I have a traditional rural land line with two 2500 sets [1] attached. Recently I've been getting intermittent weak ringing: sometimes a ring, sometimes a weak chatter (no gong), sometimes nothing audible. Moving the clapper spring to the low-voltage position seems to have fixed it for now.
But I'd like to figure what's going on and call the telco service guys if the voltage is low or there's a potential for further deterioration. (Voice and (tone) dialing work as expected.)
Can I get a meaningful ring voltage reading using an inexpensive analog multimeter on the "AC Volts" setting? Or do I need a different (or better) meter for (AIUI) 22 hz measurements?
And do I measure the voltage across the two wires while both phones are attached to the line? At the demarc? Or should I try to do it with both phones disconnected?
[1] Yes, real ones with two gongs. I think they're both Nortel. Not recent Chinese knock-offs.