DuKane Starcall Intercom System -- The Basics
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ก.ย. 2024
- This is the beginning of a series in my DuKane Starcall intercom system and the endeavor of installing it in my house. This is an intercom system that was purchased from an elementary school, mid July, 2019. The main unit is from around 1996, but most of the speakers were from 1972 when the building was built. This unit provided audio for around 40 classrooms, and also multipurpose zones including horns for a gymnasium. The most likely reason that such a large system was put into such a small building is because there was previously an unknown system in the building that was probably made by DuKane. The unit that was in the school could control up to 512 phones or speaker stations when fully expanded. The speakers were all configured for 5 watts each by setting the tap on each transformer.
As the building became older, it began to fall apart and a lack of general maintenance eventually lead to its demise. The overseers of the building saw it in their best interest to auction off everything remaining after the 2018-2019 school year. Luckily, we won the auction and with a lot of help from family members, we were able to get most of the system in the allotted two days. The building was only intended to be a temporary shelter that would last for 3 years, however it ended up lasting over 40. This intercom system was one of the most important parts of the building, but it was rarely valued as such.
There was probably around 2 miles of total cable connecting this system, and also some old relics of the previous intercom system like an old paging microphone. After a lot of sweat and fiberglass, the intercom was brought into my basement where it still is today. my goal is to document my adventure of installing such an old system into the house where it now rests. I will connect it using mostly salvaged wire and by connecting it via crimp connectors to the pigtails hanging from the punch block.
Something that was not fully conveyed by the poor audio quality of the video is just how good this system sounds when playing other things besides a voice announcement. There is a bluetooth module connected to a 3.5mm jack connected to the aux input on the audio mixer. This jack was installed by the school so that they could play a disc with the Pledge of Allegiance and National Anthem on it. When this input is used, it is suitable for somewhat high fidelity music distribution throughout a building or house. Due to there massive number of expandable options, these were most likely never used in houses other than mine. these reasons all contributed to why I have started this series.
If you have an intercom system like this, PLEASE get in contact with me via the comments of this video or one of the others. As I said at the end of the video, I have a binder of manuals for the system and I would be able to supply an awful lot of information.
By the way, this took over a day and a half to upload on my current internet provider!
Thank you for watching this video, please consider liking and subscribing!!!
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Awesome video! As of Monday I will have everything I need for this system. I have a current system installed on my property to check on family in the other house. It is a BOGEN PCM, and it sucks lol. I'm very much looking forward to getting the STARCALL up and running.
Flashback to 1999
0:16 nice intro frm the speaker
The handset for the DuKane administrative phone is a AT&T/Lucent/Avaya "k style" handset, so if one needs to be replaced those will work
How is the bass response of music on this system compared to other 70v systems?
Great video! We have two identical Dukane system and each are used to support floor levels in the building fior two division. One Dukane system rack for Division-A supports the rooms & zones in the Basement and 1st floor level while the Second Dukane system rack for Division-B supports the rooms & zones in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th floor level. We an announcement is to be delivered for ALL the floor levels or to both Division-A & B, we have to use two admin consoles instead of one as each admin console is connected to each individual control rack or system. Both Dukane system uses 16-channel card and all slots on the control cabinet are occupied supporting 270 rooms. Is there a way to bridge these two identical Dukane systems together so we can only use one admin console to deliver announcements?....What can you suggest?....Manufacturer no longer support this system and unable to assist both on documentation and support.
Can you also direct us where we can get technical documentation for this Dukane StarCAll intercom system?
Appreciate the help.
Thanks!
Can you control the tone schedule from an external relay?
Did you manage to salvage any sort of computing stuff from the old school building? For instance, any educational software or networking stuff?
Might be a dumb question, anyway to increase the all call page volume ? All of a sudden it’s very low. The tone before it is loud but once beginning to speak it’s very low. Thank you.
I actually still have this very system at the school building I work at as an IT Admin. How do you adjust the volume of individual speakers in the rooms through the phone? We have the Starcall RAPID software too but I can't figure out the volume part to adjust it in a single room. We still use it as our bell system but have upgraded the intercom system to a VOIP system interfaced to this with a card.
Unfortunately, there is no way to adjust the volume of individual speakers through the ATEL. If you want to adjust the volume of individual speakers, in most cases, you actually need to remove them from the wall or ceiling and adjust the wattage tap setting. This is done by disconnecting the lead coming from the transformer and connecting the one of the correct color that corresponds to the wattage you want. This is assuming that the speakers at your school do not have knobs or other means to adjust the tap setting without disconnecting the wires.
Question we had morning announcements where they played a song during the passing period before announcements. The bell would ring over the PA system how does the bell supercede the PA? How can you set it up so the PA would override the bell? Also on the microphone how would you know when you can speak? Also is the Fire Alarm system interconnected with the PA system? Thanks
The fire alarm system is standalone and not connected to the PA/intercom system, as per regulation in some states, however I'm sure in some applications it can be
Fire alarms are standalone systems. Dukane systems have a preset hierarchy to the priority of certain functions. Items that are higher priority on the system always play over lower ones. The hierarchy is as follows:
1. Emergency paging/tones
2. Bells
3. Custodian Call tones
4. Paging
5. Intercom Calls with rooms
6. Program distribution (music playing)
Hello, I maintain this same system in a Fire Dept. The guys woke to the "Ding" type alarm going off every 5 minutes. They didn't setup this wakeup alarm/ding...but...it wouldn't quit until they unplugged one of the phones. They took out the Dukane Phone 4 years ago, and said the system worked for paging ONLY ever since. Until last night. All the LED's for the hearbeat, Central Processor card are blinking together. Not sure if that's bad, or not. Any help with manuals for troubleshooting would be appreciated. BTW. Awesome, Awesome video.
Hello, and thank you for the comment. After thinking about this for a little bit, I have come up with a few things that could cause the issues that you’re having with this system. One of my guesses is that the main central processor card (CPC) has just crashed and needs to be reset through the software. Just unplugging the unit will not reset it usually. All of the lights on the CPC flashing means that there is an error in the system. This could be caused by some weird glitch that happens randomly causing more glitches or a bad card. Another reason that could cause the tones could be some sort of external system that is either sending a trigger signal to the unit to play the tones. Or, it could be sending audio of a similar ding tone to the unit through a paging mic input or one of the two program inputs. I would assume that there could be external devices connected into the unit, seeing as it is in a fire station, to play alerts over the system. This could have caused a static charge to damage the cards. Either way, the best way to start is going to be to get the software for it and try to reload the configuration files to the cpc. Unfortunately the software will only work on a computer running Windows XP 32 bit, basically meaning any Win XP machine prior to around 2006. A link to download the software is buried in a reddit thread which I will provide a link to here ( www.reddit.com/r/k12sysadmin/comments/6w06m6/dukane_starcall_rapid_software/dm8txkk/ ). I’ve tried downloading it on windows 7 and it did not work; it only worked on a Windows XP laptop. If you do have a device that will run it, you will either need a serial cable to connect to the CPC or a usb to serial with proper drivers. When I did this with the XP laptop, it worked first try. I do have another video recorded about the software that I have sort of been procrastinating on editing that I should post, because it would probably help with what you’re trying to do. One last thing that you could try is plugging in one of the DuKane phones with a display on it which would show the error code, or if somewhere in the building there is a remote display that would have an error code on it. If you could get access to one of the phones, you could view this code and I could relay information from the manual on what it could mean. I’ve had error codes 19 and 18, both of which caused the 4 leds to flash and were easily resolved through the software. The software is fairly self-explanatory once you get into it, so if it is a small building, you could try to reprogram it to do the minimum of what they need it to do, minimizing future errors. You could also try clearing the schedules by dialing 75200#, but this will turn off any pre-programmed schedules. As I have found, this system is pretty resilient and hard to break, so don’t be afraid to try some basic resetting methods with it as you probably wouldn’t break anything. Sorry this response was so long, but I hope it covers everything to get your troubleshooting process started.
Can you run a paging signal from a third party pbx on this system? Is there an analog card for that?
Also, Clearwater High School in Clearwater,FL used this system. Their amp was 250 watts!! You can talk to a lot of speakers with that sort of power.
There are several configurable inputs on this system, including a standard balanced paging mic input that you could try to interface it with. You might be able to configure a trunk interface card to work with an external line, but I am not sure. I do not believe that there is a dedicated analog card for this, but you might be able to pull an analog output into either the mic input or one of the two program inputs on the system. Also, if you have this system, in a future video I will supply a link to the RAPID software along with an instructional video. If you have any success with this, let me know; I am interested in how you could do this with this system. Thank you for the comment!
@@floydsutton788 I don't have this system. I do however have a vintage TOA solid state 70v mixer amplifier that looks to be from the 70s. It is a TOA model ta958. I have been looking for input cards for this unit. Are you familiar with TOA amplifiers?
@@jonathankeenan80 I have thought of purchasing a 250 watt amp for this system, but there are so many more amps that have a higher output than DuKane program amps. These are high quality amplifiers though and even the 125 watt one powered nearly 50, 5 watt speakers throughout the school that this one came out of.
@@jonathankeenan80 I have not dealt with TOA amplifiers, but I do have two 15 inch TOA drivers and they are excellent quality. I am not sure where to get cards for a unit that old, but good luck!
do you think you could do a video of all the bell tones? also how to schedule tones?
I have a video showing all of the available tones in the works, but it is not finalized yet. In order to set the schedule on this system, you need the RAPID software. I do not yet have the software, but when I get it it I will make a video. Thanks for the comment!
Hey so I work for a city utility company and we have one of these systems and the gentleman who used to work on it retired about 3 years ago. How can I get in touch with you to get a copy of the manuals and maybe even pick your brain? Thanks!!!
If he doesn't get back to you I could definitely help you.
@@firealarmguy817 How do I get in touch with you? I'm not seeing a business email for you or Floyd the youtuber in your guys about section. What I'm looking to do is make the starcall close a relay contact when a page happens. Thanks!!
@@thomasstedman6449 i left an email... did you get it?
@@firealarmguy817 I did not. Was it on your page?
@@thomasstedman6449 no it was here. It must block it. firealarmguy30 and it would be gmail.
My former Middle School has this intercom system
By the way I attended Charles Maclay Middle School in Pacoima, CA
Hi is there a way to tap into the all call for a safety system that makes an announcement over all the speaker? The output on the device is analog but I also have a relay that can trip to open or closet when the audio is trigger. Really need help figuring this out but my system does not have the mixer just everything else.
can you send me an audio file of the bell tones please?
I have an Administrators Phone 7a1110 that recently started not powering on when first plugged in. When I lift the handset, I receive static and #4102 1 of 1 appears on the display. I have tried resetting the system multiple times, cleared errors, reloaded the system configuration but nothing resolves the issue. Do you have any suggestions.
Imagine if he had a Bogen Multicom 2000
Does anyone know a source for the WINPAL software that allows programming Dukane MCS350 systems?
What app do you use to edit your videos
I purchased an old elementary school that has this system. I haven’t been able to make it operate. I don’t even know where to begin to troubleshoot. Can anyone offer any help?
I was thinking to get a inter com we’re did you get this one I want this one and what speakers do you have
Hopefully someone can help me out. I work on the PA system for a school. I have a issue that the main office can't here the person in the classroom but the classroom person can here the person in the main office. Plus the PA phone displays "PA06" instead of the room number when this issue happens.......
Hi. Do you have the winpal software for this? Thanks!
Hey Mr Floyd I was wondering if you have any set up or instructional materials or manuals for a DUKANE (MACS) modular administration communication system. that you could share if so let me know and I could provide contact information thanks!
I have some questions about my 70v Dukane amp. I don't know the model of it, but I can take pictures. Can I send them to you by email?
Knowing the approximate age of the amplifier and the system it is from would help. You could send the images via instagram at dukane_intercom if you want my input. Thank you for the comment!
Does the phone use telephone cord or cat5 cable?
ATEL phones use 3 pairs of wires (6 individual) but use the 8-pin RJ45 (“Ethernet”) jacks in the back of the units and on the wall. Pins 1 & 8 are just not used. One pair carries 24v power for the phone to operate, one pair is the data connection between the phone and the central brain of the system and the third pair is for voice communication for calls.
does anyone know why these will sometimes have a car radio in the rack cabinet
The radio is usually configured to be one of the two program sources. If it is connected, you can dial the code on an ATEL and play the content from the radio in the rack to the speakers in the building.
Low volume output issue, can you assist with possible solutions?
Low volume from what though? Low volume on calls to individual rooms, or on paging/program distribution. Volume output is controlled from different pieces of equipment depending on what you’re doing.
28:18 if that’s the washer or dryer I think it’s done cause I heard Samsung
Like what’s the name
how do you connect the paging system to VoIP phones via Obihai OBi508?
I prefer Rauland gear myself.
The MCS350 was by far the way better system. Just saying. 😅