mrdom

Hi everyone:

I'm new to the Merlin world ... I see that there are some users that maintain Merlin Legend systems in churches. That's exactly the situation I'm in, or will be in the future, and I'd like to begin to familiarize myself with the Legend systems.

I originally started my interest in telephone systems with the Norstar series. I've done lots of maintenance on Norstar ICS and MICS systems. Pretty straight-forward with the programming guides.

I'd like to ask some specific questions about the Legend systems, and hopefully membes can help me out with some of the initial answers:

1. I'm going to deal primarily with digital sets (MLX 10DP's, 20's, etc.). What are the wiring requirements for these sets to the KSU? The Norstar sets only need one pair to do everything they do, but it's my understanding that the Legend sets need to have all four pairs wired. Is this correct? In other words, I can wire according to ethernet standards, and use cat-5 cabling to accomplish runs from the different rooms to the KSU, right?

2. I've seen lots of pictures of Legend systems, and I never see any amphenol cables - just lots of jacks! If I would be wiring an office area in which all the users are in the same general vicinity, can I simply make long ethernet cables, plug one end into the set and the other end into the expansion card on the KSU? If that's possible, I'm assuming I can do the same for the POTS lines - simply plug line cords between the wall/demarcation point jacks that would be by the KSU and plug directly into the expansion card's analog POTS ports?

3. If I want to add voice mail capability to a Legend system, it's an expansion card I would purchase, correct? That's different for me - the Norstar systems have the old and trusty Applications Modules which weigh a ton and sound like a jet engine.

4. The Norstar system have "Answer DN's". This works OK if you only have a few folks to cover calls for, but when you have like six or seven people, it becomes more complicated because each set can only have four Answer DN's if memory serves me right. The Norstar systems also ring each set that the Answer DN is set for, and if no one picks up, then the call goes to voice mail. Would there be a similar feature like this on the Legend systems? I used to work in an environment where we had a Lucent Definity system, and there were "coverage paths" that would be followed. Sometimes, one would wait for 12 rings before voice mail finally came on! I really like this feature on the Norstar systems and am hoping that it would be similar on the Legend systems, but perhaps with expanded capabilities, like being able to handle more coverage extensions.

5. Once you have a jack wired with all four pairs, can you pretty much interchange Legend phone sets as long as you are connecting to a digital port on the KSU?

6. Are there programming guides available for the Legend KSU's, which would show all aspects of programming, like how to reset, extension programming, etc.

I think that should do it for now. I'm planning on purchasing a small Legend system to experiment with in the next few months. I'm not overly concerned with "complicated" setups and having to learn advanced features, as the churches tend to have very simple setups - all POTS on each set, getting the right coverage set up for extensions, voice mail setup, etc.

I would appreciate any help or perhaps some web sites that might have more information about the Legend sysems and their programming and wiring requirements.

MANY thanks for the help!