atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Wiring - Telecom Carriers - Trunks & Services Security, Alarms and Paging ATA plays dialtone over paging system

Hello,

Newb here, connecting an HT502 ATA to the ring and tip connectors on a Bogen TPU15A - it plays a continuous dial tone over the paging speakers. I've tried reversing the polarity in the ATA config, but the issue persists. I want the ATA to answer when called so I can page, but not to play dial tone over the PA. What am I doing incorrectly? Thanks in advance.

Have you taken the Tip and Ring of a "regular" telephone line (not from an ATA) and tried to connect it to the paging amplifier? Tell us if you get the same result.

Do you know what, exactly, the inputs on the paging amp are looking for, electrically? It appears from the instruction manual for that amp that it has no facility for answering a POTS line, but I could be wrong.

Have you been in the paging business long? Are you a technician or an end user? Have you done this type of installation before?

I'll test with a "regular" telephone line.

The manual for the paging amp says it has a 600-ohm balanced, transformer-isolated input for paging.

I have never done paging before, I am a tech, and I have never done this type of installation before, in fact I'm just testing this setup, which was recommended to me as a simple overhead paging system using existing equipment.

It's our office PA, currently working with a line out of the Panasonic PBX connected to ring and tip on the Bogen. I'm disconnecting it, and trying to page through our speakers from another PBX, using either a SNOM PA1 or an HT502.

Incidentally, I have cut up a 3.5mm stereo audio cable and used that to connect the Line Out of the SNOM PA1 to the tip and ring on the Bogen, and can page successfully (honestly, I didn't expect that to work).

So how does that make you think that you can connect it to a T/R station port and it will work? I think you need to learn POTS fundamentals because being IT doesn't cut it here.

-Hal

Quite right -- which was why I came to the experts for advice. Thanks, have a great day.

Also:

An analog telephone line is nothing more than a 600-ohm balanced line, which is specifically what the paging amp is asking for. That is specifically why I would think that it would work. My thought is that the amp should not let audio from the ATA come through unless there is an active call, in which case it should send the call audio (the page) through the speakers. I'm simply wondering why the Bogen is passing ALL audio from the ATA through the overhead, and how do I overcome that situation?

You wrote: "An analog telephone line is nothing more than a 600-ohm balanced line, which is specifically what the paging amp is asking for." Sorry, but those two statements are wrong.

You also wrote: "My thought is that the amp should not let audio from the ATA come through unless there is an active call, in which case it should send the call audio (the page) through the speakers." Again, sorry, but you are confused, and you are wrong.

If you were correct, things would be working the way you want them to. They don't. Ergo, you are misinformed.

Hal was a bit impatient with you, but in his defense, I almost wrote the same thing. You clearly do not understand the fundamentals, and you are close to committing some wiring errors, or have already done so, that may permanently damage the equipment you are working with.

You need to learn from someone locally, who knows what a 600-ohm balanced input means. You need to learn how a POTS line is delivered, whether via copper or an ATA, and you need to learn a few basic telephone concepts, such as what happens electrically as a telephone call progresses.

You might first try learning the definitions of "ring trip" and "calling party control" then move on to line voltage, line current, and call progress tones. There are many books and websites devoted to basic telephony. I suggest a quick foray into that field before proceeding.


You might try contacting Bogen technical support. I'm sure they will be helpful to a "newb."

We have a few pet peeves here. One is seeing the word "newb." It's a red flag. It signifies that the self-proclaimed novice (ah...novice, such a nice English word, [from the Latin: novicius] so refined, so succinct, and so accurate) is from a certain sociological/technological stratum, and we old guys need to beware. History has borne us out.

I think I see your problem...


The above is a quote from the Bogen manual for the TPU15A.

Note that it clearly DOES NOT say "POTS input".

It says "page channel input."

Well, I wouldn't believe everything the rocket scientists put on the internet. It may be a 600 ohm line BUT there are other things going on like battery voltage, supervision and ringing. So it's certainly not just a 600 ohm balanced line as used for audio.

-Hal

You need some kind of device to actually answer the call from the ATA and bridge it through to the paging amp input. Something like Valcom's V-9940 will do the trick.