[Asterisk-Users] offtopic - channel banks

[Ilia Mirkin]

hi,

i have some newbie questions about channel banks. i have an adtran
act-1241 sitting around. it accepts D4 modules, and it contains a number
of e&m cards.

first of all, how does this thing work? a t1 contains 24 channels, and i
noticed that the channel bank has space for 24 cards. what do these
cards do? what are their outputs? the ones that are in there have some
outputs on the front marked "test", but nothing else. there are a number
of wires coming out the back (48, if i had to guess), and it has a few
ports on the front which seem to be able to take in a T1. am i correct
in understanding that it is the card in the bank that determines the
signalling style, and not the t1? as such, is there no way that i could
use it in its current configuration to have it talk with analog phones
(i.e. something like t100p -> act-1241 with e&m cards -> phone)? i'm a
bit unclear on the different signalling types, and their
intercompatibilities.

if anyone could shed any light into this, i would very much appreciate
it.

thanks,

Ilia Mirkin
imirkin at mit.edu