UNIVERSITY OF THE EAST – CALOOCAN

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
Electronics Engineering Department

EXPERIMENT # 2: PULSE DIALING

NAME: CULABRES, JERICK C.

SUBJECT AND SECTION: NEC 512 – 1EC
DATE OF SUBMISSION: JULY 15, 2019
PROFESSOR: ENGR. EDELITO A. HANDIG
INTRODUCTION

Pulse dialing is a signaling technology in telecommunications in which a direct

current local loop circuit is interrupted according to a defined coding system for each
signal transmitted, usually a digit. This lends the method the often used name Loop
Disconnect Dialing. In the most common variant of pulse dialing, decadic dialing, each of
the ten Arabic numerals are encoded in a sequence of up to ten pulses. The most
common version decodes the digits 1 through 9, as one to nine pulses, respectively, and
the digit 0 as ten pulses. Historically, the most common device to produce such pulses
trains is the rotary dial of the telephone, lending the technology another name, rotary
dialing. The pulse repetition rate was historically determined based on the response time
needed for electromechanical switching systems to operate reliably. Most telephone
system used the nominal rate of ten pulses per second, but operate dialing within and
between central offices often used pulse rates up to twenty per second.

Automatic telephone exchange systems were developed in the late 19th and early
20th century. For identification, telephone subscribers were assigned a telephone number
unique to each circuit. Various methods evolved to signal the desired destination
telephone number for a telephone call directly dialed by the subscriber. An automatic
switch-hook was designed by Hilborne Roosevelt. In the first electromechanical switching
system the current pulses generated by the rotary dial on the local loop directly operated
electrical stepping switches at the central offices; the mechanical nature of these relays
generally limited the speed of operation, the pulsing rate, to ten pulses per second. Some
switching systems used digit registers that doubled the allowable pulse rate up to 20
pulses per second, and the inter-digital pause could be reduced as the switch selection
did not have to be completed during the pause; these included access lines to the panel
switch in the 1920s, crossbar systems, the later version of the rotary system, and the
earlier 1970s stored program control exchanges.

In some telephones, the pulses may be heard in the receiver as clicking sounds.
However, in general, such effects were undesirable and telephone designers suppressed
them by mechanical means with off-normal switches on the dial, or greatly attenuated
them by electrical means with a varistor connected across the receiver.
DISCUSSION

The experiment performed is about pulse dialing. We used two telephones that
were connected in the lab-volt trainer that is serving as a mini central office. We observed
the signal present in the telephone using an oscilloscope to view and investigate the
characteristics of that signal as we dial number in the telephone set. For the first part, on
the host computer, we start the telephone training system software. On the same host on
the computer, we go the call processor and disabling the telephone number detection.
This will allow to dial as many digits and also, we observed the resulting pulse dialing
signals, with no response from the central office that can disturb the observations. Next,
we connect the probe 1 to TP1 and opened the oscilloscope. Setting up the scope’s mode
to normal, sensitivity to 10 volts per division, input coupling to DC, time base to 20 ms per
division and display refresh to continuous. Next, we observe that the DC voltage in the
telephone line is close enough to -48, because the loop current is zero. We lifted off the
handset of the telephone set A and we observe that the DC voltage in the telephone line
was decreased greatly by -7. It was happened because the DC current is flowing through
the telephone line. Next, we replaced the handset of telephone A on the cradle. The
voltage across the telephone line indicates whether or not DC current flows through the
line. This voltage will be used in this exercise to study pulse dialing. Next, we lifted off the
handset of telephone A. pressing different number keys on the keypad of the telephone
A while listening to the handset earpiece and observing the signal on the scope.

Next, we changed the scope’s settings. Time base to 0.1 per division. Trigger’s
source to channel 1, level to -30 volts, slope to negative and display refresh to manual.
We refresh the scope display and pressed number 6 on telephone set a. the waveform of
the resulting voltage across the telephone line should be recorded by the oscilloscope.
We refresh again the oscilloscope display and immediately press a number key on the
telephone line. We determined the number of times the loop current has been interrupted.
On the host computer, we changed the oscilloscope time base to 50 ms per division.
Refreshing again the scope display and pressing number 3 on the telephone A. the
waveform of the resulting voltage across the telephone line should be recorded by the
oscilloscope. We measure the dial pulse period and the duration of the current
interruptions using the voltage of the waveform. We end to a result of 100 ms on the dial
pulse period and 40 ms on the duration of current interruption, 0.07 ms on the duration
current pulses. We changed the time base to 0.02 seconds per division and the inter-digit
interval was 84 ms.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

The pulse dialing method was technically determined by how the rotary dial of the
telephone works. When the caller picks up the receiver and operates the rotary dial, it
disconnects the loop between the telephone and the exchange at a specific frequency
and at defined intervals based on the number dialed. The analog exchange switch uses
these disconnections to determine which telephone number the subscriber dialed and
forwards these to the so-called rotary switch as current pulses. A certain pause between
the individual numbers must be maintained for correct signaling. Even analog phones
with push-buttons typically support the pulse method. The devices can be flexibly
configured for the pulse method and multi-frequency signaling. The pulse dialing method
is referred to as in-band signaling, since the telephone number is transmitted over the
voice channel can be heard by the subscriber.

SUMMARIZE

Pulse dialing is a signaling technology in telecommunications in which a direct

current local loop circuit is interrupted according to a defined coding system for each
signal transmitted, usually digit. The most common version decodes the digit 1 through
9, as one to nine pulses, respectively, and the digit 0 as ten pulses. The pulse repetition
rate was historically determined based on the response time for electromechanical
switching systems to operate reliably. Most telephone used the nominal rate of ten pulses
per second, but operator dialing within and between central offices often used pulse rates
up to twenty per second.
GLOSSARY

 Alternating Current (AC) – an electric current that reverses its direction many
times a second at regular intervals, typically used in power supplies.
 Direct Current – an electric current flowing in one direction only.
 Electric Current – it is the rate of flow of electric charge past a point or region.
 Pulse Dialing – a method of telephone dialing in which each digit is transmitted
as a corresponding number of electronic pulses.
 Telephone – it is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to
conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be heard directly.

REFERENCES

Pulse dialing was retrieved from:

 https://wikivisually.com/wiki/Pulse_dialing
 https://www.coursehero.com/file/p1lgjjp/lending-the-technology-another-name-
rotary-dialing-in-order-to-use-pulse/
 Fajardo, F.A. (2019), Electronic Systems and Technologies, EST Essentials
 https://www.nfon.com/en/knowledge-base/knowledge-base-detail/pulse-dialing/