9-21-93
     If the characters that appear on the screen after you connect are  ALL
illegible,  then the following does NOT apply. If Some parts of  words  are
readable, then the following probably is the problem.

     Commonly called line noise, the spurious characters that appear on the
screen  are  usually from the central office of the phone company.  It  can
make  a  big difference whether you call out or someone  calls  'in'.  Also
there  is  a  difference between calling different  areas  (area  codes  or
exchanges)  as  different  equipment will be involved.  Calling  the  phone
company will rarely do any good, because the problem is not on your line.

     However, because the problem is not rare, (in fact common in
some places), operators of BBS and other modem users have come up
with a cheap simple solution which works most of the time.

     You  can  make (or have made) a 'noise filter'. The  modem  doing  the
rec'ving  must be the one with the filter. Parts are less than  $2.50.  You
plug  into the modem with a "T" adapter  (about $2.50 at Radio Shack)  will
let  you put the 'filter' on and still use the phone in that jack. (I  have
never  seen  a  'noise filter' for sale. The only device I  ever  saw  that
claimed to stop noise, cost more than $45 and did nothing at all).


##include=c:\text\noise2.tif

                                   Don Hinds - Zoom Tech
##include=c:\text\signa.tif
