Lineman's handset

Lineman's handset

A lineman's handset is a special type of telephone used by technicians for installing and testing local loop telephone lines. It may also be called (including slang) a test set, butt set, goat, or buttinski.

Components

A typical lineman's handset integrates an earpiece, a mouthpiece, a dialing interface, and a set of test leads for connecting to the telephone circuit. Originally, lineman's handsets featured a rotary dial, but modern sets use some variant of the standard 12-button DTMF keypad. Most handsets are designed to be used with analog "POTS" lines, and have limited to no function with digital circuits.

In addition to the basic features listed above, handsets often include one or more of:
* Speakerphone
* Redial
* A talk/monitor toggle switch
* Mute
* Hook flash button
* Tone/pulse dialing selection switch
* Low-pass filtering to prevent disruption of data communications (such as DSL)
* A mechanical hook for hanging the set from a tool belt. On some sets, it may be moved to the receiver side, mouthpiece side, or removed altogether.

Typical use

A lineman's handset typically connects via a pair test leads, not the modular connector found on most consumer telephone equipment. The test leads will feature some combination of alligator clips (to connect to bare wires), a piercing spike or "bed-of-nails" (for insulated wires), and/or something designed to fit a punch block. Adapters designed to fit other punch block types, heat coil sockets, or modular jacks may also be used.

A butt set can be connected wherever there is a line appearance -- anywhere the wires are accessible. Inside the Central Office, this would be at a main or intermediate distribution frame. For outside plant, this would include any serving area interface, such a cross-connect box or aerial splice enclosure. At subscriber site (e.g., residence), this could be inside or behind the housing of a modular connector, or at the network interface.

When connected to a line, a lineman's handset is essentially indistinguishable from regular subscriber equipment. The technician can monitor an active call, answer incoming calls, and/or make outgoing calls. Common tests include checking for dial tone, using ANAC to identify the line, and using a ringback number.

ee also

* Beige box (phreaking)

References


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Telephone — The telephone (from the el. τῆλε, tēle , far and φωνή, phōnē , voice ) is a telecommunications device that is used to transmit and receive sound (most commonly speech), usually two people conversing but occasionally three or more. It is one of… …   Wikipedia

  • Telco can — A telco can is an outdoor enclosure or metal box where telephone local loop wires come together to be spliced into a larger cable that then runs to the Central Office. They are often just brown metal boxes on the street or side walk. Telco cans… …   Wikipedia

  • Beige box (phreaking) — This article refers to beige box phone phreaking devices. For information about beige boxes in personal computing, see Beige box. In phone phreaking, a beige box is a device that is technically equivalent to a telephone company lineman s handset… …   Wikipedia

  • Phreaking boxes — are devices used by Phone Phreaks to perform various functions normally reserved for operators and other telephone company employees. Most phreaking boxes are named after colours, due to folklore surrounding the earliest boxes which suggested… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”