ANSWER FOR THOSE WHO CARE (or those who just cant stand leaving a mystery unresolved)
All of this was so at the start. To run tests I had disconnected everything and started with teh PS, a
beltpack and
headset and a mic cable.
Spent time scratching head about the symptoms:
CALL LIGHT ON
MIC TURNS ON ONLY WHILE MIC
SWITCH IS HELD DOWN
checked all the internal wiring of the PS over and over.... all dandy
audio-where-its supposed to be
28VDC where its supposed to be,,,
head-scratching seemed to wake up 2 braincells screaming for Stupid Question Attention way over in the corner of my cranium...
DID YOU CHECK THE MIC CABLE YOU GRABBED?
CHECK EVERYTHING... ASSUME NOTHING...
YES EVERYTHING...
erghhhhh...
2/3
polarity swap on that cable.
got a proper cable....
NOTHING is wrong now.
Genius! whata repair guy are me!
Testing of beltpacks and headsets will reconvene in the morning over bagels/whitefish and coffee
thanks to you all for engaging.
@JOhnV File this experience in your memory and someday in the future you may employ this useful variation:
If you find yourself installing several miles of Belden 8760, or equivalent, for 12 channels of ClearCom in a 14 story opera centre, OR even if you're only installing miles of Belden 8451 balanced
microphone level and
balanced line level cables terminated with either 3 contact
XLR's or row after rows of
ADC RTS balanced
jack fields, a
really fast way to check every
line for
continuity,
polarity and freedom from shorts is to arm yourself and your partner with the appropriate adapters, two ClearCom belt packs plus headsets and a ClearCom
power supply. FIRST use your adapters to connect your belt packs to your
power supply,
plug in your headsets and be CERTAIN that all is working properly including communicating and your
call lights. Once you're certain all your cables and adapters are kosher, one of you go to one
jack field while the other goes to a distant
jack field and you agree to meet on a given
jack; mic
line 418 for example. Assuming you're now in communication, you can test
call lights both ways and agree to move to mic
line 419. Talk, flash, move to 420. Two co-workers can fly through a lot of jacks this way confirming
continuity,
polarity and freedom from shorts. By prior agreement; if you ever move to a new
line and aren't in communication you'll wait 15 seconds before returning to the previous
jack to discuss your problems and agree upon the next number to move to. You don't need to keep
track of all the hundreds of lines that function and sound flawless but merely note the few with problems for repair after ascertaining the condition of all of the lines in the facility. Even though your balanced mic and
line level lines are only 24 or 22
gauge Vs. ClearCom's 18
gauge shielded pair requirement you'll find the ClearCom packs will work flawlessly with only two belt packs on each
line under test. A buddy and myself found this our QUICKEST method for flying through checks of balanced lines in a facility. We always had a pair of Motorola walkies on our belts for backup but using the ClearCom packs was blindingly quick and conveniently easy; faster than looking at analog or digital meters and waiting for displays to stabilize and better than testers with
LED indicators because we had the benefit of hearing and communicating using the same equipment that was confirming the wiring. If there was a
polarity reversal the ClearCom had an audio and powering inversion thus we weren't in communication, the
line was noted for repair and we rapidly moved on.
Blindingly fast. Convenient as you could hope for. Worked fabulously for us both for several decades. 'nough said.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard