[Asterisk-Users] VM low volume - testers needed

[Rich Adamson]

The patch is in cvs-head, which has been very stable for me. :)

------------------------

> Hi Richard,
>   I am experiencing the same problem. I'd like to test your patch. Thing, is, I don't know which 
CVS it's in  :)
> 
> ... I checked out 1.2-beta on Tuesday (9/21) and compiled it. When I type 'show application 
voicemail', it does not describe the
> g(#) option, so I think my version must not have it.
> 
> I am using a TDM22B card and voicemails seem very quiet if they are left from in incoming POTS 
connection. When I enter
> voicemail by direct dialing a local extension and leave a message from the advanced options 
menu, the recorded message is much
> louder.
> 
> I should qualify, not only are my VMs coming in over POTS, I am actually calling out first 
through the TDM22B, to Sipura, to
> VOIP provider, back in via PSTN, to TDM22B, to VM. I'm amazed it works at all  :)  ... I'm very 
impressed by Asterisk and
> especially it's voicemail. I would like to resolve the low volume issue though.
> 
> If you can tell me which CVS to check out, I can try it. I'd like to stick to the 1.2-beta 
branch though because I don't want to
> rework all my config files.
> 
> On 9/21/05, Rich Adamson <radamson at routers.com> wrote:
> 
>     > On Monday 19 September 2005 12:38, Rich Adamson wrote:
>     > > The g(6) adds a 6 db gain for zap calls that end up recording a Voicemail
>     > > message.
>     > ...
>     >
>     > > * 'g(#)' the specified amount of gain will be requested during message
>     > >          recording (units are whole-number decibels (dB))
>     >
>     > How in the hell does that make any sense?  are your normal incoming calls
>     > quiet too or just voicemail?
> 
>     Yes, see bug 2022 and 2023 for details, as well as
>       http://www.routers.com/asteriskprob/asterisk-config.htm
>     for a very detailed analysis of the problem.
> 
>     I believe one of the more serious issues amounts to: if asterisk is
>     located a fair distance from the central office (-7db in my case), setting
>     the rxgain and/or txgain to any level that would be considered reasonable
>     for that loss (eg, rxgain=5, txgain=5), hugh amounts of echo result that
>     cannot be addressed through zapata.conf echo entris, and changing
>     compile options to agressive, etc, does not help. Its my believe
>     (from working with several TDM users), the further one is from the CO,
>     the bigger the problem. (Or, short pstn cable lengths less then about
>     4 or 5db can almost always be addressed via parameters.)
> 
>     The above workaround is very usable (assuming it works) when someone
>     calls in via the pstn and leaves a voicemail (which is already at
>     least 7db down plus their own pstn loss), and then I call in via the
>     pstn to retrive the voicemail (now 14db down PLUS the original callers
>     pstn loss), the audio is so faint its difficult to impossible to
>     listen to.
> 
>     > > In my case, the asterisk box is located about 7db from the central
>     > > office. As noted in bug 2023 (and 2022), calls from an outside pstn
>     > > line coming into asterisk incure a 7db pstn loss (which can't be adjusted
>     > > for with rxgain and txgain as changing those values to something
>     > > reasonable generates echo).  Retrieving that VM message from an outside
>     > > location creates another 7db loss (now -14db down in total), making it
>     > > very difficult (if not impossible) to hear the message. (And, yes I've
>     > > gone through all the recommendations with wav vs gsm files, etc.)
>     >
>     > I am not sure I understand why the txgain/rxgain isn't fixing it without
>     > adding unacceptable echo...  this all seems very odd...  I mean for a test
>     > you should be able to dial an echo() application and have extremely quiet
>     > echoed audio... is this the case?
> 
>     As an ex-telco transmission engineer, believe me I've done my homework
>     and some very solid testing with expensive well-calibrated test equipment.
>     As I've mentioned to Kevin, its almost like the TigerJet pci controller
>     on the TDM card is reversing bits six and seven (or something very odd
>     like that). Digium apparently now has a pci engineering type looking
>     at the issues, which I'm told is using a pci logic analyzer, etc.
> 
>     > > The work around "only" kicks in if the call comes from a zap channel
>     > > and ends up in voicemail, adding a 6db gain to that recorded message.
>     > > No other channel types are impacted by this new parameter.
>     >
>     > This is a HELL of a band-aid.
> 
>     If you actually follow the logic that was originally stated in 2023,
>     this gain setting "is" highly useful for those systems that are
>     further away from the CO (as mentioned above). For those closer to
>     the CO, it has zero value.
> 
>     Rich
> 
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