> If you don't have a telco metering setup (line-man, transmission
> line tester "tims") the levels across the phone line can be
> read with any decent AC volt meter.
Just be careful, some DMM's, even good ones, don't have accurate AC voltage
measurement above a few hundred Hertz. I have a couple of Flukes (73 and
77, I think) that don't do well in that department. They're only spec'ed to
be accurate up to something like 400 Hz. Above above a few hundred Hz they
start reading progressively low, not the ideal tool for measuring frequency
response over a wide range, such as up to 3 kHz and beyond.
A TIMS is a handy device to have for this kind of stuff (and they're even
more handy when you have two), with usefulness beyond just testing telco
loops. They can often be found cheap on the surplus market (hint: Dayton).
--- Jeff
