, am I correct?

When are corporations going to learn that IT means INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, not INTERCOMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY? John C. (Not Garand)

Yes Grinder you are correct. Actually I was hoping to find a tutorial on the basics of using punch down boards, butt sets, troubleshooting, etc.

Lightninghorse - reluctantly I chose to respond to your comment. It's almost not worth spending the keystrokes to do. Hopefully this will enforce the importance to ask a question before making a mistake. Why must (some) individuals make cheap attempts to insult someone when they ask a question. Most people encourage questions to be asked. After all isn't that purpose of a forum?

I have been providing Information Technology solutions since 1997. Up to now I've installed numerous computer networks (programming, troubleshooting, running lines, making cables, etc). Now I have the chance to work with phone lines. Please reconsider the next time you choose to make such a lame, judgmental statement.

We are not insulting you. We love to teach people how to do what we do. We are unlike other crafts that try to perpetuate the mystique of what they do.

We are objecting to the concept that anyone can walk into a machine shop and ask the senior man how to use a milling machine without first finding out how to use a file.

"Making cables" says it all. In this trade, or craft, we don't "make cables" and that was our first giveaway that you need to learn quite a bit about what we do here. A large amount of my professional time is spent undoing the problems caused by people who make cables.

We are all eager to help, and to share our years of experience. I have 40 years of experience, so far, and to attempt to teach you in a non face-to-face environment would be a waste of your time. Just my lesson on how to use a test set would take a full day, and even then, I would probably have forgotten some idiosyncrasy.

There are technical schools that will teach the craft carefully and thoughtfully. The other method is apprenticeship with a seasoned technician.

Contrary to what many think, it ain't all Tip and Ring. (Do you know, for instance, who Tip and Ring were?)

You may contact me privately if you want to learn Test Set Lesson #1. But, sincerely, there are many lessons that come before it.

to the board.

Arthur is correct & because he beat me to answer & much more diplomatic than Lightninghorse, you have a sense of what you're facing.

Please get some one-on-one training if at all possible.

To put this in a perspective of your "expertise", I would not even consider touching a client's business PC, unless it was some "Blonde Question", where I wouldn't take down their network inadvertantly.

You could for example set off an alarm and not only get a whole lot of people excited, but cost you a fine.

If you were to look at a properly layed out "field", you should be able to see that there are different blocks, connections, etc. for different things. By connecting to, or disconnecting the wrong wire(s), you could cause major problems.

Also note, that there are many type of systems out there, with a VAST array of wiring schemes. I don't touch anything I'm not familiar with, for the same reasons stated above.

Please tread lightly in the telephone field, if you must, though.

Whoa!!! ME??? Diplomatic??? I need to change my meds. Or as my pal, old what's-his-name says..."I gotta get out of this business."

I must also apologize for prior comments. I am confident that this wasn't intentional; more of just a vent.

If you need help in working with basic CO lines, we can help you pretty quickly. If it's for working with PBX station circuits/trunks, it's a much more complex animal. Some tests involve capacitance, kick and even the ability to decipher audible clicks!

I know Windows 3.11 and 98 like the back of my hand, but I wouldn't dare attempt to take skills any further into our computer network. I leave this up to our hired IT contractor. It's a similar situation that was attempted to be conveyed here. It's true, making a patch cord, using the misnomer of "RJ45" is just about as far outside of the basics of the phone business as one can get.

It's like saying "I know how to make an extension cord for my power saw, so I must be able to not only build a house, but how to wire one too with minimal guidance". IT and telecom are just that different.

Network cabling never existed when the telecommunications industry was formed, so a keen knowledge of it only entitles one to about ten year's max of knowledge in a related line of work. It really, I mean really has no relationship to analog/digital circuits and the PSTN. There are so many variables that there simply isn't a quick and easy answer. It comes from genuine experience.

Here\'s the TS30 Manual if that's what you're looking for.

I think you might have better luck if you ask a specific question as to what it is you need. We'll need information as Ed said is it CO? Loop Start? Ground Start? Or is it stations you're testing and are they 2 wire? 4 wire? Are you looking at E&M trunks that you're trying to test?

So just let us know what type of circuit you're trying to test and what test you need.

If someone posted on a computer forum 'please tell me how to setup a Windows 2003 Server network from scratch' you would say, that is my livelihood, why should I tell you how to do that? As someone who is in both IT and telecom, as well as being a student, I feel that we are all here to help but it can only go so far. As Arthur said, we can't teach the basics over the internet. You need to have a technician show you in the field how these things work.