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Improvising handset beep?

T

Terry Pinnell

Jan 1, 1970
0
This is about communications between house and shed/workshop.
Important stuff, like being called in for dinner. For some years I've
had a one-way gadget that sounds a tone in the shed when either a
certain light switch in the house or the front doorbell is pressed.
But I'd like to be able to *acknowledge* that, by pressing a button
which would sound a tone in the house.

To avoid the hassle of wiring or more expensive solutions, I thought
I'd simply utilise the Paging function on the downstairs cordless
phone, a Samsung SP-R5100. But I'd forgotten how ancient it is.
Handsets are no longer available, even at DigiUK who sell some old
stuff. And none on ebay UK.

Under 'Intercom Between Handsets' in the user guide, not surprisingly
I read "This feature is available only when you have more than one
handset." But I wonder how hard it would be to rig up something
primitive? Any radio/wireless/mobile experts here able to offer any
suggestions please?

Or, by some fluke, anyone in UK reading this who has a spare handset
gathering dust...?
 
N

n cook

Jan 1, 1970
0
Terry Pinnell said:
This is about communications between house and shed/workshop.
Important stuff, like being called in for dinner. For some years I've
had a one-way gadget that sounds a tone in the shed when either a
certain light switch in the house or the front doorbell is pressed.
But I'd like to be able to *acknowledge* that, by pressing a button
which would sound a tone in the house.

To avoid the hassle of wiring or more expensive solutions, I thought
I'd simply utilise the Paging function on the downstairs cordless
phone, a Samsung SP-R5100. But I'd forgotten how ancient it is.
Handsets are no longer available, even at DigiUK who sell some old
stuff. And none on ebay UK.

Under 'Intercom Between Handsets' in the user guide, not surprisingly
I read "This feature is available only when you have more than one
handset." But I wonder how hard it would be to rig up something
primitive? Any radio/wireless/mobile experts here able to offer any
suggestions please?

Or, by some fluke, anyone in UK reading this who has a spare handset
gathering dust...?


If you have mains supply to the workshop why not a simple plug into the
mains intercom at either end. I've probably a set of 2 or 3 somewhere.
 
T

Terry Pinnell

Jan 1, 1970
0
n cook said:
If you have mains supply to the workshop why not a simple plug into the
mains intercom at either end. I've probably a set of 2 or 3 somewhere.

Yep, thanks, reasonable solution, and I may end up with that. Has the
advantage of speech! (Hmm - for shed communications, maybe that's a
disadvantage?) But ideally I'd like to avoid finding room to stand or
mount the units, and minimise expense. At present my gadget occupies
zero extra space in house, and in shed one small case mounted up in
ceiling corner, with my simple receiving circuit. (Power supply from
one of the several already in place.) Quick look beforehand at Maplin
found a pair at about £32UKP, inc VAT and delivery. What price are
yours?

That's an interesting stock you have! You're not by any chance the
same guy I used to buy bits and pieces from somewhere in South London
about 25 years ago are you? I recall there was room in there for just
him and one customer at a time. Rest of space occupied by Stuff <g>.
 
N

n cook

Jan 1, 1970
0
Terry Pinnell said:
Yep, thanks, reasonable solution, and I may end up with that. Has the
advantage of speech! (Hmm - for shed communications, maybe that's a
disadvantage?) But ideally I'd like to avoid finding room to stand or
mount the units, and minimise expense. At present my gadget occupies
zero extra space in house, and in shed one small case mounted up in
ceiling corner, with my simple receiving circuit. (Power supply from
one of the several already in place.) Quick look beforehand at Maplin
found a pair at about £32UKP, inc VAT and delivery. What price are
yours?

That's an interesting stock you have! You're not by any chance the
same guy I used to buy bits and pieces from somewhere in South London
about 25 years ago are you? I recall there was room in there for just
him and one customer at a time. Rest of space occupied by Stuff <g>.

I'll try and find them first , the problem is there may be 3 units rather
than 2 but 12 squid plus p&p if 3 units, 9 squid if 2
 
R

Rich Grise

Jan 1, 1970
0
This is about communications between house and shed/workshop.
Important stuff, like being called in for dinner. For some years I've
had a one-way gadget that sounds a tone in the shed when either a
certain light switch in the house or the front doorbell is pressed.
But I'd like to be able to *acknowledge* that, by pressing a button
which would sound a tone in the house.

To avoid the hassle of wiring or more expensive solutions, I thought
I'd simply utilise the Paging function on the downstairs cordless
phone, a Samsung SP-R5100. But I'd forgotten how ancient it is.
Handsets are no longer available, even at DigiUK who sell some old
stuff. And none on ebay UK.

Under 'Intercom Between Handsets' in the user guide, not surprisingly
I read "This feature is available only when you have more than one
handset." But I wonder how hard it would be to rig up something
primitive? Any radio/wireless/mobile experts here able to offer any
suggestions please?

Or, by some fluke, anyone in UK reading this who has a spare handset
gathering dust...?

Just use the same wires, and add a speaker in the house, and a button
in the shed, such that when either button is pressed, both speakers
sound. :)

If you only have two wires, this could be an interesting project
indeed! ;-)

Good Luck!
Rich
 
I

ian field

Jan 1, 1970
0
Terry Pinnell said:
This is about communications between house and shed/workshop.
Important stuff, like being called in for dinner. For some years I've
had a one-way gadget that sounds a tone in the shed when either a
certain light switch in the house or the front doorbell is pressed.
But I'd like to be able to *acknowledge* that, by pressing a button
which would sound a tone in the house.

To avoid the hassle of wiring or more expensive solutions, I thought
I'd simply utilise the Paging function on the downstairs cordless
phone, a Samsung SP-R5100. But I'd forgotten how ancient it is.
Handsets are no longer available, even at DigiUK who sell some old
stuff. And none on ebay UK.

Under 'Intercom Between Handsets' in the user guide, not surprisingly
I read "This feature is available only when you have more than one
handset." But I wonder how hard it would be to rig up something
primitive? Any radio/wireless/mobile experts here able to offer any
suggestions please?

Or, by some fluke, anyone in UK reading this who has a spare handset
gathering dust...?

One of the companies that advertises kits was selling a kit in which each
station contains a small amplifier and uses a variant of power line
signalling in which pressing the send button on one station applies power
through the signal line to the receive station, the company has a PDF
schematic for download so its worth googling electronic kits and see if it
turns up!
 
Terry said:
This is about communications between house and shed/workshop.
Important stuff, like being called in for dinner. For some years I've
had a one-way gadget that sounds a tone in the shed when either a
certain light switch in the house or the front doorbell is pressed.
But I'd like to be able to *acknowledge* that, by pressing a button
which would sound a tone in the house.

Wireless doorbells?

FRS handheld radios? Or is that frequency band allowed for public
use in the UK?

How about a pair of these?
http://www.icomuk.co.uk/categoryRender.asp?categoryID=3510&cCID=5471

Jerry
 
T

Terry Pinnell

Jan 1, 1970
0
n cook said:
I'll try and find them first , the problem is there may be 3 units rather
than 2 but 12 squid plus p&p if 3 units, 9 squid if 2

Thanks. Let me know if you put your hands on them, and you'll have my
order pronto.
 
K

Ken Weitzel

Jan 1, 1970
0
Terry said:
This is about communications between house and shed/workshop.
Important stuff, like being called in for dinner. For some years I've
had a one-way gadget that sounds a tone in the shed when either a
certain light switch in the house or the front doorbell is pressed.
But I'd like to be able to *acknowledge* that, by pressing a button
which would sound a tone in the house.

To avoid the hassle of wiring or more expensive solutions, I thought
I'd simply utilise the Paging function on the downstairs cordless
phone, a Samsung SP-R5100. But I'd forgotten how ancient it is.
Handsets are no longer available, even at DigiUK who sell some old
stuff. And none on ebay UK.

Under 'Intercom Between Handsets' in the user guide, not surprisingly
I read "This feature is available only when you have more than one
handset." But I wonder how hard it would be to rig up something
primitive? Any radio/wireless/mobile experts here able to offer any
suggestions please?

Or, by some fluke, anyone in UK reading this who has a spare handset
gathering dust...?

Hi Terry...

Being called in for dinner? You mean sending in your request for
another cold one, don't you? :) :)

If there happens to be a few extra dollars (pounds) available,
why not buy yourself one of those two or even three handset
cordless phone sets?

Telephone answering and placing outgoing in your shed; they allow
inter-handset conversations, call transferring, etc. Fantastic.
Great at the lake - the main base in the cottage, another handset
in the garage/workshop, and the third in the boathouse/dock area.

Don't know what might be available to you over across the pond
(I'm in one of the colonies :) but Panasonic makes a great one if
you can find it.

Take care.

Ken
 
T

Terry Pinnell

Jan 1, 1970
0
Ken Weitzel said:
Hi Terry...

Being called in for dinner? You mean sending in your request for
another cold one, don't you? :) :)

If there happens to be a few extra dollars (pounds) available,
why not buy yourself one of those two or even three handset
cordless phone sets?

Telephone answering and placing outgoing in your shed; they allow
inter-handset conversations, call transferring, etc. Fantastic.
Great at the lake - the main base in the cottage, another handset
in the garage/workshop, and the third in the boathouse/dock area.

Don't know what might be available to you over across the pond
(I'm in one of the colonies :) but Panasonic makes a great one if
you can find it.

Take care.
Thanks Ken. That's why my first choice would have been to simply buy
an extra handset. But there's nothing wrong with the single-handset
Samsung, so not keen to dump it.

Anyway, early tests indicate that the dock to heli-pad range might be
an issue <g>.
 
D

David L. Jones

Jan 1, 1970
0
Terry said:
This is about communications between house and shed/workshop.
Important stuff, like being called in for dinner. For some years I've
had a one-way gadget that sounds a tone in the shed when either a
certain light switch in the house or the front doorbell is pressed.
But I'd like to be able to *acknowledge* that, by pressing a button
which would sound a tone in the house.

To avoid the hassle of wiring or more expensive solutions, I thought
I'd simply utilise the Paging function on the downstairs cordless
phone, a Samsung SP-R5100. But I'd forgotten how ancient it is.
Handsets are no longer available, even at DigiUK who sell some old
stuff. And none on ebay UK.

Under 'Intercom Between Handsets' in the user guide, not surprisingly
I read "This feature is available only when you have more than one
handset." But I wonder how hard it would be to rig up something
primitive? Any radio/wireless/mobile experts here able to offer any
suggestions please?

Or, by some fluke, anyone in UK reading this who has a spare handset
gathering dust...?

Why not just use a simple and cheap wireless doorbell?

Dave :)
 
T

Terry Pinnell

Jan 1, 1970
0
David L. Jones said:
Why not just use a simple and cheap wireless doorbell?

Dave :)

Thanks Dave. I do already use adapted versions of those in a few R/C
gadgets, but range is an issue. Although house to shed/workshop is
well within the claimed range, the various walls (including the
intervening garage) plus possibly the many sources of interference in
my workshop make reception unreliable.
 
N

n cook

Jan 1, 1970
0
n cook said:
I'll try and find them first , the problem is there may be 3 units rather
than 2 but 12 squid plus p&p if 3 units, 9 squid if 2

2 Realistic Plug n' Talk checked working both ways beep and speech.
One has cosmetic damage, 500 gram each
 
T

Terry Pinnell

Jan 1, 1970
0
2 Realistic Plug n' Talk checked working both ways beep and speech.
One has cosmetic damage, 500 gram each

Great. I've emailed you, if that ID is pukka.
 
J

jakdedert

Jan 1, 1970
0
Terry said:
Thanks for those. Will follow up and report back.
Any cordless phone with intercom feature would work...doesn't even have
to be hooked up to the phone line (although infinitely more useful if
so). They click 'intercom' in the house, handset beeps, you push a
button and say 'Right-o'.

I pick these up at second-hand stores and yard (to you teabaggers, I
believe that would be 'boot') sales for a couple of dollars. Usually a
good cleaning and new battery pack puts them in order...sometimes have
to cobble up a new power supply from my extensive stock of wall warts.

jak
 
G

Genome

Jan 1, 1970
0
Terry Pinnell said:
This is about communications between house and shed/workshop.
Important stuff, like being called in for dinner.> --
Terry Pinnell
Hobbyist, West Sussex, UK

Err, hosepipe and two funnels.

Job done :)

DNA
 
I

ian field

Jan 1, 1970
0
Genome said:
Err, hosepipe and two funnels.

Job done :)

DNA

Wont work! - you need a food pulveriser and a pump to force it through the
hosepipe!
 
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