From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed Oct 20 15:12:22 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id i9KJCLd20063; Wed, 20 Oct 2004 15:12:22 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 15:12:22 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200410201912.i9KJCLd20063@massis.lcs.mit.edu> X-Authentication-Warning: massis.lcs.mit.edu: ptownson set sender to editor@telecom-digest.org using -f To: ptownson Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V23 #502 TELECOM Digest Wed, 20 Oct 2004 15:12:00 EDT Volume 23 : Issue 502 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Old Stock Quotation Things? (Jim Haynes) Can't Detect Modem With SBC Yahoo DSL (Olga Sayenko) Restaurant Designates No-Cell-Phone Area (Lisa Minter) Re: Help Me Identify/Repair/Replace a Power Transformer (Jack Decker) Re: Help Me Identify/Repair/Replace a Power Transformer (GlowingBlue) Re: Help Me Identify/Repair/Replace a Power Transformer (John Cummings) Re: Help Me Identify/Repair/Replace a Power Transformer (Justin Time) Re: Help Me Identify/Repair/Replace a Power Transformer (Rich Greenberg) Re: Help Me Identify/Repair/Replace a Power Transformer (John Hines) Re: Help Me Identify/Repair/Replace a Power Transformer (Robert Weller) Re: Help Me Identify/Repair/Replace a Power Transformer (Bruce Bergman) Re: Help Me Identify/Repair/Replace a Power Transformer (Paul Coxwell) Re: Lee's ABC of the Telephone (Justin Time) Re: Radio Questions (Ben Schilling) Last Laugh! Red Faces at Orange Was Not Funny at All! (Fred Atkinson) Last Laugh! Love-Making Couple Sparks Police Emergency (Lisa Minter) All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Old Stock Quotation Things? Reply-To: jhaynes@alumni.uark.edu Organization: University of Arkansas Alumni From: haynes@alumni.uark.edu (Jim Haynes) Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 16:37:29 GMT I've been going through some patents from the 1930s. Some of them are for systems to run a stock ticker tape through a projector. I can understand that, as the forerunner of the Trans-Lux 'flipping ball' displays used in brokers' offices. Some others use rotating number wheels to display the high, low, open, and closing prices of a single stock. A bank of these could display data for several stocks; but still a very limited number chosen from the market as a whole. What was the application, or audience, for this kind of display? They are obviously a lot more costly than the projection scheme, both in the hardware and in the operation. I presume an operator had to pick the selected stock trades from the ticker tape and send the data to the display board. jhhaynes at earthlink dot net ------------------------------ From: sayenko@yahoo.com (Olga Sayenko) Subject: Can't Detect Modem with SBC Yahoo DSL Date: 20 Oct 2004 10:11:26 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Hi, I just signed up for SBC Yahoo DSL. I got the modem and some filters from them and tried to install the software. The installation fails when the software tries to detect the modem and can't. I called support, but that's pretty much useless. So my questions are: 1) Why would the software have trouble detecting the modem? 2) When you sign up for DSL is it necessary for a technician to have physical access to your line? I registered for a specific date, but there was no information regarding someone actually coming to my house. 3) Can you configure the connection without installing all that software on your machine (god knows what they got in there!) Thanks, Olga [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: When I got SBC DSL a few years ago there was no installer visit. It is a fully automatic process. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Lisa Minter Subject: Restaurant Designates No-Cell-Phone Area Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 11:02:53 EDT BENTONVILLE, Ark. - Diners at The Vineyard can distance themselves from the din of cell phone chatter. The restaurant has designated a "No-Cell-Phone" area, after customers who complained about listening to conversations from adjacent tables asked for the ban. "We had a therapist in from New York in who was giving marriage counseling on the phone for 30 minutes and there were two other tables in the dining area and both complained," server Brittany Peacock said. The seating preference changes with the time of day. "At dinner there are people who don't want cell phones," Peacock said. "At lunch people come in and expect to take a call in the middle of the day and they want cell phones." If someone receives a call while in the cell-free area, they are asked to go outside or into the other area. "It's an interruption. It's loud. Normally you speak louder on a cell phone and it interrupts the peaceful atmosphere of a restaurant," customer Bo Landry said. "I think you need an option if you have emergencies a lot of people have kids at home with a baby sitter, but also think it's a nice to go to an area where it won't interrupt your meal." *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Reuters News Service. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 02:41:23 -0400 From: Jack Decker Subject: Re: Help Me Identify/Repair/Replace a Power Transformer Pat, please conceal my e-mail. My guess is that the Intermatic is an AC transformer only, with no rectification or filtering. That's perfectly okay for incandescent lamps, which generally don't care if they get AC or DC. So, it would depend on what you want to use it for. If, for example, you want to power automotive-type incandescent lamps (up to 1 Amp total current) it should work fine. If you want to power anything that requires filtered DC, though, you'd have to add a rectifier and filtering circuit. The rectification is easy, you just use a bridge rectifier circuit rated at 1 Amp or greater, but the required level of filtering would depend on what you want to power, and that gets a bit more complicated. On the other hand, the Radio Shack unit can probably handle all your needs. The exception to that is inductive loads (anything with a coil of wire involved), which at very least will draw far more current with DC than with AC. For example, if you try to run an old fashioned doorbell on 12 volts AC it will probably work fine, but put it on 12 volts DC and it will probably ring much louder and the coils will get much warmer, perhaps dangerously so. So, don't substitute DC for AC on any sort of inductive load, which would include anything that has another transformer in it, or a relay or some other device with a coil of wire (the coiled filament of a light bulb doesn't count, there's not enough inductance there to matter). But for a purely resistive load (such as lamp bulbs) that would otherwise run on AC, substituting a DC power supply of the same voltage should not cause a problem. ------------------------------ From: GlowingBlueMist Subject: Re: Help Me Identify/Repair/Replace a Power Transformer Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 01:11:27 -0500 TELECOM Digest Editor wrote in message news:telecom23.500.2@telecom-digest.org: > Here is a question for the group regards 'low voltage' electrical > current. I have two transformers: > One is Radio Shack, 'clean' DC output, 13.8 Volts at 3 Amps. Its > like a little box, a 'powerhouse' kind of thing. It has a 'reset' > button on the back in case the output goes out due to overload or > a short. $39 at Radio Shack. I had been using it to run a small > portable TV set and a scanner radio, such as would be plugged into > a car cigarette lighter and run from a car battery. Pat, The above unit supplies a 12 volt DC output, the same kind of output as your car battery. It contains a transformer to lower the 110 volts to 12 volts but also includes electronic circuitry to convert the voltage to DC. It can be used to power electronic equipment that requires a 12 Volt DC source. This can also be used to power lights, just like the lights are powered in your car. The only provision is that you do not try and power more lights than the unit can support, when that happens the circuit breaker "reset" button on your box will trip. > The other transformer is an Intermatic, model is 'Malibu 88-T' and > it does output of 12 Volts and 1 Amp. It has a clock built in which > allows it to be automatically turned on/off as desired. Its purpose > is to service outside lights along a sidewalk for example. Using > 12 or 14 gauge wire, a series of little lights strung over a distance > of 50 feet will light up. Total wattage allowed is 88 Watts between > all the bulbs, which are 5-10 watts each. It is available from Ace > Hardware here in Indy also for $39. Pat, the above power unit is a 12 volt AC according to the Frequently Asked Questions section of their support web page as shown below. a.. Why do low voltage lighting systems require a transformer? You must have a transformer to reduce the 120-volt AC home current to a safe 12 volts AC. Do not attempt to hook up a line of 12-volt lamps directly to an ordinary home outlet without using a 12-volt transformer. If you were to hook up the TV or Scanner to this type of power unit it will most likely destroy them, unless they are designed to accept an AC/DC input of either type. You would have to check the specs on your scanner and TV to see if they would accept an AC input. > Are these two power supplies interchangeable (ignoring the fact that > the Intermatic has a built in clock since I have other timers I can > use)? I would not suggest hooking any electronics made for use in the USA to a 12 Volt AC power supply unless first confirming the equipment was designed to work using AC voltages. Lights can be powered using AC or DC as the bulbs could care less what type voltage they get fed. Using the lights on the DC power supply should work just fine as long as you do not exceed the capacity of the power unit. From what you describe the DC unit will trip the built in circuit breaker if you exceed the limits, protecting the power unit in the process. > How do you calculate volts/amps to watts? Formulas are something I never could memorize, anyone else know the answer? > I am not going to have $78 to spare this month (barely can spare $39 > for one of them), so am curious to know what I can get away with or > not get away with. If I had to choose myself, I would get the 12 volt DC system and make sure to keep it dry. Verify the light strings have nothing but lights, no motorized devices or timers and you should be OK. > PAT [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The light string is just fifty feet of 12 or 16 gauge wire. The Radio Shack transformer/power supply is in a walk-in shed behind my house (which has electricity from my house.) The Intermatic transformer/timer unit is there also. The shed is enclosed, so nothing in there gets wet. The fifty feet of wire is mostly protected also (but *not* entirely I am sad to report) in the breezeway which is part of my back yard, and it feeds the lighting there, six lanterns and two 'floodlights' which go in the ground around the sidewalk area. The built in clock in the Intermatic Malibu 88-T turns those lights on and off. The floodlights are the most wattage of the bunch, little halogen things surrounded by tin-foil which put out ten watts each. The six lanterns, staked in the ground, put out maybe five watts each, also with reflectors built into the shells which hold the 'flashlight-like' bulbs. Intermatic built the transformer to go with the lanterns, etc. The transformer has quit responding at all (except the clock part still runs okay) and I suspect there may be a dead short in the wiring somewhere. PAT] ------------------------------ From: John A.Cummings Organization: ARRL, CWA, and IEEE Subject: Re: Help Me Identify/Repair/Replace a Power Transformer Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 8:11:54 -0400 TELECOM Digest Editor wrote: > Here is a question for the group regards 'low voltage' electrical > current. I have two transformers: > One is Radio Shack, 'clean' DC output, 13.8 Volts at 3 Amps. Its > like a little box, a 'powerhouse' kind of thing. It has a 'reset' > button on the back in case the output goes out due to overload or > a short. $39 at Radio Shack. I had been using it to run a small > portable TV set and a scanner radio, such as would be plugged into > a car cigarette lighter and run from a car battery. > The other transformer is an Intermatic, model is 'Malibu 88-T' and > it does output of 12 Volts and 1 Amp. It has a clock built in which > allows it to be automatically turned on/off as desired. Its purpose > is to service outside lights along a sidewalk for example. Using > 12 or 14 gauge wire, a series of little lights strung over a distance > of 50 feet will light up. Total wattage allowed is 88 Watts between > all the bulbs, which are 5-10 watts each. It is available from Ace > Hardware here in Indy also for $39. > Are these two power supplies interchangeable (ignoring the fact that > the Intermatic has a built in clock since I have other timers I can > use)? > How do you calculate volts/amps to watts? > I am not going to have $78 to spare this month (barely can spare $39 > for one of them), so am curious to know what I can get away with or > not get away with. > PAT I would suspect that the lighting transformer is indeed, ONLY a transformer. Light bulbs don't care about AC/DC. Electronics won't like that AC. Watts = Volts * Amps Volts = Watts / Amps Amps = Watts / Volts I hope that gets you started, Pat. Please munge or withhold my email address. John A. Cummings Member of the ARRL, CWA, and the IEEE. reply-to: jcummings@withheld on request [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I made one mistake in my earlier report. The Intermatic is 110-120 Volts AC with 1 Amp. Output is 12 Volts, but the tag has been defaced at that point so I cannot tell you more about the output. But elsewhere I see a note in the instructions which warns *do not exceed the 88 Watts output of the various bulbs on the string.* There is no push button tripper on it to reset the circuit as there is on the Radio Shack unit. PAT] ------------------------------ From: a_user2000@yahoo.com (Justin Time) Subject: Re: Help Me Identify/Repair/Replace a Power Transformer Date: 20 Oct 2004 06:06:00 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com TELECOM Digest Editor wrote in message news:: > Here is a question for the group regards 'low voltage' electrical > current. I have two transformers: > One is Radio Shack, 'clean' DC output, 13.8 Volts at 3 Amps. Its > like a little box, a 'powerhouse' kind of thing. It has a 'reset' > button on the back in case the output goes out due to overload or > a short. $39 at Radio Shack. I had been using it to run a small > portable TV set and a scanner radio, such as would be plugged into > a car cigarette lighter and run from a car battery. > The other transformer is an Intermatic, model is 'Malibu 88-T' and > it does output of 12 Volts and 1 Amp. It has a clock built in which > allows it to be automatically turned on/off as desired. Its purpose > is to service outside lights along a sidewalk for example. Using > 12 or 14 gauge wire, a series of little lights strung over a distance > of 50 feet will light up. Total wattage allowed is 88 Watts between > all the bulbs, which are 5-10 watts each. It is available from Ace > Hardware here in Indy also for $39. > Are these two power supplies interchangeable (ignoring the fact that > the Intermatic has a built in clock since I have other timers I can > use)? > How do you calculate volts/amps to watts? > I am not going to have $78 to spare this month (barely can spare $39 > for one of them), so am curious to know what I can get away with or > not get away with. > PAT Pat, One of the old Ohm's Law formulae was P=IE or Power (watts) equals I (current) times E (voltage)so, 3*13.8=41.4. This doesn't work out in the Intermatic case, as you say the power is 88 watts with the supply rated at 12v and 1A. In this instance you need to do the more exact conversion of P=I2R or Power equals the square of the current times the resistance. One of the transformers may be reporting the input power rather than the output power. This sounds like the situation for the Intermatic. 120W of input at 120VAC is 1A, and with the losses due to conversion to DC could easily scale down to the 88W on output. That would mean the transformer/power supply actually pumps out close to 7A at 12VDC (84W). Because they both are DC supplies, polarity becomes an issue, especially for the TV and scanner. Rodgers Platt ------------------------------ From: richgr@panix.com (Rich Greenberg) Subject: Re: Help Me Identify/Repair/Replace a Power Transformer Date: 20 Oct 2004 12:42:43 -0400 Organization: Organized? Me? In article , TELECOM Digest Editor wrote: > One is Radio Shack, 'clean' DC output, 13.8 Volts at 3 Amps. Its > like a little box, a 'powerhouse' kind of thing. It has a 'reset' > button on the back in case the output goes out due to overload or > a short. $39 at Radio Shack. I had been using it to run a small > portable TV set and a scanner radio, such as would be plugged into > a car cigarette lighter and run from a car battery. This is putting out DC, about 40 watts worth. > The other transformer is an Intermatic, model is 'Malibu 88-T' and > it does output of 12 Volts and 1 Amp. It has a clock built in which > allows it to be automatically turned on/off as desired. Its purpose > is to service outside lights along a sidewalk for example. Using > 12 or 14 gauge wire, a series of little lights strung over a distance > of 50 feet will light up. Total wattage allowed is 88 Watts between > all the bulbs, which are 5-10 watts each. It is available from Ace > Hardware here in Indy also for $39. This is putting out AC, not DC. Must be more than one amp because 88 watts at 12 volts is about 8 amps which would match the number of bulbs. > Are these two power supplies interchangeable (ignoring the fact that > the Intermatic has a built in clock since I have other timers I can > use)? No, one is DC and the other is AC. > How do you calculate volts/amps to watts? Disreguarding inductive effects which for DC and AC lighting is negligible watts = volts times amps. W=V*A V=W/A A=W/V > I am not going to have $78 to spare this month (barely can spare $39 > for one of them), so am curious to know what I can get away with or > not get away with. Depends on what you want to do with them. Rich Greenberg Marietta, GA, USA richgr atsign panix.com + 1 770 321 6507 Eastern time zone. I speak for myself & my dogs only. VM'er since CP-67 Canines:Val, Red & Shasta (RIP),Red, husky Owner:Chinook-L Atlanta Siberian Husky Rescue. www.panix.com/~richgr/Asst Owner:Sibernet-L [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: What I want to do is (a) replace the Intermatic which runs the lights around the sidewalk and (b) replace the Radio Shack unit which variously has been used for a CB Radio, the scanner, and a small portable television set, all of which were intended for use in a mobile setting at one point. So many of my *nice* toys have been stolen or otherwise rendered useless over the years, and I am reduced to 'mix and match' transformer parts, etc. I have a boxful of plug in the wall transfomers here which I do not know what they are for. Thank goodness the manufacturers usually idiot-proof those things (different size barrels on the plugs, etc) so I cannot just go around trying them at random. PAT] ------------------------------ From: John Hines Subject: Re: Help Me Identify/Repair/Replace a Power Transformer Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 11:45:45 -0500 Organization: www.jhines.org Reply-To: john@jhines.org TELECOM Digest Editor wrote: > How do you calculate volts/amps to watts? Volts * Amps = Watts TELECOM Digest Editor wrote: > Are these two power supplies interchangeable (ignoring the fact that > the Intermatic has a built in clock since I have other timers I can > use)? The Intermatic is most likely AC output since that works better for lights. AC, in changing polarity 60 times a second, goes through zero, which is "off". Incandescent bulbs, and our eyes don't react fast enough for this to be noticeable, but it extends bulb life. ------------------------------ From: Robert Weller Subject: Re: Help Me Identify/Repair/Replace a Power Transformer Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 08:21:12 -0700 Hi Pat, What is your application? That is, what is it that you are trying to power? The Radio Shack unit supplies a nominal 12-volts DC, while the Intermatic supplies a nominal 12-volts AC, _probably_. You cannot, in general, substitute an AC power supply for a DC one, or vice-versa, unless your load is very simple -- like a light bulb. Bob Weller ------------------------------ From: Bruce L. Bergman Subject: Re: Help Me Identify/Repair/Replace a Power Transformer Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 15:41:31 GMT Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net If you want to post this, please mung the E-mail address. On Tue, 19 Oct 2004 17:05:30 EDT, TELECOM Digest Editor wrote: > Are these two power supplies interchangeable (ignoring the fact that > the Intermatic has a built in clock since I have other timers I can > use)? No, they are not interchangeable. The Malibu Lights transformer is raw 12V AC with no rectifier or filtering at all -- which works better for the application of those outside lights, as AC will go farther without as much voltage drop problems. Some outside lighting circuits go several hundred feet and the light would visibly dim more at the far end when running on DC. You can NOT use the Malibu transformer as-is for the TV or scanner, if they didn't go "BOOM!" right away the 60-Hz hum would be horrendous. Now if you want to build a filter section for the Malibu transformer with a bridge rectifier, filter capacitors and a choke, you could get a decent unregulated DC supply that would work ... Add a TO-3 regulator chip and a big heatsink (and the proper ancillary parts) and you could build a simple regulator section for it. The Radio Shack 12V DC supply is rectified and filtered heavily to remove as much 60 Hz hum as possible, for running electronic gear. You could use one to run the outside lights (if you get one that is large enough for the load) but it's a waste. Spend the money on the regulated DC supply. If you ask around the Electricians in your area, you can get a used small Malibu transformer for free or cheap when someone installs a larger system. > How do you calculate volts/amps to watts? Volts times amps equals watts. 13.8V * 3A = 41.4W Google on "Ohm's Law" and you should get a gazillion answers. ;-) Bruce L. Bergman, Woodland Hills (Los Angeles) CA - Desktop Electrician for Westend Electric - CA726700 5737 Kanan Rd. #359, Agoura CA 91301 (818) 889-9545 Spamtrapped address: Remove the python and the invalid, and use a net. ------------------------------ From: Paul Coxwell Subject: Re: Help Me Identify/Repair/Replace a Power Transformer Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 14:12:27 +0100 TELECOM Digest Editor wrote in message news:telecom23.500.2@telecom-digest.org: > Here is a question for the group regards 'low voltage' electrical > current. I have two transformers: > Are these two power supplies interchangeable (ignoring the fact that > the Intermatic has a built in clock since I have other timers I can > use)? > How do you calculate volts/amps to watts? Pat, First of all, the specifications you quote on that second unit don't tally with the intended use. On a DC circuit (or non-inductive AC circuit, such as simple filament lights) the wattage is equal to the product of voltage and current. 12V x 1A = 12 watts maximum. The specified maximum load of 88W would equate to 88 / 12 = 7.33 amps, so something's not quite right there. Many of the small power packs intended for pathway lighting output AC rather than DC and are unregulated, but you can run regular filament lamps on DC anyway, so no problem there. Your 3A supply would only run up to about 40W of lights though. Another point to consider is some of those cheap supplies intended for scanner/CB/etc. use are rather liberally rated, and although they'll output 3A on demand, they tend to get rather hot when called upon to deliver that full load over an extended period. Paul ------------------------------ From: a_user2000@yahoo.com (Justin Time) Subject: Re: Lee's ABC of the Telephone Date: 20 Oct 2004 06:10:12 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Jason wrote in message news:: > Many thanks Jim! > I picked up more than a few volumes from that site today. I'll > probably be grabbing an edition of the "Principles of Electricity > Applied To Telephone and Telegraph Work" as well. > -Jason Now you know why some of us old and grey haired types have forgotten more than some of the "newbies" have learned in school. They just didn't think it was important to go back to how things worked, just assume they would and go from there. ------------------------------ From: Ben Schilling Subject: Re: Radio Questions Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 11:25:50 -0500 Robert Bonomi wrote: > You havn't looked very hard. > Some more that I dug up: > WJON St. Cloud, Minnesota > WWJO St. Cloud, Minnesota > WYRQ Little Falls, Minnesota Both St. Cloud and Little Falls Minnesota are on the Mississippi River. I think Little Falls is actually on the East bank of the river. ------------------------------ From: Fred Atkinson Subject: Last Laugh! Red Faces at Orange Not Funny at All! Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 13:11:05 -0400 *Try* not to laugh? I don't think it is at all funny. Fred ------------------------------ From: Lisa Minter Subject: Last Laugh! Love-Making Couple Sparks Police Emergency Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 10:56:23 EDT [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: No, this is not a report of a police sting operation, where police tricked someone into doing a sex act then proceeded to bring a gazillion officers and police cars to the scene to arrest the hapless person, nor is it a report about some nosy neighbor getting into something then ratting on someone else to save themselves. Instead, it was purely an accident. PAT] LONDON (Reuters) - British police sprang into operation after receiving an emergency '999' phone alert from a woman in apparently in some distress -- only to discover it had accidentally been made by a couple having sex. Officers at Durham in northern England became alarmed when the call came through to their headquarters in the middle of the night and all they could hear was what sounded like a woman crying with a man's voice in the background. Police traced the number and rushed to the scene, where they found the embarrassed and disheveled couple who explained they were "messing around." "It happened while they were having sex. The woman had depressed with her foot the '9' button on the phone which happened to be on the floor," a Durham police spokesman told Reuters Wednesday. "It certainly put a smile on the faces on the police side -- we were just very relieved it wasn't a violent situation and that the couple were clearly getting on very well together." *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Reuters News Service. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. 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