Seek device to close switch when phone line in use

[Mike Barnes]

In uk.telecom, Hammy wrote:

On Fri, 20 Feb 2009 20:24:55 +0000, Mike Barnes
mikebarnes@bluebottle.com> wrote:

In uk.telecom, Paul B wrote:
I'm in the UK.

---------------------

Can anyone help? I'm looking for a device I can attach to my ordinary
landline (Virgin Media) which closes a switch when the line is in use.

Has anyone seen such a device on sale?
Alternativly, maybe someone knows a circuit to make one?

Yes, I've made a couple of devices to simply light a LED showing when
another extension is in use. It would be very easy to modify the circuit
to operate a relay, but think carefully about the safety and regulatory
issues, which should be obvious. My device is self-contained and battery
powered - perfectly safe.

Circuit diagram:
http://thedowerhouse.com/pics/piu-cct.jpg
Board (sorry it's out of focus but it's the only photo I've got):
http://thedowerhouse.com/pics/piu-pcb.jpg
Whole thing:
http://thedowerhouse.com/pics/piu-box.jpg

I can't remember exactly where I got the circuit diagram from. I
modified it slightly for my own purposes and my modifications are shown
in italics. As you can see it's pretty simple. I used semiconductors
that I had lying around rather than those specified. The same battery
has been in use for six years now and it's still going strong.

We arent going to read about an IED detonated in the UK by a phone
using a similiar circuit are we.

I never trust anyone looking to activate a device by phone.To many
crazies out there.

I think you miss the point. This device is activated by someone locally
picking up a phone, not by someone dialling in remotely. I guess it
could be used as a pointless embellishment to the detonation of a
suicide bomb, but that's about it.

--
Mike Barnes

 

[IanM]

Phil Allison wrote:

"Paul B"
I'm in the UK.

---------------------

Can anyone help? I'm looking for a device I can attach to my ordinary
landline (Virgin Media) which closes a switch when the line is in use.

Has anyone seen such a device on sale?
Alternativly, maybe someone knows a circuit to make one?

---------------------

This is to activate a tape recorder when I make or receive calls.


** One problem - how do you prevent it from also recording phone calls
made to from or to others with access to the same phone ??

Cos that is a serious offence.

IANAL but you don't need to. Just put a LARGE notice on the phone:

"By using this telephone you agree that your conversation will be
recorded by the owner of this equipment. Your permission and that of
the other party in your call will be sought before the recording is made
available to third parties. If you do not agree, you are committing a
theft of service if you use this telephone."

This needs to be duplicated in Braille on the grip of the handset and
also in foreign languages if there is a reasonable expectation that
Non-English speakers are likely to use that phone.

--
Ian Malcolm. London, ENGLAND. (NEWSGROUP REPLY PREFERRED)
ianm[at]the[dash]malcolms[dot]freeserve[dot]co[dot]uk
[at]=@, [dash]=- & [dot]=. *Warning* HTML & >32K emails --> NUL:

 

[Phil Allison]

"IanM"

"Paul B"

This is to activate a tape recorder when I make or receive calls.


** One problem - how do you prevent it from also recording phone calls
made to from or to others with access to the same phone ??

Cos that is a serious offence.


IANAL but you don't need to. Just put a LARGE notice on the phone:

"By using this telephone you agree that your conversation will be recorded
by the owner of this equipment. Your permission and that of the other
party in your call will be sought before the recording is made available
to third parties. If you do not agree, you are committing a theft of
service if you use this telephone."

** That is utterly INSANE CRAP !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fuck the hell off - you ASININE TROLL





...... Phil

 

[Bob Eager]

On Sat, 21 Feb 2009 11:08:10 UTC, IanM <look.in.my.sig@totally.invalid>
wrote:

Phil Allison wrote:
"Paul B"
I'm in the UK.

---------------------

Can anyone help? I'm looking for a device I can attach to my ordinary
landline (Virgin Media) which closes a switch when the line is in use.

Has anyone seen such a device on sale?
Alternativly, maybe someone knows a circuit to make one?

---------------------

This is to activate a tape recorder when I make or receive calls.


** One problem - how do you prevent it from also recording phone calls
made to from or to others with access to the same phone ??

Cos that is a serious offence.


IANAL but you don't need to. Just put a LARGE notice on the phone:

"By using this telephone you agree that your conversation will be
recorded by the owner of this equipment. Your permission and that of
the other party in your call will be sought before the recording is made
available to third parties. If you do not agree, you are committing a
theft of service if you use this telephone."

This needs to be duplicated in Braille on the grip of the handset and
also in foreign languages if there is a reasonable expectation that
Non-English speakers are likely to use that phone.

You forgot the audio announcement for those who can't read!

--
Bob Eager
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK:
http://www.mirrorservice.org

 

[Ivor Jones]

In news:70a64pFn83p2U1@mid.individual.net,
Phil Allison <philallison@tpg.com.au> typed, for some strange, unexplained
reason:

[snip]

: ** That is utterly INSANE CRAP !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
:
: Fuck the hell off - you ASININE TROLL

Ah. Reasoned argument. One of the cornerstones of Usenet..!

 

[Phil Allison]

" Ivor Autistic Fuckwit Jones"


** Have a vile death - ASAP.




...... Phil

 

[Ivor Jones]

In news:70ab9mFnng2aU1@mid.individual.net,
Phil Allison <philallison@tpg.com.au> typed, for some strange, unexplained
reason:

: " Ivor Autistic Fuckwit Jones"

That's an interesting statement. You base your opinion of me on what,
precisely..? One Usenet post..? Interesting.
:
: ** Have a vile death - ASAP.

Am I supposed to respond by behaving in the same way you do..?

I note you haven't actually answered any questions posed in a reasonable
manner.


Ivor

 

[Stephen Furley]

On 20/2/09 20:24, in article 9Ya50nXXGxnJFwwe@g52lk5g23lkgk3lk345g.invalid,
"Mike Barnes" <mikebarnes@bluebottle.com> wrote:

In uk.telecom, Paul B wrote:
I'm in the UK.

---------------------

Can anyone help? I'm looking for a device I can attach to my ordinary
landline (Virgin Media) which closes a switch when the line is in use.

Has anyone seen such a device on sale?
Alternativly, maybe someone knows a circuit to make one?

Yes, I've made a couple of devices to simply light a LED showing when
another extension is in use. It would be very easy to modify the circuit
to operate a relay, but think carefully about the safety and regulatory
issues, which should be obvious. My device is self-contained and battery
powered - perfectly safe.

Circuit diagram:
http://thedowerhouse.com/pics/piu-cct.jpg
Board (sorry it's out of focus but it's the only photo I've got):
http://thedowerhouse.com/pics/piu-pcb.jpg
Whole thing:
http://thedowerhouse.com/pics/piu-box.jpg

I can't remember exactly where I got the circuit diagram from. I
modified it slightly for my own purposes and my modifications are shown
in italics. As you can see it's pretty simple. I used semiconductors
that I had lying around rather than those specified. The same battery
has been in use for six years now and it's still going strong.

Various devices could be fitted inside the standard GPO 700 series
telephones; one of these was a microswitch which provided an extra pair of
hookswitch contacts. I'd been wondering what this was for; could it have
been used with recording equipment? I've got a pair of 706 'phones that
I've recently set up as a private intercom, and one is fitted with this
device; the n/o contacts are connected to the extra wires on a six-wire line
cord. Another possible use I can think of would have been to shut down some
noisy equipment when you picked up the telephone, but you wouldn't have been
allowed to connect your own equipment to the telephone, so I don't know.

 

[Eeyore]

John Larkin wrote:

On Fri, 20 Feb 2009 17:08:08 GMT, Paul B <mail@nomail.invalid> wrote:

Can anyone help? I'm looking for a device I can attach to my ordinary
landline (Virgin Media) which closes a switch when the line is in use.

Has anyone seen such a device on sale?
Alternativly, maybe someone knows a circuit to make one?

---------------------

This is to activate a tape recorder when I make or receive calls.

Do you guys still have analog service, or is it ISDN?

That would be analog phone but with a digital interface at the 'exchange'
(company office) for dial-up 56k use. Checking loop current with a
sensitive relay would do it.

Graham

 

[Chris Davies]

"IanM" wrote,

"By using this telephone you agree that your conversation will be recorded
by the owner of this equipment. [...]

Phil Allison <philallison@tpg.com.au> wrote:

** That is utterly INSANE CRAP !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Actually, no it's not. It's one of the reasons that (AFAIK) call centres
here in the UK are legally required to provide phones for staff that
are not (and cannot be) recorded.

Whether it's useful advice for you in your context, only you can decide,
as you haven't provided all the details. However, as this is usenet you're
likely to get different suggestions with different perspectives. One
might be useful to you.

Chris

 

[GMAN]

In article <ks66lVCO+ynJFwBB@bancom.co.uk>, tony sayer <tony@bancom.co.uk> wrote:

Just about every "customer care" ""service"" I call these days has a
"your calls may be recorded for training porpoises" in the annoying
Dalek preamble long before you get to talk to a human.

Sometimes the other way around)

Enjoy!....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZ-lJpL2oVg

LMAO!!

 

[Rich Grise]

On Fri, 20 Feb 2009 17:08:08 +0000, Paul B wrote:

I'm in the UK.

Can anyone help? I'm looking for a device I can attach to my ordinary
landline (Virgin Media) which closes a switch when the line is in use.

This is to activate a tape recorder when I make or receive calls.

Might want to check with these folks:
http://www.callcorder.com/phone-recording-law-uk.htm

Good Luck!
Rich

 

[colin w]

On Fri 20Feb 21:24, Dave Platt <dplatt@radagast.org> wrote

In article <9Ya50nXXGxnJFwwe@g52lk5g23lkgk3lk345g.invalid>,
Mike Barnes <mikebarnes@bluebottle.com> wrote:

Yes, I've made a couple of devices to simply light a LED showing
when another extension is in use. It would be very easy to modify
the circuit to operate a relay, but think carefully about the
safety and regulatory issues, which should be obvious.

Yup. I'd suggest replacing the LED with an optoisolator, and
using the isolator output to switch a relay or whatever...

Maybe the easy way to do it is buy a premade adaptor like this one
for under Ł2.

<http://cpc.farnell.com/pro-signal/31049/telephone-privacy-
adaptor/dp/TE05249>


How do you wire an optoisolator to go in place of the LED?
Presumably the "output" would handle very little current.

Is this optocoupler the same thing?

<http://cpc.farnell.com/toshiba/tlp621/optocoupler-
tlp621/dp/SCTLP621>

My device is self-contained and battery powered - perfectly
safe.

I've seen some commercial designs (both pre-made and kitted)
which are line-powered... probably OK as long as the current
drawn to light up the off-hook LED is quite low.

There's one schematic floating around on the Net which I would
definitely *not* recommend, as it's line-powered *and* has both
"on-hook" and "off-hook" LEDs. Drawing enough current from the
phone line to light up a LED, when the phone is on-hook, is a
definite no-no, at least here in the US - the telco has strict
limits on how much current you're allowed to pull, and it's down
in the microampere range. Any more than that, and you may cause
the phone to jump off-hook, or may trigger a "phone line is
leaky, may require service" alert in the central phone switch.