Yay!!! Panasonic KX-T616 system for me!!

[twocvbloke]

It was a bit of a shot-in-the-dark bid, I have been watching this system for a few weeks now (it's been relisted over and over), and tonight I finally decided to bid, and I did, and I won....

Dunno what it is about the 616, but people seem to bid more on the 308, even though they're essentially the same system, only the 616 has more capacity...

Anyway, linkies and piccies:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/221045368669

[gpo706]

Now all you need is a programming set (21) and DSS consul (22).

And you add a printer, music player, answering machine, etc etc etc

[poplar1]

System defaults without any programming: all ports support single line rotary or DTMF (tone) sets, you will get intercom dial tone when going off hook, you can dial the two digit extension or 9 for outside line, all 16 phones will ring on incoming call from outside and you can answer the outside call just by picking up any ringing phone, and can transfer to another extension by flashing the hookswitch and dialing the 2-digit extension. I'm not sure about the 6 trunks but think maybe they send out DTMF to the central office even if you have rotary phones. (This makes the Panasonic a much better investment than Dialgizmo or Rotatone).

[twocvbloke]

Yeah, the panasonic system is already familiar to me, when I was able to work, the computer shop I worked at had the 308 version, so the functions should be fairly easy to recall once I get it...

[Owain]

you'll need to get a C*NET tie-line to the identical system owned by DavePEI

[gpo706]

Manuals here:

http://wedophones.com/PanasonicManualsLead.htm

[twocvbloke]

Thanks, I think I have the instructions somewhere already from when I last tried to buy a panasonic system, just need to look through my folders on my laptop...

Need to save up some pennies now for getting the main programming phone,  some wall sockets and possibly a connection box too, once I confirm the system is working of course...

[gpo706]

I have never managed to source a connection box, hence mine has the cover flap removed and has all the extensions hanging out of it!

Doesn't help that Pana only use RJ11 outs, so you need "tails" to plug in your BT socket phones.

I wouldn't fancy arranging 14 to 16 PST sockets for every extension...

[twocvbloke]

All you need is a connection box and a handful of cheap RJ11 -ended cables (be they RJ11-BT, RJ11-RJ11, or RJ11-RJ45), snip one end off that you don't need, strip it back, connect it to the Krone strips in the box in the following link and wire up your extensions from there...

It's pretty much how it was done where I used to work, only their installation was a little haphazard as it had cables hanging all over the place, worked reliably though... 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/221047808824

And a pic for reference:

[twocvbloke]

It's finally here, just having a play with it realising I only seem to have 2x RJ11-RJ11 cables (at least, without raiding the Nortel system for it's cables), so just been going through the extension ports to see if they're working, and so far, it's 100% ticketyboo, I'm rather pleased with my purchase...

Need to find somewhere to put it now, my bedroom's getting a bit full of stuff... 

[twocvbloke]

ooooh!!! Now there's something new!! I thought the ringer inside my BT 286A linesman phone was just some cheap & nasty thing that barely made any noise, but hooking it up as an extension to the 616 revealed that it actually has a fairly pleasant tone ringer, which I think was also used in 1990s payphones...

I never hooked it up to a phoneline, and only ever rang it from my other linesman phone, so it was probably the latter not doing it justice...

[DavePEI]

Enjoy your new Panasonic! They are great!

Dave

[twocvbloke]

I'm certainly having some fun with it, tried the loop-back thing (connecting the last extension to the last CO port (in my case, Ext 36 to CO6)), and yep, it works, but, doesn't stop the system ringing when you put the handset down, cos it just gets into a cycle of ringing and ringing and ringing until you pick up any of the extensions to stop it...

So far I've managed to get 4 phones connected at once, despite only having two RJ11-RJ11 cables, I managed to get a BT Viscount (switchable between DTMF and LD), black 500, GPO 706 and the 286A Linesman (set to CB mode), I just need to save up for the above connection box and some cables I can snip up to make them into link cables between system and connection box...

[twocvbloke]

Mounted it finally...

Not exactly straight though, the plasterwork on these walls is the old wood slat with plaster squeezed through it style, so, took a couple of goes to get it right, and even then it wasn't right, but it's secure...

Haven't got everything needed to properly utilise it, the two sockets are just temporary lash-ups (the yellowed one is a PBX-Master, the other is a Cable & Wireless CTE5 Master), just to operate the BT Viscounts, aswell as hook up the NT2500 as it has a BT plug-ended cable, it'll be built up slowly though...

I was also messing about with the Music-on-hold too, and I need an amp for it cos it's a bit quiet on the CO lines, but at least at full volume from the source, it's louder than the Nortel's MOH is, as the latter is so quiet that it's barely audible, and going too loud it just distorted, so it was just wrong, even with an amp (wherever that's gone) it was very hit and miss, so already the Panasonic is winning over the Nortel...

[gpo706]

I'm so glad you are having fun  with the Pana PBX.

Regarding mounting it - I have the same crappy old wood and horsehair filled cavity walls as you have.

My tip - a hole, which will then become huge as half the wall comes of, position it with spirit level, chew 2 packs of chewing gum, let them un-moisten for a about 10m then push into the holes, wait half an hour to dry out and then screw it in.

Works wonders, mines been up for years on the old Wrigley's Spearmint Gum.