From: "David Kay" <[email protected]>
Subject: RE: E & M terminology . . . .

and to further this trivial persuit ...

 "Newton's Telecom Dictionary"  says ....

> E&M Leads stands for Ear and Mouth leads. In the olden days it was the
> PBX operators who originated trunk calls by asking the long distance
> carrier for free trunks (using their mouth or M lead). If the carrier had
> a free trunk, the PBX operators heard about it through their ear or  E
lead.
> As an aside, this is also the origin of the term "to want your ear" 
> because when the near-end E lead was grounded, this meant the 
> far-end was calling and "wanted your ear".


I personally like the use of the term "olden"


but, 

another colleague has noted that for 16 conductors in a cable, the E&M leads
can show up as a pair.

a       I
b       j
c       k
d       l
e       m
f       n
g       o
h       p


Dave Kay
Nortel Networks

Reply via email to