https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ii8f1lhRdRo
These DECT sets are used by nurses, and I am testing them with a Gigaset base station (that was being sold off in the UK way cheaper than they used to be)
Until the current firmware upgrade (which wasn’t that easy to find) British people would have found their operation and configuration confusing, it did not correctly send proceed (dial) tone in such a way that UK users would not have been confused especially there are 3 bases connected to PABX SLT lines (analogue) as well as 5 x SIP extensions on the same PABX.
In the UK we often press the seize (green/off hook) button first, then dial after hearing proceed tone (from the analogue circuit), so a phone that does not send dial tone (even if the register is in the SIP endpoint) but is silent is reported as a no dial tone circuit fault – and these phones are very often used to call nines (it was because I noticed on a security check a nines call had nearly cut out as the nurse had to get some patient info from a different part of the building that I am setting up this system)
So far it is working, which means we are going to get the functionality of €3 800 of equipment (much of which I would have had to get from Germany, then translate the manual) from spending €380 at UK suppliers.
Radio Maria from Lopix MF mast ( 675 KHz / 100 kW ERP ) is used again as a test; I was impressed I even got some reasonable reception in my work office (where I also test equipment for wider use in the retirement home) – there are anything up to 3 computers running at once as well as other small electronic equipment with power supplies. And this building has many metal reinforcing struts as well as radiators and pipework throughout which because of safety regs are all connected to earth ground (which makes a faraday cage for any radio signals, which means I also have to put some further effort into where the base stations go.
There is a small amount of interference – the ruler represents both the “exclusion zone”, and all those years of Catholic junior school where I managed not to get hit with the ruler from the nuns (its now illegal anyway and gets them hauled out of school, arrested and warned by the local Police, reported to the Pope and can get them struck off from teaching and land them in a medium secure retirement home).
It doesn’t actually happen that often, nuns are not as scary as they may seem, and very similar in behaviour to a spayed female cat. But both in groups have ways of making it look like there are far more of them than the actual number present…
in any case by the early 1980s wooden rulers were removed from all UK schools and possibly those across Europe for safety and accuracy reasons – the metric system was overhauled in 1981, making the accuracy of a millmetre more important, and the newer ones are lighter and not very painful even if hit with one. I even checked this out myself, though made sure to secure the door to my office – although being observed hitting myself with a ruler whilst listening to the Hail Marys on dial a prayer (there must be at least 25 each hour, interspersed with other programme material) wouldn’t even be seen as that odd behaviour by some of my colleagues (many of whom are from PH, IE, RO and other Catholic countries, they’d only try and get me to start going to Mass again 😉
