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From: Nemo on 26 Mar 2010 17:22
I recall an old story about BT (British Telecom) microphones, back in
the days when they were known as the Post Office... I heard this 20
years ago when I worked in telecoms, and it was old even then.

For several decades these were carbon, and had very uniform
characteristics. Then one day someone noticed the frequency response was
out of spec for all new ones. Engineers investigated and eventually
zeroed in on the carbon itself, whose characteristics had subtly
altered. Inspectors ended up in Wales where a coking plant created the
carbon by anaerobic heating of coal or whatever (packing it into a
sealed chimney and cooking it like a closed oven for a couple of days).
And yes, the carbon was definitely different somehow. But following the
manufacturing process from start to finish, they were at a loss to
explain where the operators were deviating from the written procedures.

Looking for correlations with events that happened around the time of
the change, they discovered that it coincided with the retirement of a
foreman. Further enquiries revealed he had a curious habit of "marking
his territory" before each "shot", ie urinating on the pile of coal
before it was sealed up. Experiment showed that this was, indeed, the X
Factor which brought the carbon back into spec.

And so BT continued making carbon mikes for many more years.
--
Nemo
From: Robert Roland on 27 Mar 2010 05:07
On Fri, 26 Mar 2010 10:17:39 -0700, D Yuniskis
<not.going.to.be(a)seen.com> wrote:

>Do you have to press any buttons to get it to *do* something?
>(i.e., can you just use it as long as power is available?)

If the phone is already paired and in range when the device powers up,
it connects automatically. If the phone goes out of range and comes
back into range, you have to press and hold the button to reconnect.
To answer an incoming call, or to initiate an outgoing voice dial, you
have to press the button.

For music, I can't quite remember. I have tested it, but don't use it.

>> to music. The included earpieces sound horrible, though.
>But, the *earpiece* was the problem, not the device?
>(i.e., if you had replaced the "earphone" -- which I
>intend -- then things would be better?

Yes. I tried listening to music with a different pair of (also cheap)
earphones (it's a standard 3.5mm jack), and they sounded fine.

>Hmmm... maybe just buy one and take it apart...

Considering the cost, the risk is minimal. You could even get a couple
of different models to see which one is most suitable.
--
RoRo
From: D Yuniskis on 30 Mar 2010 12:11
Hi Robert,

Robert Roland wrote:
> On Fri, 26 Mar 2010 10:17:39 -0700, D Yuniskis
> <not.going.to.be(a)seen.com> wrote:
>
>> Do you have to press any buttons to get it to *do* something?
>> (i.e., can you just use it as long as power is available?)
>
> If the phone is already paired and in range when the device powers up,
> it connects automatically. If the phone goes out of range and comes
> back into range, you have to press and hold the button to reconnect.
> To answer an incoming call, or to initiate an outgoing voice dial, you
> have to press the button.

<frown> I wanted to bury the buttons completely.

> For music, I can't quite remember. I have tested it, but don't use it.
>
>>> to music. The included earpieces sound horrible, though.
>> But, the *earpiece* was the problem, not the device?
>> (i.e., if you had replaced the "earphone" -- which I
>> intend -- then things would be better?
>
> Yes. I tried listening to music with a different pair of (also cheap)
> earphones (it's a standard 3.5mm jack), and they sounded fine.

OK.

>> Hmmm... maybe just buy one and take it apart...
>
> Considering the cost, the risk is minimal. You could even get a couple
> of different models to see which one is most suitable.

The size and button issues look like deal-breakers. :<

Thanks, anyway!
From: Robert Roland on 30 Mar 2010 13:16
On Tue, 30 Mar 2010 09:11:36 -0700, D Yuniskis
<not.going.to.be(a)seen.com> wrote:

>> If the phone is already paired and in range when the device powers up,
>> it connects automatically. If the phone goes out of range and comes
>> back into range, you have to press and hold the button to reconnect.
>> To answer an incoming call, or to initiate an outgoing voice dial, you
>> have to press the button.
>
><frown> I wanted to bury the buttons completely.

Hmm. I'll test and see if I can answer the call from the phone. I
expect that should work, but I have never (consciously) tried.
--
RoRo
From: Robert Roland on 31 Mar 2010 04:02
On Tue, 30 Mar 2010 19:16:44 +0200, I wrote:

>I'll test and see if I can answer the call from the phone.

Ok, I have tested. I can answer the call from the phone, but I cannot
re-establish the connection after having been out of range.
--
RoRo
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