This paper was written mainly because of the lack of real information
kicking around on and off the net about phone systems and networks.
This is part one, of a two-part primer on phone systems. This is a
very introductory paper. I don't go into great detail, but cover the
basics and a first look at phone networks and systems.
If you really haven't been exposed to the telephony industry, this
paper, may be ominous. For the purpose of this paper I have broken
the telephone network into three basic components.
1. THE CENTRAL SWITCHING MACHINE
2. THE OUTSIDE PLANT FACILITIES
3. THE INSIDE PLANT FACILITIES
In this paper we will look at each of the three sections.
Section three the INSIDE PLANT FACILITIES will be covered in detail
throughout it. The CENTRAL SWITCHING MACHINE and the OUTSIDE PLANT
FACILITIES sections of the telephone network will be explained briefly
in general terms. Most of the parts of the telephone system or network
will already be familiar to you even without realizing it. You have a
phone of some description in your home or office, which is part of
the INSIDE PLANT FACILITIES section of the telephone network.
The INSIDE PLANT FACILITIES consists of all the cable, hardware,
telephone sets or equipment in the building or between buildings on
the same piece of property. The part of the network, which connects
buildings of various shapes and descriptions together, is called THE
OUTSIDE PLANT FACILITIES. Poles and associated wires are the only
type of outside plant distribution system in use today.
The remaining part you may not know about, or at least think you don't
know about, is the Central Switching Machine. The basic telephone circuit
is Two Wire Circuit, which connects every telephone set, through the
Outside Plant Facilities to a Central Switch. This two-wire circuit is
usually referred to as a "pair". One wire of the pair is referred to
as the TIP and the other wire is the RING.
THE CENTRAL SWITCHING MACHINE
The CENTRAL SWITCHING MACHINE is similar to the hub of a wheel where all
the individual two wire circuits or spokes are connected. This may sound
pretty complicated, but it really isn't. The central switch monitors
your telephone circuit and gives you a dial tone when you lift the
telephone set off the cradle. Taking a telephone handset off the
cradle is referred to as going "off-hook". Off-hook is a very common
phrase, and you will hear it in later parts of this paper.
When you dial, the Central Switch registers the digits dialed,
and identifies the circuit of the party you are trying to reach. The
Central Switch then connects your two-wire circuit to the party you dialed. The two telephone sets, which are connected together by the Central Switch, are referred to as the "calling" and "called" parties. The Central Switch the sends a ringing voltage
out to the called party, which rings the set bells to identify an incoming call.
When the called party goes off-hook, the Central Switch recognizes the
off-hook condition, and stops sending the ringing voltage, the two
parties then converse. When the calling party dials a number of a
telephone circuit which is already in use, or "busy", the Central
Switch recognizes the busy condition, and returns a busy tone to
the calling party.
So, as you can see, the Central Switch isn't really unfamiliar to you.
You have interacted with, and experienced many of the operations it
performs. There are many types of Central Switching Machines in use
throughout the telephone industry today. Each switch has it's advantages,
and features, however all systems provide the basic functions which were
briefly described.
To review, the main parts of the Telephone Network I have described so
far are:
1. THE CENTRAL SWITCHING MACHINE
2. THE OUTSIDE PLANT FACILITIES
3. THE INSIDE PLANT FACILITIES
Let's backtrack briefly to the Outside Plant Facilities section of the
network. Obviously, it would be too difficult to take each seperate
two-wire circuit, individually back to the Central Switch. Consequently,
numerous two wire circuits or pairs from a common area are bound together
in a common covering, or sheath. These groups of pairs enclosed by a common
sheath are referred to as cable. The actual number of pairs in a cable
or the size of cable can vary from one pair, to hundreds of pairs dependent
upon how many circuits the cable must service. As was mentioned previously,
all the cables servicing locations leave the Central Switch in different
directions according to the route, which will be the most cost effective,
and can effectively, service people in the area. The cables, which leave
the Central Switch, are very large, but as the cable goes along it is
continually decreasing in size, as smaller cables are dropped off at
locations where they are needed. The smaller cables branch out from the
main cables, and these cables again branch out to smaller cables until
every building and place is reached.
There are three basic types of outside plant facilities in use today, which connect the Central Switch, ultimately to your phone.
1. AERIAL CABLE
2. UNDERGROUND CABLE
3. FIBER OPTIC CABLE
Let's briefly look at each of the types of Outside Plant Facilities.
Aerial Cable
As the name aerial cable would indicate, the cable, and terminals are
supported above the ground on poles. The Aerial Cable distribution
system is probably the one you are most familiar with, since it was the
first system utilized across North America. The poles and wire are still
visible throughout this country today, and in many cases, is still the
most cost-effective method, where underground cabling is physically
impossible.
The diagram would be typical of a single line residential building
application of an Aerial Outside Plant System. You may see the term
"terminal" in the diagram. Terminals are simply access points placed at
convenient locations, on or between poles, along the cable route to permit
connections to selected pairs in the cable. For example, a cable
consisting of 100 pairs might have a terminal mounted on the pole to
allow a technician access to pairs 1-25. The next terminal would allow
access to pairs 24-40, and so on, until all the pairs have been used.
In this manner, the pair assigned to each building, at the Central Switch,
can be accessed at the closest terminal to that particular building.
The individual buildings aerial "drop wire" is then connected to the
pair in that terminal.
Underground Cable
The underground cable distribution system is very similar in design to the
aerial cable system. I consider underground cable to be both, DIRECT
BURIED CABLE and CABLE PLACED IN UNDERGROUND CONDUIT SYSTEMS.
As the title Direct Buried would indicate, the cable is placed into
the ground, with no protection other than the inherent protection
provided by the cable composition. Underground Conduit Systems
for cable, are used to provide an out of sight cable system and to
provide a means of adding to the existing cable as service demands
increase. Underground Conduit Systems also provide protection for
the cables since the cables are inside a pipe, which shields the cable.
The Underground Cable Distribution System is configured similarly to
the aerial cable, in that, cables leave a central point and continually
branch out to smaller cables until all the buildings etc. have been
accommodated.
The Underground System is connected to buildings in basically two ways.
PEDESTALS and ENCAPSULATION. Pedestals are simply terminals or access
points where building cabling can be connected to the cable from the
Central Switching Machine. There are many types, sizes, and shapes of
pedestals in use today.
The following diagram is a simplified depiction of the underground cable
(drop wire) from a building premise, which has been buried, to a pedestal
for connection.
Encapsulation is when the buildings drop wire is permanently spliced into
the underground distribution system. This system is preferred in
situations where the visible pedestals are not appropriate, or possible.
Fiber Optic Transmission Systems
In the aerial and underground cable distribution systems looked at
earlier, a pair of copper wires is used to carry the electrical signals
generated by the transmitting buildings phone, to the switching machine,
and then ultimately, to the receivers phone. The mouthpiece (transmitter)
of the telephone converts the acoustic voice message into corresponding
electrical signals. The electrical signals are passed onto the receiver's
earpiece (receiver) where they are converted back to the original
acoustic voice message.
In certain cases now, it is becoming uneconomical to provide a pair of
wires from every customer phone to the central switch. Transmitting speech
and information via glass fibers instead of the conventional copper wire
methods previously described is becoming increasingly popular in high
traffic areas. The term "Fiber Optics" or "FOTS" is becoming more and
more prevalent in the communication industry. "FOTS" is the short term
for Fiber Optics Transmission System.
The development of FOTS technology has been increasing dramatically in
recent years. The transmitting buildings phone still generates the same
electrical signals, but the signals are used to turn a light source on and
off. The light travels down the glass fibers where it is received and
converted back to electrical impulses, which are connected to the
receiving customers to wire copper pair.
To get a perspective of the comparison of a pair of copper wires to a pair
of glass fibers, consider the number of independent connections, which are
possible on each type of system.
* A pair of copper wires will provide two way communications for one conversation.
* A pair of glass fibers can provide up to 8000 independent connections.
The demands for more and more facilities to transmit and receive
information is increasingly rapid. The cost and limitations of
traditional means of linking areas together, is becoming more apparent.
The normal cable distribution systems in use throughout the telephone
industry employs combinations of underground, aerial, and FOTS
distribution systems, to provide the most cost efficient, and effective
means of providing service.
There is your basic introduction to the telephone network or system.
As my series of phone networks goes on I will go into greater detail
and explain some of its more complex issues and attributes.
How I literally got kicked out of the Eastern Baptist Church
by schemerz
Disclaimer : Incidents included are all fictionious in nature due to the
shady recollection process after smoking a little bit too much hash. Gewf
was pressing for shtuff and I had to give him something, and these
incidents were funny, at least as I rem ember it. These accounts are
somewhat factual, somewhat not, so I decided just to change the names and
make it safe in case I get anything horribly wrong.
Eastern Baptist Church is located in Topuka, the capital of the state
Kansas. It's not a really big church, but they get in the news alot.
Most of the time they leave their tact at home and picket funerals and
concerts, most recently the funeral of Math ew Sheppard. (I think they
are too chicken to picket the rob zomebie and korn concert in KC last
night, kick ass concert btw, but that's another article... :) They are
also responsible for web sites such as www.goddetestsfags.com. So they
are really a fun bunch. Rush Limbough would have been proud.
Reverend Fred Felps heads the crowd, who was a lawyer in a previous life,
until one of his sons got out of the closet. Fred Felps then runs to the
nearest Warmart to purchase a really bad white robe and calls himself a
preacher. After being thrown out o f the Southern Baptist Church because
of his faggot hating ways, he started his own church, the Eastern Baptist
Church, which basically runs out of his own house along with 20-30 family
members and close friends. They get supported by a lot of white powe r
parties too. Although not all of the family is predominantly prejudgice,
I have had the pleasure of meeting his grandson, Ben Felps, who happens to
be a graduate student doing computer science at University of Kansas. Ben
admins most of his granddaddy 's sites, including of course yours truly.
Enough with the background. I have to explain why I had the urge of
seeing one of these sermons of Fred, if not fucking it up and causing some
serious mayhem:
Almost 3 years ago I arrived in Kansas fresh off the boat, as they would
say afer having a less than stellar high school career somewhere in South
East Asia. Shortly after arriving into the university and being shipped
off to this smelly little dorm room , I was introduced to Sam my new
roomate. He drove me around, showing me stuff and I got to know him very
well. We were just kicking it one weekend in september and started
watching the tele, when channel 6 was doing a special of a concert held at
a loc al community college. Turns out this composer was dying of AIDS,
and someone was holding a concert in his name for being the talent as he
is. (I can't remember this dood's name, but I remember listening to some
of his stuff on the local university radio
now. Truly a talent.) Caught out of the corner of the camera there were these doods holding up signs with slogans like "Anal Sex=Aids=Death", "Gay=Death of Ethics=Death of America" and of course, "God detests fags!". I was thoroughly bewildered at the
sight of such signs, and proceeded to bug Sam about it. Shit like this
at home just does not fly. It's not like asians have a strong tolerance
of homosexuals or racial diversity, but they keep it to themselves and
have the politeness to withhold their opinion at times of mourning, such
as a concert displaying ones work as one dies of aids. Being the fuckwit
18 year old that I was, I suggested to Sam that we would head over and see
one of their sermons and check out their reasoning, because neither of us
can make any logical sense out of Fred's websites. So we called the
church up, asked if it was an open sermon coming up. We stated that we
weren't gonna cause trouble, and putting on my fakeist british accent,
asked if we could attend. We were of co urse declined the opportunity,
since it was a close church.
Being the dumb motherfucker sam can be sometimes, we decided to crash the
party instead. (He's getting married to the least sensible woman on this
planet in a month, so WATCH OUT FOR DA KIDS)
So we hoped into his girlfriends car (btw we chatted this woman up no more
than one week before, and now three years latter sam is fucking marrying
the woman... good god... time has past QUICKLY... oh and she lent him
the car... Megan is so fucking co ol, prolly cause Sam is such a fucking
pimp), and drove to Topuka. We arrived at the church shortly before the
sermon begun, and walked in, saying we are looking for Ben. Ben came out
shortly, trying to cover his blood soaked ass, saying that his grandd ad
was holding a sermon. We talked abit, commenting a little about the
upside down american flag hanging outside the church. He said he would
attend to us shortly after the sermon. I put on the largest puppy dog
eyes I could muster, and asked *very* po litely if I can attend the
sermon. Since he was a ta in one of my computer science lab classes, he
was sure I wasn't going to pull any shit.
We got in, sat on a seat. The living room was packed, and Sam was kinda
chickening out a little... "Maybe we shon't be here dood..." Little did
I know he was one of the most articulate argurers I was ever gonna meet :)
So the sermon went, the usual ch urch shit, yahdayahdayahda... the hymes,
the prayers and all that... until about 45 minutes latter Sam woke me
from deep slumber when Fred started preaching the evils of homosexuality.
People started asking questions as he spoke, and he answered quite
logically. The man was a lawyer I thought, most of them, like my dad,
have a knack of conveying one side of reasoning and made it all
encompassing. So I held up my hand, to which I was asked to speak.
"Reverend Felps, I am new here, in this church and in this country. I don't quite understand why you seem to direct all your problems at one social group who a) pay more taxes per capita then most other minorites, b) are probably more educated as well ?
How can any group contributing to the government and society in such a
way be considered harmful ?"
He muttered something ridiculous like telling me to get a haircut, which
was when Sam (he's got hair down to his ass... I learned never ever to
talk any shit about long hair around him) stood up and started his
rhetoric :)...
"Mr Felps, I would like to know why you are so proliferic about your
projections on to gay people. It is quite entertaining, humorous even,
that you would chose to broadcast your inner id feelings towards
homosexuals on national television. "
Most people got the joke, and gave us the evilest look they could muster.
I must say most people would have backdowned and shut up at this point,
but Sam, oh Sam... what can I say... Anyways, Mr Felps professed that he
did not know what Sam meant.
Sam : "Mr Felps, would you like to answer my friends question as to why
you are targeting one of the more successful groups of minorites of this
country ?"
Felps : "I happen to think their lifestyle is a harmful influence to our
youth in this country. I also happen to percieve that this country is
being overran by faggots. Is there no more decency in this country ?"
(applause by his crowd)
"Mr Felps, as I recall correctly, the american society is firmly
capitalist, meaning that each individual's success is based upon one's
wealth. how would the lifestyle of a homosexual, one of success, good
education and wealth be questionable to the yout h? "
Felps : "As *I* recall correctly, the american society is firmly CHRISTIAN
based. It is because of non-believers such as these homosexuals, that the
youth today stem from the faith. That, is why I am opposed to them."
Me : "But was it not in the new Testament itself that states that we
should love our neighbours ?"
Felps : "Ummmmm... Are you familiar with the book of Sodom ?"
Sam : "Yes I am, and I am familiar with this line of arguement. You would
state that the book of sodom states quite clearly that male-male sexual
activites are forbidden and the only male-female copulation is deemed
allowable by god. You would also stat e that the bible FIRMLY states that
sex is a sacred act of god, and people should not abuse this power. You
will also lead into the argument right here that AIDS and other sexually
transmitted diseases was the repricusion of these acts."
Felps : "You read my mind son. How would you chose to refute these
claims. I am of course a man binded by faith, so please keep any
arguements of the bible's validity to yourself. "
Sam : "Okay... Homosexuality has been documented long since roman times.
How come aids were to come around now?"
Felps : "There are other sexual transmitted diseases that god has
dispensed in his fury upon this planet. Unfortunately the devil has made
the faggot strong in his ways, and they have not been disuaded."
Me : "How about this ? It is nearly medically impossible for lesbians to
contract aids. If god indeed try to make AIDS as a means of disuading
homosexuality, why are a) more hetrosexuals affected ? b) why did he
leave half the faggots off the list ? "
Felps : "God is not fair, he chose to punish the whole of humanity for the
crimes of the faggots. I have taken up the task of god to disuade all of
humanity against the ways of faggots. Lesbians are evil too."
One of us : "You still have not answered the questions we posed, could you
please answer them now ? "
Felps : "I have answered them son. God has other diseases to weaken his
enemy. Aids is only one piece in his arsenal. Gonoerrha, syphillis, etc
etc all attack sexually indecent men and women in some way or another."
One of us : "Alright fair enough, how about this... If a person who is
not sexually promiscous, then it is very unlikely that he or she gets
infected with anything correct ? Is it possible that your god wants to
disuade his people away from promiscious sex ? Has he not made a
distinction between acts of love and acts of passion before ?"
Felps :"God has made it very clear that sexual acts outside of wedlock are
forbidden. "
Me :"Mr Felps, where does it exactly in the bible say that wedlock has to
between a man and a woman ?"
Felps : (stammers some unintelligible... me and sam exchange evil
grinning looks...)
Me : "As a matter of fact, where in the bible does it define the man and
the woman entity, biologically and psychologically ? If this premise is
not made, then all your arguements against homosexuality is up to
question."
Someone in the crowd : "How is that ?"
Sam : "Well it is quite easy to see that a gay couple can be enacting both
the male and female parts of the relationship. With legislation allowing
homosexuals to marry in Hawaii it is perfectly ethical for gays to be in
bounds of christianity and still copulate. No ?"
Someone in the crowd : (something like you fags or faggot loving
liberals... something dumb like that... think it was Ben. )
Someone else in the crowd : (Leave if you don't like what we have to say,
We don't like you anyways.)
Sam : "We are merely discussing the rhetoric in the bible, I personally
made no attacks towards the validity of the good book, neither did my
friend here. "
Some bitch in the crowd : "Shut up you people are full of it as it is!"
Me : "We were merely discussing with the *beloved* reverend the various
interpreations of the bible over a fine comb."
We were asked to leave anyways :) In fact, we didn't leave quite yet
until Sam got his answers from his questions. Sorely to say we were
rather discouraged with our journey towards the interpretations of the
bible. I personally ditched the cross and became a taoist instead.
Oh well... Fred was beaten up in the middle of Kansas City one day when
he was picketing somewhere near the Plaza. HEH it was a sight to behold.
