 Alexander Graham Bell (March 3,

1847 – August 2, 1922) was

a Scottish-born scientist, inventor,
engineer, and innovator who is
credited with inventing and
patenting the first
practical telephone.
 He also founded the American
Telephone and Telegraph
Company (AT&T) in 1885. AT&T was a
subsidiary of Bell Telephone Company.
 The history of the telephone chronicles the
development of the electrical telephone.
 In 1870s, two inventor Elisha Gray and
Alexander Graham Bell both independently
designed devices that could transmit speech
electrically.
 Both men rushed their respective designs to
the patent office within hours of each other.
Alexander Graham Bell patented his
telephone first.
 Elisha Gray and Alexander Graham Bell
entered into a famous legal battle over the
invention of the telephone, which Bell won.
 Aside from Bell and Gray, Charles Bourseul,
Antonio Meucci, Johann Philipp Reis, amongst
others, have all been credited with the
telephone’s invention.
 The Bell and Thomas Edison patents, however,
were commercially decisive because they
dominated telephone technology and were
upheld by court decisions in the US.
 The telegraph and telephone are both wire-
based electrical systems.
 Bell’s success with the telephone came as a
direct result of his attempt to improve the
telegraph, which has been a means of
communication for some 30 years.
 Although a highly successful system, the
telegraph, with its dot-and-dash Morse code,
was basically limited to receiving and sending
one message at a time.
 Bell’s “harmonic telegraph” was based on the
principle that several notes could be sent
simultaneously along the same wire if the
notes or signals differed in pitch.
 By 1904, there were over 3 million phones in
the US.
 What turned out to be the most popular and
longest lasting physical style of the telephone
was introduced in the early 20th century,
including Bell’s model 102 telephone
 Internet Protocol (IP) telephony, a.k.a Internet
telephony or Voice over Internet Protocol
(VoIP), is a disruptive technology that is rapidly
gaining ground against traditional telephone
network technologies.
 IP Telephony uses a broadband internet service
to transmit conversations as data packages.
 VoIP is also used on private wireless networks
which may or may have a connection to the
outside telephone network.
 The telephone is one of the most remarkable
devices ever invented.
 Although telephone systems were originally
developed for conveying human speech
information (voice), they are now also used
extensively to transport data.
 Anyone who uses a telephone or a data modem
on a telephone circuit is part of a global
communications network called the public
telephone network (PTN).
 Because PTN interconnects subscribers through
one or more switches, it is also called the public
switched telephone network (PSTN).
 The PTN is comprised of several very large
corporations and hundreds of smaller
independent companies jointly referred to as
Telco.
 Fixed line operators
 Bayan Telecommunications (Globe Telecom
subsidiary)
 Digital Telecommunications (PLDT affiliate)
 Eastern Communications
 Innove Communications (Globelines)
 PLDT
 Philippine Telegraph and Telephone Company
 Pilipino Telephone Corporation
 Mobile operators
 Globe Telecom (Ayala Corporation)
 Smart Communications (PLDT)
 Sun Cellular (Digitel Mobile Philippines, Inc.)
 Extelcom (Express Telecommunications, Inc.)
 Plain old telephone service (POTS) is the
voice-grade telephone service that remains the
basic form of residential and small business
service connection to the telephone network in
most parts of the world.
 The name is a retronym, and is a reflection of
the telephone service still available after the
advent of more advanced forms of telephony
such as ISDN (Integrated Services Digital
Network), mobile phones and VoIP (Voice Over
Internet Protocol).
 The local subscriber loop (or simply local loop or
subscriber line ).
 Local loop is simply an unshielded twisted pair
(UTP) transmission line (cable pair), consisting
of two insulated conductors twisted together.
 UTP is the most popular
and generally the best
options for school
networks.
 Though UTP is less
expensive, it is
susceptible to radio and
electrical frequency
interferences
 If you must place cable in environments with lots
of potential interference, or if you must place cable
in extremely sensitive environments that may be
susceptible to the electrical current in the UTP,
shielded twisted pair may be the solution.
 Shielded cables can also help to extend the
maximum distance of the cables.
 STP cabling includes metal shielding over each
individual pair of copper wires. This type of
shielding protects cable from external EMI
(electromagnetic interferences).
 The subscriber loop or local loop is
the physical wiring that connects
the telephone instrument to the
central office and to the rest of the
network.
 The wire pair are twisted to help
cancel magnetic fields and reduce
interferences between circuits in
the same cable – “crosstalk”
 Of the two wires in the twisted
pair, one is designated “tip”
(green) and the other, “ring”
(red).
 The subscriber loop provides
the means to connect a
telephone set at a subscriber’s
location to the closest
telephone office, which is
commonly called an end office,
local exchange office, or central
office.
 Once in the central office, the
subscriber loop is connected
to an electronic switching
system (ESS), which enables
the subscriber to access the
public telephone network.
 Functions
 Carries voice signals both ways
 Carries signaling information both ways:
dialing pulses or tones to the central office
from the customer and dial tones, ringing,
busy signals, and prerecorded messages from
the network to the subscriber
 Transmit power from central office to operate
the telephone and ring the bell.
 The standard dictionary defines a
telephone as follows:
“An apparatus for reproducing sound, especially that
of the human voice (speech), at a great distance, by
means of electricity; consisting of transmitting and
receiving instruments connected by a line or wire
which conveys electric current.”
 1500-type telephone
500-type telephone set
set
2500-type telephone
set
 It indicates an incoming call to the called
telephone by ringing bells or other
audible tones.
 It changes speech of a calling party to
electrical signals for transmission to a
distant party through the system.
 It automatically adjusts for changes in
the power supplied to it.
 It signals the system that a call is finished
when a caller “hangs up’’ the handset.
 It requests the use of the telephone
system when the handset is lifted.
 It indicates that the system is ready for
use by receiving a tone, called the - dial
tone.
 It sends the number of the telephone to
be called to the system.
 It indicates the state of a call in progress
by receiving tones indicating the status.
 The figure below shows how a telephone set is
connected to a central office switching machine
(local switch).

-48 Vdc (ring)

Telephone set
Central Office
Switching Switch hook
machine ground(tip)
microphone

2-Wire local
subscriber loop
 One wire of the local loop is called the tip, and
the other is called the ring.
Historic perspective

A telephone operator manually connected

calls with patch cables at a telephone
switchboard.
 Since the 1960s, the phone plugs and jacks have
been gradually replaced in the home with a
miniaturized plastic plug known as RJ-11 and a
matching plastic receptacle.
 The switching machine outputs -48 Vdc on the
ring and connect the tip to ground.
 A dc voltage was used rather than an ac
voltage for several reasons:
1. To prevent power supply hum
2. To allow service to continue in the event of a power
outage
3. Because people were afraid of ac
 Minus 48 volts was selected to minimize
electrolytic corrosion on the loop wires.
 The -48 Vdc is used for supervisory signaling and to
provide talk battery for the microphone in the
telephone set.
 On-hook, off-hook, and dial pulsing are examples of
supervisory signaling.
 It should be noted that -48 Vdc is the only voltage
required for the operation of a standard telephone.
 However, most modern telephones are equipped
with nonstandard features and enhancements and
may require an additional source of ac power.
 The ringer circuit is placed directly
across the tip and ring of the local loop.
 Function
 The purpose of the ringer is to alert the
destination party of incoming calls.
 The audible tone from the ringer must be loud
enough to be heard from a reasonable distance
and must be offensive enough to make a person
want to answer the phone as soon as possible.
 The on/off hook circuit (sometimes called a
switch hook) is a single-throw, double-
pole (STDP) switch placed across the tip
and ring.
 Function
 The switch is mechanically connected to the
telephone handset so that when the telephone is
idle (on-hook), the switch is open. When the
telephone is in use (off-hook), the switch is
closed completing an electrical path thru the mic
between the tip and ring of the local loop.
 Equalizers are combinations of passive
components that are used to regulate the
amplitude and frequency response of the
voice signals.
 The equalizer helps solve an important
transmission problem in telephone set
design, namely the interdependence of
the Tx and Rx efficiencies and the wide
range of Tx currents caused by a variety
of local loop cables with different dc
resistances.
 Speaker is the receiver for the telephone.
 The receiver converts electrical signals
received from the local loop to acoustical
signals that can be heard and understood by a
human being.
 The speaker is connected to the local loop
through the hybrid network.
 Ordinary telephones use
carbon microphones and
magnetic earphones
(transmitters and
receivers)
 The carbon microphone
needs DC bias current to
operate
 Carbon microphones are
reliable and simple but
have poor audio quality
 Modern telephones
often use electret
condenser microphones
to achieve better quality
 Function
 The hybrid network (sometimes called a
hybrid coil or duplex coil) is a special balanced
transformer used to convert a two-wire circuit
(the local loop) into a four-wire circuit (the
telephone set) and vice versa, thus enabling
full duplex operation over a two-wire circuit.
 It also allows a portion of the transmit signal
to be returned to the receiver in the form of a
sidetone.
 The dialing circuit enables the subscriber to
output signals representing digits, and this
enables the caller to enter the destination
telephone number.
 The dialing circuit could be either be an
electronic-dial pulsing circuit or a Touch-tone
keypad, which sends various combinations of
tones representing the called digits.
 Sending a Number
 Dialing
 Pulse dialing uses interruptions in the
current loop to dial a number
 Dual-tone multifrequency dialing (DTMF)
uses two tones for dialing. Also known as
touch dialing
 Initiating a Call
 On-hook condition – when
the telephone handset is
resting on its cradle
(switchhooks are open)
 Off-hook condition – handset
is removed from its cradle
(switchhooks are closed).
This completes the circuit
to the exchange and the
current flows in the circuit.
 Connecting the Phones
 The connection having made at the switching
office, a ringing signal is sent to the called
phone (called phone is on-hook); a busy
signal is sent if the called phone is off-hook.
 Answering the Call
 When the called party removes the handset
in response to a ring, the loop to that phone
is completed by its closed switchhook and
loop current flows through the called
telephone.
 Talking
 Transmitter – converts speech (acoustical energy)
into variations in an electrical current (electrical
energy)
 Receiver – converts electrical current to sound
 Sidetone – a small amount of the transmitter signal
fed back into the talker’s receiver.
 Ending the Call
 The call is ended when either party hangs up the
handset (on-hook).
 Call progress tones and call progress signals are
acknowledgement and status signals that ensure
the processes necessary to set up and terminate a
telephone call are completed in a orderly and
timely manner.
 Signaling can be broadly divided into two major
categories: station signaling and interoffice signaling.
 Station signaling is the exchange of signaling
messages over local loops between stations and
telephone company switching machines.
 Interoffice signaling is the exchange of signaling
between messages between switching machines.
 Signaling messages can be subdivided further into
four categories: alerting, supervising, controlling, and
addressing.
 Alerting signals indicate a request for service such as
going off hook or ringing the destination telephone.
 Supervising signals provide call status information,
such as busy or ring-back signals.
 Controlling signals provide information in the form
of announcements, such as number changed to
another number, a number no longer in service,
and so on.
 Addressing signals provide the routing information
such as calling and called numbers.
Tone Signal Frequency Duration/Range
Dial tone 350 Hz plus 440 Hz Continuous
DTMF 697 Hz, 770 Hz, 852 Hz, 941 Hz Two of 8 tones
1209 Hz, 1336 Hz, 1477 Hz, On, 50-ms minimum
1633 Hz Off, 45-ms minimum
3-s maximum
MF 700 Hz, 900 Hz, 1100 Hz Two of six tones
1300 Hz, 1500 Hz, 1700 Hz On, 90-ms minimum
120-ms maximum
Dial pulses Open/closed switch On, 39 ms
Off, 61 ms
Station busy 480 Hz plus 620 Hz On, 0.5 s
Off, 0.5 s
Tone Signal Frequency Duration/Range
Equipment busy 480 Hz plus 620 Hz On, 0.2 s
Off, 0.3 s
Ringing 20 Hz, 90 Vrms On, 2s
Off, 4s
Ring-back 440 Hz plus 480 Hz On, 2s
Off, 4s
Receiver on hook Open loop Indefinite
Receiver off hook dc current 20 –mA minimum
80-mA maximum
Receiver-left- 1440 Hz, 2060 Hz, On, 0.1 s
off-hook alert 2450 Hz, 2600 Hz Off, 0.1 s
Tone or Signal Direction
Dial tone Telephone office to calling station
DTMF Calling station to telephone office
MF Telephone office to telephone office
Dial pulses Calling station to telephone office
Station busy Telephone office to calling subscriber
Equipment Busy Telephone office to calling subscriber
Ringing Telephone office to called subscriber
Ring-back Telephone office to calling subscriber
Receiver on hook Calling subscriber to telephone office
Receiver off hook Calling subscriber to telephone office
Receiver-left-off hook alert Telephone office to calling subscriber
 DTMF was first introduced in 1963 with 20
buttons in Western Electric 1500 type.
 DTMF was originally called Touch-Tone.
 DTMF is a more efficient means than dial
pulsing for transferring telephone numbers
from subscriber’s location to the central office
switching machine.
  Touchtone Keypad
High Group Frequencies (Hz)

1209 1336 1477 1633

ABC DEF
697 1 A
2 3

Low Group GHI JKL MNO

770 B Extended
Frequencies (Hz) 4 5 6
Keypad

852 PRS TUV WXY C

7 8 9

941  OPER
0
# D
Transmitter Parameter Receiver
(Subscriber) (Local Office)
-10 dBm Minimum power level -25 dBm
(single frequency)
+2 dBm Maximum power level 0 dBm
(two tones)
+4 dB Maximum power difference +4 dB
between two tones
50 ms Minimum digit duration 40 ms
45 ms Minimum interdigit duration 40 ms
Maximum echo level relative to transmit frequency level (-10 dB)
Maximum echo delay (<20 ms)
 Multifrequency tones (codes) are similar to DTMF
signals in that they involve the simultaneous
transmission of two tones.
 MF tones are used to transfer digits and control
signals between switching machines, whereas
DTMF signals are used to transfer digits and
control signals between telephone sets and local
switching machines.
 Dial pulsing (sometimes called rotary dial pulsing) is
the method originally used to transfer digits from
a telephone set to the local switch.
 When a digit is dialed, the loop current circuit
alternately opens (breaks) and closed (makes) a
prescribed number of items.
 All digits do not take the same length of time to
dial. For example, the digit 1 requires only one
make/break cycle, whereas the digit 0 requires 10
cycles.
 The minimum time to dial pulse out the seven-
digit telephone number 987-1234 is as follows:

Digit 9 ID 8 ID 7 ID 1 ID 2 ID 3 ID 4
Time(ms) 900 300 800 300 700 300 100 300 200 300 300 300 400

Where ID is the interdigit time (300 ms) and the total

minimum time is 5200 ms, or 5.2 s.
1. The conventional telephone set performs the
following functions: Signals the system that it
wants the use of the system, sends the dialled
telephone number, transmits speech, receives
speech and call progress tones, rings to
indicate an incoming call, and signals the
system to disconnect when the handset is
hung up.
2. The transmitter converts speech into electrical
signals when its carbon granule resistance is
varied by sound pressure on its diaphragm.
3. The receiver converts electrical signals into
sound by applying variations in an
electromagnetic field produced by the varying
electric current to the receiver diaphragm.
4. The dialing of a called telephone number is
equivalent to giving the telephone system an
address.
5. Voltages as large as 90-130 V rms are applied
to the telephone set from the line by a ringing
voltage generator in the local exchange.
6. An off-hook signal occurs when the handset is
off its cradle or hanger and allows current to
flow continuously in the local loop.
7. Tone dialing is much faster than pulse dialing
and the DTMF tones may be used for low-
speed data communications.
8. Muting circuits are used to prevent dial pulse
transient voltages from ringing the bell and to
protect the speech circuits.
9. The length of the local loop affects the speech
signal level so automatic compensation for
loop current is provided in the telephone set.
10. A hybrid is a transformer used to interface a 4-
wire circuit to a 2-wire circuit. The induction
coil in a telephone set performs this function.
1. The cable used for local loops is mainly:
A. twisted-pair copper wire
B. coaxial cable
C. shielded twisted-pair copper wire
D. fiber-optic

2. What type of transmitter has been replaced by the use

of microphones in many modern telephones?
A. carbon
B. electromagnetic
C. electret
D. ceramic
4. What type of receiver is most commonly used
in a conventional telephone handset?
A. carbon
B. electromagnetic
C. electret
D. ceramic
5. The voice frequency channel passband is:
A. 0 to 4,000 Hz
B. 300 to 3,000 Hz
C. 8,140 to 8,188 Hz
D. none of the above
6. DTMF dialing takes ___ time than pulse
dialing.
A. less
B. more
C. about the same
 7. The sidetone is
A. a type of feedback.
B. determined by the balancing network.
C. permits the talker to hear his/ her own voice.
D. all of the above.
8. The central office detects a request for service from a
telephone by
A. a flow of loop current
B. no loop current
C. a ringing signal
D. dial pulses
9. Which kinds of signal are transmitted on the local loop?
a. voice
b. tones
c. pulses
d. all of the above

10. When one picks up the signal carried by another channel

a. Echo
b. Crosstalk
c. Party Line
d. Crosslink
11. The telephone set is powered by the central office on the
ring side at
a. 42 to 52 Vdc
b. -42 to -52 Vdc
c. 24 to 64 Vdc
d. -24 to -64 Vdc

12. Which of the following is used to transmit the signal

a. Black
b. Yellow
c. Red
d. Green
13. The corresponding frequencies for digit 7 in the touch
tone telephone is
a. 770 & 1477 Hz
b. 852 & 1209 Hz
c. 852 & 1336 Hz
d. 770 & 1336 Hz

14. On a telephone system, the loop is open during

a. on-hook condition
b. off-hook condition
c. both A and B
c. none of these
15. A telephone operates on
a. Half duplex
b. Full duplex
c. Simplex
d. Echoplex

16. It is the physical wiring that connects the telephone

instrument to the central office and to the rest of the
network.
a. subscriber loop
b. local loop
c. a or b
d. none of these
17. ______signals provide call status information, such as busy
or ring-back signals.
A. Alerting
B. Supervising
C. Controlling
D. Addressing

18. The interdigit time for dial pulsing is

A. 100 ms
B. 200 ms
C. 300 ms
D. 400 ms
 A telephone circuit provides a path between a
source and a destination
 Dial-up circuit – temporary
 Private-line circuit – permanent

 The facilities maybe cable pairs or carrier systems,

and the information maybe transferred on a
coaxial, metallic, microwave, optic fiber, or satellite
communication
 The information transferred is called the
message, and the circuit used is called the
message channel.
 The local loop is the primary cause of attenuation
and phase distortion on a telephone circuit.
 Attenuation – an actual loss of signal strength
 Phase distortion – occurs when two or more
frequencies undergo different amounts of phase
shift.
 The transmission characteristics of a cable pair
depend on the wire diameter, conductor spacing,
dielectric constant of the insulator separating the
wires, and the conductivity of the wire.
There are seven (7) main components that make up a
traditional subscriber loop.

Feeder Cable (F1) . The largest cable used in a local loop,

usually 3600 pair of copper wire placed underground or in
conduit.
Serving Area interface (SAI). A cross-connect
point used to distribute the larger feeder
cable into smaller distribution cables.
Distribution Cable (F2). A smaller version of
feeder cable containing less wire pairs.
The Local Network
Subscriber or Standard Network interface (SNI) or the
NID. A device that serves as the demarcation point
between local telephone company and subscriber
responsibility for telephone service.
Drop Wire. The final length cable pair that terminates at the
SNI.
Aerial. That portion of the local loop that is strung between
poles.
Distribution Cable and Drop-wire cross connect point.
The location where individual cable pairs within
distribution cables are separated and extended to the
subscriber’s location on a drop wire.
 The Network Interface
Device or NID is the little
gray box outside your
home that provides the
connection to the public
switched telephone
network (PSTN). One side
is locked with a small tie
ring, the other is left open
so the customer can
access it.
 All subscribers are connected to the public switched
telephone network (PSTN) via the network interface
device (NID) outside their house. Everything beyond the
NID is the customer's responsibility
 A list of all customer premises equipment (CPE) would
include:
 All wiring inside the house
 All "sets" (telephones/telephone handsets)

 For commercial/business subscribers, additional

equipment might be considered 'CPE' :
 Routers
 Public Branch Exchange switches
 Extended wiring within the businesses premise.
Two components found on local loops are loading coils
and bridge taps.
 Loading is adding inductors periodically in series
with the wire. The inductors are called the loading
coils.
 Loading coil is simply a passive conductor
wrapped around a core and placed in series with a
cable creating a small electromagnet.
 Loading coils placed on a cable decrease the
attenuation, increase the line impedance, and
improve transmission levels for circuits longer than
18000 feet.
Letter Codes Separation (feet)
A 700
B 3000*
C 929
D 4500*
E 5575
F 2787
H 6000*
X 680
Y 2130
* Most common because their separation is representative of distances
between manholes.
 The amount of series inductance added is
generally 44 mH, 88 mH or 135 mH
 Designation :
 19H88 – 19 wire gauge with 88 mH of series
inductance added every 6000 feet
 16B135 – 16 wire gauge with 135 mH of series
inductance added every 3000 feet
 For a 12000-foot length of 26-gauge copper
cable, a 3000 Hz signal experiences 6 dB more
attenuation than a 500-Hz signal on the same
cable.
 Bridge taps are unused sections of cable that are
connected in shunt to a working cable pair, such as
local loop.
 Bridge taps increase the flexibility of a cable by
making it easier to reassign a cable to a different
subscriber without requiring a person working in
the field to cross connect sections of cable.
 Bridge taps introduces a loss called, bridging loss.
They allow signals to split and propagate down
more than one wire.
 Signals that propagate down unterminated cables
reflect back from the open end to the cable.
 The dc resistance of a local loop depends primarily
on the type of wire and wire size.
 Most local loops use 18- to 26-gauge, twisted-pair
copper wire.
 The lower the wire gauge, the larger the diameter, the
less the resistance, and the lower the attenuation.
 For example, 26-gauge unloaded copper wire has
an attenuation of 2.67 dB/mile, whereas the same
length of 19-gauge copper wire has only 1.12
dB/mile.
 The total attenuation of a local loop is generally
limited to a maximum value of 7.5 dB with a
maximum dc resistance of 1300 ohms, which
include the resistance of the telephone( approx. 120
ohms)
 The dc loop resistance for copper conductors is
approximated by
0.1095
Rdc  2
d
where Rdc = dc loop resistance (ohms/mile)
d = wire diameter (inches)
 Noise interference is composed of two
components: annoyance and the effect of noise on
intelligibility, both of which are functions of
frequency.
 Noise signals with equal interfering effects are
assigned equal magnitudes.
 To accomplish this effect, the America Telephone
and Telegraph Company (AT&T) developed a
weighting curve network called C-message
weighting.
 Groups of observers were asked to adjust
loudness of 14 different frequencies between 180
Hz and 3500 Hz until the sound of each tone was
judged to be equally annoying as a 1000-Hz
reference tone in the absence of speech.
 The same people were then asked to adjust the
amplitude of the tones in the presence of speech
until the effect of noise on
articulation(annoyance) was equal to that of 1000-
Hz reference tone.
 The results of two experiments were combined,
smoothed and plotted, resulting in the C-message
weighting curve.
C Message Weighting Curve
 The significance of the C-message weighting
curve is best illustrated with an example.
 From the previous figure, it can be seen that a
200-Hz test tone of a given power is 25 dB less
disturbing than a 1000-Hz tone of the same
power.
 Therefore, the C-message weighting network will
introduce 25 dB more loss for 200 Hz than it will
for 1000 Hz.
 The reference established for performing
message-channel noise measurement is -90
dBm(10-12 watts).
 The power level of -90 dBm was selected because,
at that time, power levels could not measure
levels below -90 dBm and, therefore, it would not
be necessary to deal with negative values when
reading noise levels.
 Thus, a 1000-Hz tone with a power level of -90
dBm is equal to noise reading of 0 dBrn.
 Conversely, a 1000-Hz tone with a power level of
0 dBm is equal to a noise reading of 90 dBrn.
 A translation must be made from dBmO to dBrnO or
dBrncO.
 Add 90 to the dBmO reading; then add the
appropriate correction factor at the frequency of the
interfering tone, as indicated in the figure to produce
dBrncO.
 Assume that the frequency of the interfering tone is
400 Hz. In the figure, 400 Hz on the C-
message weighting curve gives a correction factor of
-11 dB. Add 90 to -30 dBmO (given) to obtain +60
dBrnO.
 Now add +60 dBrnO to -11 dB to obtain +49 dBrncO.
 dB and dBm
 The decibel (dB) is a basic yardstick used for making
power measurements in communications.
 The unit dBm is often used to reference the power
level at a given point to 1 mW.
 For example, power levels of 10 mW and 0.5
mW are 10 dBm and -3 dBm, respectively.
 The difference between the two power levels
in dB is
 10mW 
dB  10log    13dB
 0.5mW 
or 10dBm  (3dBm)  13dB
 Transmission Level Point (TLP) is defined as the
optimum level of a test tone on a channel at
some point in a communication system.
 The numerical value of the TLP does not
describe the total signal power present at that
point – it merely defines what the ideal level
should be.
 The transmission level (TL) at any point in a
transmission system is the ratio in dB of the
power of a signal at that point to the power the
same signal would be at 0-dBm transmission
level point.
 A -15 dBm TLP indicates that, at this specific point the
signal should measure -15 dBm.
 Therefore, the transmission level for a signal that
measures -13 dBm at -15 dBm point is 2 dB.
 A 0 TLP is a TLP where the signal power should be 0
dBm.
 Data Level Point (DLP) is a parameter equivalent to
TLP except TLP is used for voice circuits, whereas DLP
is used as a reference for data transmission.
 The DLP is always 13 dB below the voice level for the
same point.
 If the TLP is -15 dBm, the DLP at the same point is -28
dBm.
 dBmO
 dBmO is the dBm referenced to a zero transmission
level point (0 TLP). It is a power measurement
adjusted to 0 dBm that indicates what power level
would be if the signal is measured at a 0 TLP. For
example, a signal measuring -17 dBm at a -16 dBm
transmission level point is -1 dBmO (i.e. the signal is
1 dB below what is should be, or if it were measured
at a 0 TLP, it would measure –1 dBm.
 dBrn
 dBrn is the dB level of noise with respect to
reference noise (-90 dBm). A noise reading of -50
dBm equates 40 dBrn, which 40 dB above reference
noise (-50 – [-90 ]) = 40 dBrn
 dBrnc
 dBrnc is similar to dBrn except dBrnc is the dB value
of noise with respect to reference noise using C-
message weighting.
 dBrncO
 dBrncO is the amount of noise in dBrnc corrected to
a 0TLP. A reading of 34 dBrnc at a +7 dBm TLP
equates to 27 dBrncO. dBrncO relates noise power
readings (dBrnc) to a 0 TLP.
 For example:
 Noise = -72 dBm (noise, in all cases, will mean C
message noise)
 Signal = -27 dBm at -24 dBm TLP
 Find:
 Signal ___________ dBmO
 Noise____________ dBrnc
 Noise____________ dBrncO
 S/N______________dB
 0 dBm

-24 dBm TLP (what signal level should be)

-3 dBmO
-27 dBm (what signal actually is)

S/N = 45 dB
-48 dBm equal to -24dBm TLP

+42 dBrncO -72 dBm noise level

+18 dBrnc
(Noise compared with
reference noise)
-90 dBm (reference level for noise)
•Answers:
• Signal = -3 dBmO
• Noise = +18 dBrnc
• Noise = +42 dBrncO
• S/N = 45 dB
For a signal measurement of -42 dBm, a noise
measurement of 16 dBrnc, and a -40 dBm
TLP, determine
a. Signal level in dBrnc
b. Noise level in dBm
c. Signal level in dBmO
d. Signal-to-noise ratio in dB.
 Crosstalk can be defined as any disturbance
created in a communications channel by signals in
other communications channels.
 Crosstalk can originate in telephone offices, at a
subscriber’s location, or on other facilities used to
interconnect subscriber locations to telephone
offices.
 There are three primary types: nonlinear crosstalk,
transmittance crosstalk, and coupling crosstalk
 It is a direct result of nonlinear amplification in
analog communications systems.
 Nonlinear amplification produces harmonics
and cross products (sum and differences).
 If nonlinear frequency components fall into the
passband of another channel, they are
considered crosstalk.
 Caused by inadequate control of the frequency
response of a transmission system, poor filter
design, or poor filter performance.
 Most prevalent when filters do not adequately
reject undesired products from other channels.
 Caused by electromagnetic coupling between
two or more physically isolated transmission
media.
 Effect of near-field mutual induction between
cables from physically isolated circuits.
 To reduce coupling crosstalk due to mutual
induction, wires are twisted together.
 Standard telephone cable pairs have 20 twists
per foot, whereas data circuits generally require
more twists per foot.
 Crosstalk interference is often expressed in its
own special decibel unit of measurement, dBx.
 Unlike dBm, where the reference is a fixed level,
dBx is referenced to the level on the cable that is
being interfered with (whatever the level may
be).
 Mathematically,

dBx = 90 – crosstalk loss (in decibels)

where: 90 dB is the ideal isolation between
adjacent lines.
 For example, the magnitude of the crosstalk on a
circuit is 70 db lower than the power of the
signal on the same circuit. The crosstalk is then
90 dB – 70 dBx = 20 dBx
1. A C-message noise measurement taken at a
-22-dBm TLP indicates -72 dBm of noise. A test
tone is measured at the same TLP at -25 dBm.
Determine the following levels:
a. Signal power relative to TLP (dBmO)
b. C-message noise relative to reference noise
(dBrn)
c. C-message noise relative to reference noise
adjusted to a 0 TLP (dBrncO)
d. Signal-to-noise ratio (dB)
2. A test-tone signal power of -62 dBm is
measured at -61 dBm TLP. The C-message
noise is measured at the same TLP at -10dBrnc.
Determine the following levels:
a. C-message noise relative to reference noise at a
0 TLP (dBrncO)
b. Actual C-message noise power level (dBm)
c. Signal power relative to TLP (dBmO)
d. Signal-to-noise ratio (dB)