sundance-communications.com/forum Forums Wiring - Telecom Carriers - Trunks & Services Cabling Telephones Systems Wiring BANA circuit

Anybody still run into these? A customer of mine is finally getting rid of theirs. They are putting in an external dialer with the proper two phone lines. I put an RJ31X on one of the lines today so the alarm guys can hook up the dialer.
I'm surprised their city still even monitors them. My city has not monitored them for many years...
I took one out 3 years ago when I did a big cabling job at a remodeled office.
-Jeff

I ran into this at a local pharmacy. They use the pair to connect directly to a doctor's office. The funny thing is that cost to the customer is basically the same as regular phone line. it doesn't make much since to me. Would this be considered the same thing?

Jeff -

We used to use "dry circuits" for all sorts of things - mostly OPX (Off Premise Extensions from a PBX), or auto/manual ringdown lines between key systems. Before Caller ID they were essential for Wall Street Traders who wanted to know exactly who was calling them. They had a separate button for each customer/client/associate on giant key sets called "Turrets".

Before Interconnect (BI) when I worked on Intercom and PA circuits we used them to connect Intercom systems between offices. You would select an idle intercom channel to the distant location (usually via a selector switch on the face of the intercom unit) push the button on the back of the handset (6 wire coil cords) - this would send an earth ground over the circuit, close a relay and access the pa system at the far end - and you would page over the dry circuit ("Harry, pick up on Green" [the channels all had different colored light to identify them]). You would release the button and have a "dry" talkpath. Harry would hopefully go to the nearest Intercom station, switch to the "Green" channel and talk to you. We did this extensively in the Garment Center, where the showrooms were separated from the warehouses by several blocks or even miles.

These kind of circuits were also used extensively by Alarm companies when a customer wanted a direct link to the alarm companies office.

Here in NYC (in NY Tel days) these circuits had many abbreviations, (the difference being the type of circuit [Alarm, tie-line, OPX etc] the most common being a "CSV" circuit. (I forget what that stood for - Arthur will certainly remember.)

I think they're still in use but getting rarer and rarer. Automatic dialers, CID and VOIP have probably sent them the way of the dodo, the buggy whip and the dinosaur.

Sam

Burgie -

That's probably what we're talking about. The advantage is that you can never get a busy signal and the two ends know exactly who's calling.

Sam

Years ago when I heard that this could be done, I always wanted to get a pair of SDSL modems and put in this loop between my house and a friends house (before the advent of wireless networking or high speed internet).

I'd still like to see this done. But getting the ILEC in this state to provide the loop would be like getting blood from a stone. :rolleyes:

Yeah Sam, I really do not run into them much because the cities do not want to do direct alarm monitoring anymore.

Jeff who knows if its even connected at the other end or they know what its for if it did go off.

Local city here had a sewer pumping lift station alarm ring in at the police station years ago but never tested it after installation.

One day a heavy rain came through and the pump stopped working, the alarm "triggered" on high water overflow, but public works was never called to check the pumping station to prevent basement flooding.

An investigation found that the buzzer in the station had been removed for painting and not replaced. Because nobody had ever heard it go off the police thought it was obsolete and did not worry about it. Said circuit was soon upgraded to dial up and moved to an answering service.

CSV = Customer Service Voice

Thanks Arthur! Somehow I knew you would remember.

Now - do you remember what the nomenclature was for all the other dry circuits?

There was one weird one that my boss (back in the '60s) used to keep under his belt. It had the same characteristics as a CSV but for some reason the waiting period for it was under a week instead of the month or three that it took to get a CSV configured and installed.

He said NY Tel hated when he ordered one but they were obligated by tariff to deliver it ASAP. He used it sparingly and I think that telco appreciated that.

In those days besides the Intercom and PA company, we had our own "Muzak" and a division that had a 200 line PAX board. It connected all the Broadway Theaters with the commercial ticket agents. We had 3 lines on-prem and 150+ off prem, so we used dry circuits a lot - for everything.

The muzak lines went to, among other places movie theaters - especially back in the day, the "dirty" movie theaters in Times Square. Had to love those service calls. The problem was always the circuit and we used to get to watch the movie for free. At 18 that was a big deal! In retrospect the stuff on HBO these days is a LOT racier, but back in the days of yore, it was a big deal.

Sam

I know that my customer has been having issues with their fire alarm sending false signals out to the FD...so they know the circuit is working...lol