Crackle on line

fitzrik

Posts: 183
Member Since:
2007-11-08

Submitted by fitzrik on Tue, 06/10/2008 - 5:33am.

I have an a200d with hwec. 9 lines are currently used.

We have two main issues both with voice quality.

There is a general level of noise on the line which we could live with but would prefer not to have. However there is also a crackle. When I speak I can hear a crackle related to what I say. Its not distinct enough to be an echo but its obviously related. It happens on different line and soft and hard phones.

Please, any suggestions? It happens on calls both in and out.

Asterisk 1.4.19-1 RPM by vc-rpms@voipconsulting.nl built by root @ trixbuild-2.5 on a i686 running Linux on 2008-04-10 18:09:36 UTC
Zapata Telephony Interface Registered on major 196
Zaptel Version: 1.4.10
WANPIPE Release: 3.2.5
| Wanpipe Hardware Probe Info (verbose) |
-----------------------------------------
1 . AFT-A200-SH : SLOT=7 : BUS=1 : IRQ=7 : CPU=A : PORT=PRI : HWEC=32 : V=11

My wanpipe config has

PCISLOT = 7
PCIBUS = 1
FE_MEDIA = FXO/FXS
TDMV_LAW = ALAW
TDMV_OPERMODE = FCC
RM_NETWORK_SYNC = NO
MTU = 1500
UDPPORT = 9000
TTL = 255
IGNORE_FRONT_END = NO
TDMV_SPAN = 1
TDMV_HW_DTMF = NO

[w1g1]
ACTIVE_CH = ALL
TDMV_ECHO_OFF = NO
TDMV_HWEC = YES

----------------------------------------------
ZAP SHOW CHANNEL X gives

File Descriptor: 9
Span: 1
Extension:
Dialing: no
Context: from-zaptel
Caller ID:
Calling TON: 0
Caller ID name:
Destroy: 0
InAlarm: 0
Signalling Type: FXS Kewlstart
Radio: 0
Owner:
Real:
Callwait:
Threeway:
Confno: -1
Propagated Conference: -1
Real in conference: 0
DSP: no
Relax DTMF: yes
Dialing/CallwaitCAS: 0/0
Default law: alaw
Fax Handled: no
Pulse phone: no
Echo Cancellation: 128 taps unless TDM bridged, currently OFF
Actual Confinfo: Num/0, Mode/0x0000
Actual Confmute: No
Hookstate (FXS only): Offhook
trixbox1*CLI> zap show channel 2
Channel: 2LI>
File Descriptor: 10
Span: 11*CLI>
Extension: I>
Dialing: noI>
Context: from-zaptel
Caller ID: I>
Calling TON: 0
Caller ID name:
Destroy: 0LI>
InAlarm: 0LI>
Signalling Type: FXS Kewlstart
Radio: 0*CLI>
Owner: Zap/2-1
Real: Zap/2-1
Callwait:
Threeway:
Confno: -1LI>
Propagated Conference: -1
Real in conference: 0
DSP: yes*CLI>
Relax DTMF: yes
Dialing/CallwaitCAS: 0/0
Default law: alaw
Fax Handled: no
Pulse phone: no
Echo Cancellation: 128 taps unless TDM bridged, currently ON
Actual Confinfo: Num/0, Mode/0x0000
Actual Confmute: No
Hookstate (FXS only): Offhook

WAN_EC_CLIENT WANPIPE1 STATS 1 gives

wanpipe1: Running Get stats command to Echo Canceller device... Done!
wanpipe1: 1: Echo Channel Operation Mode : NORMAL
wanpipe1: 1: Enable Tone Disabler : TRUE
wanpipe1: 1: Mute Ports : NONE
wanpipe1: 1: Enable Extended Tone Detection : FALSE
wanpipe1: 1: Tone Disabler Status : Enabled
wanpipe1: 1: Voice activity is detected on SIN port : TRUE
wanpipe1: 1: Echo canceller has detected and converged : TRUE
wanpipe1: 1: Average power of signal level on RIN : -45 dBm0
wanpipe1: 1: Average power of signal level on SIN : -21 dBm0
wanpipe1: 1: Current gain applied to signal level on RIN : 0 dB
wanpipe1: 1: Current gain applied to signal level on SOUT : 0 dB
wanpipe1: 1: Average power of the comfort noise injected : -66 dBm0
wanpipe1: 1: (VQE) NLP status : TRUE
wanpipe1: 1: (VQE) Enable Tail Displacement : FALSE
wanpipe1: 1: (VQE) Echo Cancellation offset windowd (ms) : 0
wanpipe1: 1: (VQE) Comfort noise mode : NORMAL
wanpipe1: 1: (VQE) Acoustic Echo

&nbsp

jonnytabpni

Posts: 379
Member Since:
2007-03-21

Same problem here with

Tue, 06/10/2008 - 6:05am

Same problem here with excast same card except i dont have hw echo can.

I think the sangoma card have bad interferance rejection. it's also due to how clean the power source is coming from your PCI Express slot.

By any chance are you using an HP server?

&nbsp

fitzrik

Posts: 183
Member Since:
2007-11-08

No I'm using a Rhino Ceros

Tue, 06/10/2008 - 6:08am

No I'm using a Rhino Ceros which should be designed to work well. Seems like fairly standard hardware though. PIV too.

I'm also using standard PCI.

&nbsp

marc.sangoma

Posts: 373
Member Since:
2008-04-08

Hi, Please send an email to

Tue, 06/10/2008 - 6:24am

Hi,

Please send an email to techdesk@sangoma.com with a detailed description of the issue along with the following information. Also please include a call diagram.

eg. SIP---ASTERISK----A200---TELCO

-the output from "wanrouter version"
-the output from "wanrouter restart" (asterisk needs to be turned off for this so it may need to be done after hours)
-the file /var/log/messages (the entire file containing a wanrouter restart)
-the output from "wanrouter hwprobe verbose"
-the output from “wanrouter status”
-the file(s) /etc/wanpipe/wanpipeX.conf (where X is the wanpipe number)
-the file /etc/zaptel.conf
-the file(s) /etc/asterisk/zapata*.conf
-the output from "ifconfig", (re run a couple of times with a second or so delay in between each run)
-the output from "cat /proc/interrupts" (re run a couple of times with a second or so delay in between each run)

Marc
Sangoma Technologies

Marc

&nbsp

sblurton

Posts: 51
Member Since:
2006-07-03

Regarding Sangoma A200

Tue, 06/10/2008 - 7:11am

I have the same issues with noise on the card with a Sangoma A200. However you can resolve the crackle or echo by adjusting your RX gain up to 10 or higher not to exceed 25. Your TX should be -3 not to exceed -5 this should offset your crackle or echo. I have worked with Marc at Sangoma with no conclusion on my noise issues I had a ticket open with Sangoma and they had no info on how to resolve noise from gain such as hissing noise on the background without a fxo line connected! I think that Sangoma hires the deaf! I have tested all servers Dell 2950 HP DL320G5 SuperServers etc etc same issues. However I have also tested Digium analog cards without the same issues.

&nbsp

marc.sangoma

Posts: 373
Member Since:
2008-04-08

Hi Steve, I apologies for

Tue, 06/10/2008 - 9:13am

Hi Steve,

I apologies for the bad experience you have had with our technical support. But I have looked over your ticket and our emails together and they ended with me inquiring further about your issue. Then when the ticket closed automatically due to no response from you, then you wrote in and told me how you resolved the issue. Also i never suggested the RX and TX gain levels because typically noise is another issue, and it was to early in the debugging process to determine this.

Also some customers spam filters filter out my emails, so this may have been the issue.

Marc
Sangoma Technologies

Marc

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fitzrik

Posts: 183
Member Since:
2007-11-08

I tried out the following.

Tue, 06/10/2008 - 4:32pm

I tried out the following. (At nighttime!!)

1. Added pci=nommconf at the end of menu.lst(grub config file)
No difference
2. Added acpi =off at end of menu.lst
No difference

3. Changed card to PCI slot 1. Incidentally at same time I checked BIOS. Slot 1 was set to use interrupt 7. Other slots were set to use auto. I probably could have just changed the BIOS instead of swopping card but its nice to have tried everything ;)
Anyway, No difference.

4. Reduced TX gain in zapata.conf as sblurton suggested. In my case I reduced txgain from 6.0 to 0.0.
This has gotten rid of the crackle. I hope that tomorrow that my customer do not complain about their customers being unable to hear them.

PS : Actually saying 'crackle' down the line is a good word to test for the crackle. It seems to be the combined cr sound. R on its own doesn't give the crackle. Anyway for me I hope its gone.

Thanks to those who have answered and marc.sangoma. I'm sure I'll be back ;)

&nbsp

sblurton

Posts: 51
Member Since:
2006-07-03

Hi Marc

Wed, 06/11/2008 - 9:22am

Yes I tried emailling you with no return on my hissing noise. I have adjusted the volume up considerably due to low volume on 4 lines incoming to A200 with echo canc Polycom 650, Cisco 7960, Snom 320
These lines are with Qwest Denver, CO. I can plug in a standard analog telephone with no hissing or noise on all 4 POTS circuits. If all lines are removed then I will still get a background hiss my gain = RX +25 TX -3 the lower the RX the less I hear a hiss but also the less we can hear the caller as well. Our company is in the process of testing before production so this is not a major issue yet.

&nbsp

ravenber

Posts: 5
Member Since:
2007-11-14

Noise Reduction?

Thu, 07/10/2008 - 3:14pm

I had this same issue with the A200 as well, but managed to get it under control by using noise reduction in the HWEC module. Now, before thinking this is the end-all solution, consider this: This command was not easy for me to find (it wasn't anywhere on Sangoma's site and wasn't in any release notes or driver documentation). I knew it existed through comments made in the driver release notes, but it noted that the reason they turned it off was because it basically killed all faxing capabilities through the system. On that note, if you have the HWEC module, and you don't care about faxing, put this into your wanpipeX.conf in the [wanpipeX] section:

HWEC_NOISE_REDUCTION = YES

Hope that helps a few of you out. Good luck.

&nbsp

fitzrik

Posts: 183
Member Since:
2007-11-08

Thanks for that ravenber.

Thu, 07/10/2008 - 5:17pm

Thanks for that ravenber. I'm actually getting no complaints at the moment so I think I'm going to leave it unchanged, but its good to know :)

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charles05663

Posts: 75
Member Since:
2007-07-31

Ummm...

Fri, 07/11/2008 - 6:36am

Frankly, since I purchased an A200DX with HWEC, I would be pissed off if I had to add this line. I was assuming that it would automatically load. And since you pay a real premium on the card for the HWEC I want to make sure I use it.

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marc.sangoma

Posts: 373
Member Since:
2008-04-08

Hi The reason we do not add

Fri, 07/11/2008 - 8:44am

The reason we do not add this line by default is because it kills faxes just as ravenber said, and there is a great deal of customers who have hardware echo cancelers and fax.

Marc
Sangoma Technologies

Marc

&nbsp

bubbapcguy

Posts: 3774
Member Since:
2006-06-02

noise

Fri, 07/11/2008 - 3:55pm

Easy tests
1) swap with a TOP notch power supply (Maybe if you have a dell use it)
2) Cooling / cases fans swap or unplug and test.
3) Move the box away from the monitor and any other items like fans or switches with fans and heaters so on.

I have found cheap power supplies and comb filters (monitors / T.V.) cause noise on the lines of some FXO cards.

once it was a bad ballest on overhead light, that one fixed itself and it was only when we found the smoked ballest that we put two and two together, I was just glad that the noise had stop and customer stopped calling.

edited:
No IRQ sharing with nic or sound card if you use the sound card for MOH or paging.

&nbsp

daman

Posts: 32
Member Since:
2006-06-02

Crackle, Crackle, Crackle

Mon, 07/21/2008 - 10:17pm

I too am having the same problem. I changed me RX and TX in zapata.conf. I have also did the pci=nommconf boot line and that did not work. I will let you know tomorrow as I just rebooted remotely.

HW List
-------------------
Sangoma A200D
HP ProLiant DL380 G5 Entry - Quad-Core Xeon E5405 2 GHz
Polycom 601
Aastra 480i
CRAP-Stream (Grandstream GXP-2000)

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marc.sangoma

Posts: 373
Member Since:
2008-04-08

Hi Anyone having noise

Tue, 07/22/2008 - 7:14am

Anyone having noise issue can send an email to techdesk@sangoma.com with a detailed description of the issue along with the following information. Also please include a call diagram.

eg. SIP---ASTERISK----A200---TELCO

Marc
Sangoma Technologies

Marc

&nbsp

daman

Posts: 32
Member Since:
2006-06-02

This Worked!

Tue, 07/22/2008 - 10:54am

It worked for me.

I set my TX at -3 and RX at 10. This worked perfect for me. No more crackling sound when I speak into the Aastra's or Grandstreams using the A200D. Wooo hooo. Polycoms are still working fine. Thank you sblurton

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Crackle on line

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