Bell

The bell is a device placed on many walls at Gunn that plays a 661 Hz sine wave tone for 4 seconds and follows the bell schedule, including alternate schedules. Timothy Herchen once recorded the bell.

The IPX clocks are capable of displaying a standby screen containing a date and a time; there is also code to only display the time, but it is not clear how this code is activated. When the clock boots, it first shows scrolling text reading "AtlasIED IPX IP-SDMF" and contains some information such as the firmware version (1.6.5), the MAC address, and the IP address. The MAC address of a speaker can also be found by reading a barcode label found under outdoor speakers or on the left face of indoor speakers. The text follows the format AtlasIED IPX IP-SDMF 1.6.5 AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF 0.0.0.0.

When the bell rings, scrolling text appears on the screen reading "Bell Schedules." This is likely the name of the event responsible for generating the bell tone.

The clocks do not scroll any text when a PA announcement is made or the fire alarm is activated.

Installation of IPX clocks

At the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year, the clocks were replaced with AtlasIED IPX IP-SDMF and IP-SDMF-72 speaker clocks. The 3 types of old clock-speaker hybrids were each replaced with different types of mounting hardware.

First round of installation

The first clocks were installed in the summer of 2022 in the E building and the N building. These clocks were IP-SDMF-72 units in analog mode.

The N building clocks were installed by removing the analog clock and placing the slant enclosure where the clock previously was, routing the analog speaker wires into the new enclosure. The IP-SDMF-72 was then placed on top.

The E building clock installation was simpler; because the E building used compact clock-speaker combination units, it was sufficient to remove the old system and replace it with a slant enclosure.

Second round of installation

The remaining clocks were installed at the end of August 2022.

A similar process to the N building was followed to replace the remaining non-compact clock-speaker combination units, but normal IP-SDMF units were used instead of IP-SDMF-72 units. The clocks in the J building displayed the wrong time during the week of August 29, possibly as a result of the wires being connected incorrectly due to there being a different number of ports on the IP-SDMF from the IP-SDMF-72.

The compact clock-speaker combination units had the front panel removed and replaced with IP-SDMF units in flush mount enclosures. This allows the old Valcom enclosure to be reused, and the setup can still be easily maintained.

The digital Valcom IP clocks in the P building and S building were also replaced by IP-SDMF units in flush mount enclosures. This resulted in the new clocks looking similar to the old clocks.

Switching to the IP speaker

After the new clocks were installed, the IPX bell was enabled on September 9, playing a 1000 Hz sine wave tone for 4 seconds, which sounds like a softer version of the fire alarm. This was replaced with the 661 Hz sound on September 20.

Shutdowns and malfunctions

On 9/27/2021 and 9/30/2021 (Monday and Thursday), the bell unexpectedly rang at 12:40, followed by a PA announcement at 12:45 saying the bell "that just rang" should be ignored. Additionally, on 9/27, there was a second unexpected bell at 12:55, with no announcement.

On 5/10/2022, the bell rang at 8:53AM instead of 8:52AM, then did not ring again until 12:20PM. Announcements were made on the PA system, and a number of "Test 1 2 3 test" announcements were made. The bell worked fine on 5/11, but on 5/12, it did not ring at either 8:52 or 9:00. A PA announcement was made around 9:02, followed by the bell ringing, and it worked after that.

The Valcom bells were shut off near the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year. On August 30, 2022, the Valcom bells were re-enabled after some "1 2 test 1 2 3" announcements, causing the Valcom bells to play from the IP-SDMF-72 speakers. However, because only the E building and N building received IP-SDMF-72 speakers, the rest of the school did not hear this bell.

On 9/7/2022, the clock screens turned off around 10:05 AM, and showed a stuck pixel in the middle shortly after. After this, scrolling text displayed, reading "AtlasIED IPX SDMF" including the firmware version, v1.6.0. This is outdated from the latest firmware, firmware 1.6.5. A similar reboot occurred on 9/9/2022, possibly to enable the IP bell. The most recent reboot was on 9/16/2022.

Gallery

• 

  Supported clock screens

• 

  Old Valcom bell