Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!SYSTEM-M.PHX.BULL.COM!Beattie
From: Beattie@SYSTEM-M.PHX.BULL.COM ("Art Beattie {AC602 862-4783}")
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.appletalk
Subject: Re: How long can a PhoneNet network be?
Message-ID: <900819040241.366704@SYSTEM-M.PHX.BULL.COM>
Date: 19 Aug 90 04:02:00 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 72

>In article <2949@uakari.primate.wisc.edu> bin@primate.wisc.edu (Brain in Neutral) writes:
>>What's the maximum end-to-end distance a PhoneNet network can be,
>>and what factors does this length depend on?

As has been mentioned there are 2 basic styles of wiring; backbone and
daisy-chain.  This plays an important part in how far you can go with
the wiring.  By the way, all this is covered in the manual you get from
Farallon with a StarController; a good reference.

Backbone:

O----------O----------O----------O----------O----------O----------O
|          |          |          |          |          |          |
|          |          |          |          |          |          |
|          |          |          |          |          |          |
P          P          P          P          P          P          P

The "O"s are RJ11 telco wall jacks.  The wiring between them is one
UNBROKEN normal telephone hookup cable (2pair, only one pair is used.
The other pair is handy if the first pair used is broken or shorted).
The "P"s are the PhoneNet connectors from Farallon or TurboNet(ST)
connectors from Nuvotech.

Daisy chain:
_____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____
|   | |   | |   | |   | |   | |   | |   |
|   | |   | |   | |   | |   | |   | |   |
|   | |   | |   | |   | |   | |   | |   |
P    P     P     P     P     P     P    P

Each PhoneNet connecter can take 2 line cord connections.  Each
connection introduces a small break in the netowrk and thus a
discontinuity for the signal.  This reduces the effective distance the
signal can travel.  That is one reason why the backbone wiring is
prefered as long as the wire is installed without being broken.  The
installer's tool can be set up to punch down without cutting the wire.
And it is easier to use RJ11 wall jacks which have the punch-down style
connections internally rather than screws.

It is also important for the installers to realize that the LocalTalk
signals are of a higher frequency than what normal audio presents.  Our
installers used short cut technicques which will not work here.  If a
wire breaks, they used to wrap the wire around a punch down connection.
This type of connection will not support the frequencies of LocalTalk.

If it is necessary to reconnect broken wirings without stringing a new
one, the following is the best way we have found to work.  You first
remove the red and green wires (we don't mix voice and Localtalk on the
same cable).  Then carefully take the yellow and black wires from the
connector and punch them onto the connectors that the red/green wires
came from without breaking them.

              ___________________________
              |                         |
              |                         |
             zzz  zzz                   |
                   |                    |
Telco        zzz  zzz      ______       |     Continuation of
______________|    |_______|    |       |_________________
_______________    ________|    |       __________________
Cable         |    |       |____|       |     Telco Cable
             zzz  zzz                   |
                   |                    |
             zzz  zzz                   |
              |                         |
              |                         |
              |_________________________|

         |_________________________|
               RJ11 Wall Jack

Hope this helps.