floyd@wam.umd.edu (Jim Matthews) (06/13/91)
Hi. I'm not a normal subscriber to this newsgroup, so sorry if this has been brought up before. I have a modem and am sick of people picking up phone extentions elsewhere in the house to make a call not knowing that I'm on the line. Is there a simple circuit I could build that would light an L.E.D. or something when the phone line is in use? Then I could put one of these little lights on every extension to warn people that the line is already in use so that they don't pick up the extension. Please e-mail replies, and I'll post a summary if there is interest. Thanx so much! -Jim -- ____ | ( / floyd@wam.umd.edu | University of Maryland /._ _ floyd@eng.umd.edu | Computer Science \_/// X \ | Standard Disclaimers
bill@thd.tv.tek.com (William K. McFadden) (06/14/91)
In article <1991Jun12.232239.29424@wam.umd.edu> floyd@wam.umd.edu (Jim Matthews) writes: > I have a modem and am sick of people picking up phone >extentions elsewhere in the house to make a call not knowing that I'm >on the line. Is there a simple circuit I could build that would light >an L.E.D. or something when the phone line is in use? Then I could put >one of these little lights on every extension to warn people that the >line is already in use so that they don't pick up the extension. If I were having this problem, I'd buy some message stoppers. These are little boxes you connect in series with answering machines to disconnect them from the line when someone picks up the phone. You can also use them to lock out all the phones when a modem is in use. This is better than a light because people can't ignore it; the phones are dead until the modem hangs up. The easiest thing to do is install a message stopper on each phone (but not on the modem). Depending on your wiring, you might be able to get away with one message stopper for the whole house (if you are willing to modify the wiring a bit). Radio Shack sells them for $8, but you may be able to find them cheaper elsewhere. -- Bill McFadden Tektronix, Inc. P.O. Box 500 MS 58-639 Beaverton, OR 97077 bill@tv.tv.tek.com, ...!tektronix!thd!bill Phone: (503) 627-6920 "How can I prove I am not crazy to people who are?"