I am trying to determine if it is possible to set up a "buzzer" at my 88 year-old Dad's house (80 miles away) to alert him when he has left his phone off the hook. He lives alone and I'm imagining a loud buzzer which I can activate from my home to let him know we're trying to call and hang up the phone. Any ideas? Thank you in advance for any assistance.

 

Actually I wanted to suggest: why not just buy him a handphone as an alternative just in case his phone was misplaced. But then the problem would be he might forgot to charge the hp _or_ it's too troublesome to teach him to use the hp.

80 miles is not a short distance where you can just run a pair of wires across your backyard or a simple wireless FM transmitter to buzz the buzzer. In the old days, we used 27 MHz citizen band and short wave that would travel far away. The same problem is, can your father operate these equipments.

So why not just pay a friendly neighbour to ask him to replace the handset properly? BTW, isnt there a howler tone on the phone when the handset is misplaced. May be this is not available in the US phone system?

Allen

 

Does he have an Internet connection?

 

This is a circuit that I made for a friend 10 years ago. His mother would not get the phone back in the cradle correctly, and would leave it "off-hook". She was hard of hearing, and would not hear the loud warning beeps from the phone company. There is a delay of about 20 seconds, if I recall correctly, after the other party hangs up, before the lamp would start flashing. Once the phone is back on-hook the flashing stops and the system is reset.

Ken

 

You can get another cell phone (presumably you already have one) for about $10 per month. Design a circuit that contains a light detector (CDS photoresistor, e.g.) and sets off an alerting tone when light is detected. Physically place the light detector against the LCD screen of the phone, turn off the audible ringer, and wrap the phone in a light barrier. When the phone receives a call, the LCD lights up, and the alerting tone sounds. Dad only has to know to go to the landline and hang up the handset when the alerting tone sounds; he doesn't even have to know that there is a cell phone in the house (assuming he isn't capable of using one.) The cellphone can be permanently on the charger. The only problem is with the occasional wrong number (assuming that only you know the cell phone number.)

BTW, I suppose you have considered the possiblity that Dad sometimes leaves the handset off intentionally in order not to be bothered.

 

This is a circuit that I made for a friend 10 years ago. His mother would not get the phone back in the cradle correctly, and would leave it "off-hook". She was hard of hearing, and would not hear the loud warning beeps from the phone company. There is a delay of about 20 seconds, if I recall correctly, after the other party hangs up, before the lamp would start flashing. Once the phone is back on-hook the flashing stops and the system is reset.

Ken

I google and found a few simpler circuits using 2 or 3 transistors but none as thoughtful and complete as yours. My mom is 82 and lives 400Km away from me. Gotta make one for her just in case things happen. I have all the chips and parts available and I'll do it this weekend.

Allen