Tones from Arduino to microphone port

Ah,
So I attach the mic and port to one side, but the arduino output to the other. You are right though, I do need to drop some voltage, I believe that the mic input would need around 100mV whilst the arduino is kicking out 5V.

If I were to use a voltage divider with something like R1= 470 ohms and R2 = 10 ohms, giving 100mV out, would that isolate the voltage enough, but still allow the audio 'signal' to be interpited by the microphone input on the phone?

Just throwing these things out there as its been years since I've done any electronics!

I'll buy a transformer, but just interested to know if the voltage divider would do in a pinch?! Don't ask, don't learn!

Thanks for your help!

Yes a transformers the way to go. A resistive divider will do but the values need to be much bigger, start with 1K and 47K.

{Edit:}

convert pulses from an old rotary phone into tones

The problem is that the OP said "Rotary Phone" that is a phone that when dialing shorts the handset and shorts the phone line in a 60/40 mark, space 10 PPS max rate (I could be off in the speed as it has been 30 years since I did this type of work). It isn't tone dialing unless the OP has mistaken his "nomenclature" and the DECT6 system is a digitally encoded audio and data stream between the base unit and the handset. So If you really wish to "Dial" from the handset you must emulate the dialing "Pad" or switch matrix to dial the number and IF it is automated calling what provisions do you have to detect dial tone so you can dial the number. There is also the condition where the phone number being called is busy or there exists a circuit busy condition. Both must be considered, first, I should think and you made no mention of any provisions for those conditions.

Doc

Hi,
Understood. The code I have written for the arduino takes the pulses and converts them into tones. Basically if I detect 4 pulse counts on the pin, I send out the tone for 4 using the tone library. This i have managed to get working enough to convince playing down an open line to dial 1471 (a nice handy test number). Debound has also been considered in this matter.

The reason for doing this was that I destroyed the tracks for the numbers on the cordless phone I was using. Therefore I was going to play the sounds down the line when dialing to save distroying another phone (which i seems I have to do anyway, but thats another story).

So my problem was how to tie in the two microphones. I think the simplest is to leave the existing microphone and have a small (earphone) speaker glued beside it and insulated for noise so that we have a dedicated mic for hearing dial tones. Although, later I will be investigating an audio transformer to do this job for me so I can tie in the ardunio outputs direct to the mic port without this hack.

As I'm not auto dialing, I'm not needing to detect busy signals or other such like, as the user of the handset should be able to hear this.

Thanks for your post though! It gives food for thought if i'm going to move on with my other project ideas....

Ok,
So putting two mics into the same intput doesnt work. I have left the mic on the phone, playing the tones down this mic works most of the time. I then soldered wires on to the back, and tied them onto the handset mic. Doing this stops the "internal" mic from picking up the tones, however the "external" mic still allows me to dial out.

My question is why is this the case? Why does the "internal" mic suddenly seem less sensitive when connecting up the "external" mic in parellel with it?

Looks like the Voltage divider or transformer is really the only way if I want to keep everything internal. I'll try a 600 ohm/600 ohm transformer, but is there a way of figuring out what I need or is it a suck it and see? Are there any disadvantages to using a voltage divider (resistors are easier to get), bearing in mind that sound quality isn't major as long as it sounds about right to the phone switch.

Thanks for your help guys and sorry for all the questions, I just like learning things and figuring out why things are bad and why things are good. And therefore, sorry for any stupid questions.

The internal microphone is likely starved for voltage to operate it. Most if not ALL of the basic cordless phones use an Electret Microphone and they have a small Field Effect transistor (Jfet) internal to the microphone and If you try to load that point with another microphone it will not work as there isn't enough current available to operate 2 microphones at the same time.

Doc

You can't wire microphones in parallel, just like you should not wire batteries in parallel. They are generators and one sees the other as a load and tryes to power the other. This loads it and they both end up not working. That is why God invented mixer circuits.

Well, its been a month and I took a different tacked with this project. I have used 12 relays to dial the numbers and pick up / hang up the phone. However, I am going to look at it differently, and wire up two microphones and get the arduino board to switch the "Dial tone" and the "Voice" mics about when I am dialling the phone number. I wonder why I didn't think of this before.....

Thanks for all your help people and I do appreciate it. I learned quite a bit, but do expect me to be back with more dumb questions at some point! :slight_smile:

do expect me to be back with more dumb questions at some point!

Questions are never dumb.

Some people ask questions in a dumb way but the questions themselves are always something you don't know, so feel free to ask.
Good luck.

Grumpy_Mike:
That is why God invented mixer circuits.

You think electronics engineers are gods?

The Arduino... as the beginnings of a PBX... Might be an application there to write about... A simple way to provide "Home" PBX service, limit access to/from some phones, provide multiple subscriber line switching, Provide public and private intercom W/Paging or signalling and should fit well into an Arduino Mega. !0 lines and 10 stations should be simple.

Bob

Quote
do expect me to be back with more dumb questions at some point!

Questions are never dumb.

There are a lot more dumb answers than dumb questions [not meaning you, G_M! :-)].

Quote from: Grumpy_Mike on September 21, 2012, 11:36:19 PM
That is why God invented mixer circuits.

You think electronics engineers are gods?

I estimate that EEs make errors at least 50% of the time. More dogly than godly.

fungus:

Grumpy_Mike:
That is why God invented mixer circuits.

You think electronics engineers are gods?

No, it is a joke that seems not to cross cultures. That phrase is used to describe some obvious solution that some one is missing. Looks like it dosn't translate. :slight_smile:

To be honest, I do find electronic and electrical engineers gods! Although I knew what G_M was meaning. I always find what they do amazing, compare to me just producing some code, they can do it with circuts!

The beginings of a PBX might be quite interesting. Might be a topic for another forum post. I wonder if the arduino would be able to cope...

If it wasn't for G_M personally, we'd all still be living in the world of the 1830s and
reading books by candle light, and riding horses to work. Thank you, G_M!

Well I used to tell my students that if it wasn't for electricity we would be programming computers by candle light.

fungus:

Grumpy_Mike:
That is why God invented mixer circuits.

You think electronics engineers are gods?

Well, it depends on their post count.

Grumpy_Mike:
Well I used to tell my students that if it wasn't for electricity we would be programming computers by candle light.

If it was good enough for Babbage ...

Depends if you're talking digital or analogue computers:

They may of had candles.....

dezweb52:
Depends if you're talking digital or analogue computers:

Antikythera mechanism - Wikipedia

They may of had candles.....

Yes it was a computer but it was not a programmable computer.