tekephone ringer
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Topic: tekephone ringer
Posted By: genesius
Subject: tekephone ringer
Date Posted: 9/05/05 at 8:20am
 How can I rig a telephone to have a real-time ringer? Ring when I push a button and stop ringing when the actor picks it up? We're thinking about just using cell phones because our phone ringer sounds like a doorbell and we have to count rings and hope the actor is there in time.
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Replies:
Posted By: Tom_Rylex
Date Posted: 9/05/05 at 10:10am
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There is an article in the 'How to' section of this website on
this topic (http://www.communitytheater.org/howto/phone.htm). If using
a 30Hz signal doesn't work, you might want to try 20Hz. You should be
fine either way though. Note: this solution requires your
light/sound/stage person to stop pushing the button once the person
picks up. As an alternative, I had done this a bit differently. I created a 20Hz tone on my computer (with the appropriate ring cycle spacing), and burned it onto a CD. If you do it this way, you can use your CD player to ring the telephone. You hook your telephone wire directly to the amplifier as if it were a speaker. When you do this, your CD player + amplifier behaves as a signal generator. All you have to do is press 'play,' and your phone starts ringing. A few caveats: 1) You still have to have a tech press 'stop' when the actor picks up the phone. 2) Since the phone signal is a 90V, 20Hz signal, you will have to turn the volume up on your amplifier until you find the level needed to make the phone ring. 3) Your little portable CD player isn't strong enough to ring a telephone, you need an actual amplifier to make a 90V signal. 4) A pushbutton solution is easier to use, I had put this together because it didn't impact the budget for a show I was working on. -Tom P.S. Oh, and make sure that you don't actually have speakers on line when you actually hit 'play.' I did this once by mistake while doing a pre-show equipment check. Holy cow! If you actually have speakers good enough to hit 20Hz, it's a real trip. Several actors thought we were having an earthquake! (Do not try this at home, or in the theatre. It's very likely that you can ruin some very good speakers this way.) ------------- The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep. -R. Frost |
Posted By: Spectrum
Date Posted: 9/05/05 at 4:09pm
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WOW! Timing is everything. I just started a company to provide technical theatrical props and equipment and one of our first products to be sold is a programmable telephone ringer, designed specifically for theatre. It can be programmed to ring with an American or British cadence, sped up or slowed down, or even an odd cadence for a modern office phone. Once programmed (VERY SIMPLE to do) the person doing the sound cue presses a button once and it will ring a phone on stage automatically until either the actor picks up the receiver or the button is pushed again. It's very small and doesn't take up much bench space, AND it's priced less that the vast majority of ringers on the market. We're gearing it toward community theatres and schools. If you're interested in pre-production information please email me at mailto:bcr@theatricalreality.biz - bcr@theatricalreality.biz . We're not officially launched yet, but I'd like to know how much interest there is out there. ------------- Growing old is mandatory. Growing up is optional. |