S.D-REUBEN%KLA.WESLYN%Wesleyan.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU (Doug Reuben) (12/29/86)
Recently there have been a few posts about how to build an inexpensive
"hold" circuit for home extensions so that you can place one extension on
hold, hang up, and then pick up some other extension phone and continue the
conversation.
However, it occurred to me, rather than get a whole lot of devices to
do this, why not get just one, and use the extra wiring in the phone lines
to "connect" the device to all the phones. Lets say you have 4 extensions.
If you were to get a hold circuit for each one of them it would get pretty
expensive. However, if have the 3 or 4 wire phone lines in your house, you
could install just ONE hold circuit. The red and green wires (on 4 wire
systems) are the only ones that are usually used. (The black and yellow
might be used to light up the dials of phones like Trimlines and Princesses
so if you want the keep the light this wont work well). This leaves the black
and yellow wires completely free, and these are the wires to use.
On three wire systems, there is only one free wire, and the other two are
used for the phone circuit. Therefore, one of the active phone circuit wires
would have to be used, but this shouldn't create much of a problem.
Install the hold circuit anywhere along the phone line to the red and
green wires. Then, instead of connecting a toggle switch to the hold unit
itself, connect the two wires for the toggle switch to the black and yellow
wires. Now, at every location that you want a hold feature, connect a toggle
switch between the black and yellow wires. This should be a lot cheaper than
purchasing individual units for each phone, and is probably more convenient
to install as well.
Personally, if you have Touch Tone phones, I strongly favor the Tone
Hold device, but this is a good alternative if you have rotary or mixed
Tone/rotary service.
-Doug
REUBEN@WESLYN.BITNET
S.D-REUBEN%KLA.WESLYN@WESLEYAN.BITNET
S.D-REUBEN%KLA.WESLYN%WESLEYAN.BITNET@WISCVM.ARPA
(and probably a lot of other ways too...!!)
-------rpw3@amdcad.AMD.COM.UUCP (01/02/87)
Forget trying to build a hold circuit; it's not worth it. Just go
to Radio Shack and buy their hold module (or whatever it's called).
It plugs in anywhere, in parallel with your other phones. (Also
requires A.C. line power, but the whole module is one of those
"wart on the wall" styles, so it hides away o.k.) You activate it
with a quick double switch-hook flash (it beeps at you if it saw
your flash), then hang up. Pick up any line and it drops out.
Only "problem" is that it holds onto the line (necessarily) for
about one second when you hang up, which can be somewhat tricky
if you also have Call Waiting (which I do), but you very quickly
learn to add that delay to the flash needed for Call Waiting.
(That is, to switch to the waiting call, you flash for 1.5 seconds --
one sec to get the hold module to drop, and 1/2 sec for Call Waiting.)
I think I only blew it once before I got the knack...
Rob Warnock
Systems Architecture Consultant
UUCP: {amdcad,fortune,sun}!redwood!rpw3
DDD: (415)572-2607
USPS: 627 26th Ave, San Mateo, CA 94403mgrant@MIMSY.UMD.EDU.UUCP (01/22/87)
The problem with the Rat Shack hold box is that you flash the line, then the box goes BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP to tell you the line is being put on hold. I find that unacceptably obnoxious and annoying when others do it to me. -Mike Grant