Seting Up overhead Paging on Avvid

[smh1218]

I am having a difficult time intergrating my overhead paging with Avvid.

I have attached my overhead paging (Valcom) to a FXS port on my VG200, and have assigned a DN# of 30 to access the port.

The problem I am having is when I dial that DN# 30 it just rings the port, it never makes the connection to enable the overhead paging.

Has anyone ran into this problem, or can suggest a better method?

[brian-henry]

In the past I used a Bogen overhead paging unit and also an AT&T one and bothed worked fine. However you have know how your unit works as in does it need an FXO or FXS card. I could have used an FXO with the Bogen system but it would have needed an external power source provided by Bogen of course but instead I used an FXS along with an TAM-B connected to the one area unit.

The other AT&T was was to an FXO because the unit already had external power.

I know that in the past that Valcom was on Cisco's list of overhead paging units that will work with their gear, that comes from past consultants coming in.

The first place I would check is to call Valcom and explain what you have and I am pretty sure that they can assist.

When you dial the number does the light come on the port on the FXS module? Did you hook a regular phone to that port to see if you ring it and when it does answer it?

I know I seem ramblish, its jet lag so bare with me.

Let me know this helps and if anything if want to give me the exact model of the valcom you have I can look into it.

[smh1218]

The light does come on. I also hooked up an standard analog phone and dialed the DN# and the analog phone rang and I was able to answer it.

I have borrowed a Bogen TAM-B and I have an external 24v power supply. I got it to connecton the FXO, but the voice quality was poor and it had a severe delay in the voice that I could not figure out how to adjust.

I am going to try the TAM-B on the FXS minus the power supply and see how that works.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

[brian-henry]

Make sure you have it at the proper setting also, like loop start or ground start. That's another key component.

[brian-henry]

Did you check out this from Valcom's website?

http://voip.valcom.com/products.htm

[brian-henry]

Look up this post.

I think its exactly what you need. The last few comments from people are on Valcom systems

IP Telephony

Paging System through FXS Port on Router

jmujica - Senior Network Consultant, Netxar Technologies, Inc

Sep 22, 2003, 10:08am PST

Hi Guys,

I know that until now one of the ways to do Intercom is to setup an FXS port to an external paging system (i.e. horn). I already look at the forum for an example configuration or a link that can provide me that info without any luck. Where can I find information regarding that type of configuration and also which type of horn do I need to wire to the FXS port. Any horn?

Any ideas?

TIA,

[smh1218]

Brian,

Thanks again for all the help. That string of replies on the "Paging System through FXS Port on Router" gave a few options to try out. I will give them a shot and let you know the outcome.

Happy Holidays!

[stephen.sutton]

I know I'm late to this party, but I concur with the Valcom solution. I have used it and it works extermely well. It is also a no-brainer to set up. Just use your VG-2xx FXS port and it's off to the races. Of course you will still need the PA system amplifier and speakers, but the Valcom provides the phone system interface and an output that is a balanced 600 ohm audio feed suitable for input to the amplification system.

Here is a link to the device I am using. It is used to make over 50 building-wide pages daily.

http://www.valcom.com/v-9970.htm

[alai]

Is it possible to use ATA ports instead of FXS or FXO ports to do overhead paging with Bogen or any other third party systems? If not, why? Thanks in advance.

[stephen.sutton]

I think the probability exists. The fundamental issue is if the paging system is designed to terminate the line like a telephone station or not. The simple analogy is if the PA system could be connected to your home phone line, and calling your home phone results in an automatic call pickup and then recovery of the audio to be sent to the amplification section.

Breaking the process into parts, you generally supply a balanced audio input signal from a microphone to the PA amplifier. If your Bogen PA system has this sort of input, then applying audio to those terminals generates amplified audio at the output of the PA system. An intermediate device is or may be required to supply the function of answering the incoming call from the PBX, and then sending the audio on that call to the amplifier's input.

The Valcom device provides that intermediate function. However, it is expecting a loop-start analog type signal, not a skinny or MGCP stream. Therefore, using an ATA device as the means of supplying the 2-wire analog input to that intermediate "phone instrument" is valid.

[dan]

I have implemented the Valcom solution and it works well. I didn't run into a couple issues but they are easy to correct. One issue was that with IGMP snooping on (the default on 3550s) the speaker module didn't always pickup for the page. They also didn't like being in a large L3 network. The solution to both of these issues was to create a VLAN for the paging units and disable IGMP snooping on that VLAN. Hope this helps.