Is there any way I can signal electronically to a family member from 50' away?

 

Is there any way I can signal electronically to a family member from 50' away?

Many. Laser, flashlight, loudspeaker, plasma cannon, cellphone, walkie talkie and so on.

In other words, we need more specs.

 

Walkie Talkie
https://secure.sayal.com/STORE4/prodetails.php?SKU=246599

 

Is there any way I can signal electronically to a family member from 50' away?

What exactly are you looking to accomplish? Signal? Well there are smoke signals, and a few dozen other means. It's all in the details and 50 feet isn't much at all as long as you do not have a lead lined wall. Details?

Ron

 

PitchCom

 

There are small control systems that can deliver simple ON/OFF indications to a rather discreet module over a range of a few hundred feet. Some are a bit more advanced, sending digital codes. Primarily sold to detective types and for casino "security" type operations. None of it is cheap.
Probably a bluetooth package of some kind is also available.

 

What exactly are you looking to accomplish? Signal? Well there are smoke signals, and a few dozen other means. It's all in the details and 50 feet isn't much at all as long as you do not have a lead lined wall. Details?

Ron

I cross from Canada to USA often. Need to signal to my daughter in parking lot that I am waiting in arrivals. To phone, I have to go on roaming plan which is $10/day + call time. To avoid this, would like to signal that I have arrived - no talk, just a few beeps so she knows I am there. Is that possible?

 

Do either of you have the capability to use their phone as a WiFi hotspot? Making a connection like that over WiFi would be all the message you need.

 

Most airports have free WiFi. Just send a text message from your phone.

 

I cross from Canada to USA often. Need to signal to my daughter in parking lot that I am waiting in arrivals. To phone, I have to go on roaming plan which is $10/day + call time. To avoid this, would like to signal that I have arrived - no talk, just a few beeps so she knows I am there. Is that possible?

Sounds like all you really need is some form of unary encoding.

0 beeps: "On my way!"
8 long beeps: "I'm here now!"

 

I cross from Canada to USA often. Need to signal to my daughter in parking lot that I am waiting in arrivals. To phone, I have to go on roaming plan which is $10/day + call time. To avoid this, would like to signal that I have arrived - no talk, just a few beeps so she knows I am there. Is that possible?

Thanks for describing the problem instead of forcing use to try to find a way to make a possibly-bad solution work due to lack of context.

Look into using something like Life360 or other tracking app. I'm not up on all the nuances of roaming and international phone plans and such, but I know I only have a very basic cell phone plan and I had no problem tracking my daughter and wide when they went back to Taiwan (and visited Japan) the summer before last and none of use had any issues keeping track of each other when she went to Australia and New Zealand to perform last summer and we went over to Australia about midway through their tour to watch her perform in the Sydney Opera House. There was nothing we had to do and no extra fees of any kind that anyone had to pay -- it just worked. I know that to place a phone call, we would have had to pay extra. Have you tried just sending her a text instead of calling her and seeing if you need to pay extra for that? One of the nice things about a tracking app is that it really helps you navigate to the person (though it doesn't help you figure out whether you are on the same level of a structure or not).

If you really need something standalone and if 50' is truly enough, then a quick option would be a dog training collar. Most of those can be configured to sound two or three different audible tones in response to what you do with the pendant.

 

I cross from Canada to USA often. Need to signal to my daughter in parking lot that I am waiting in arrivals. To phone, I have to go on roaming plan which is $10/day + call time. To avoid this, would like to signal that I have arrived - no talk, just a few beeps so she knows I am there. Is that possible?

You need to shop for a new plan. The $30 / month unlimited plan I have plan allows unlimited texting to and from any country.

Are you US or Canada based?

 

Two ends of the spectrum: $20 and $200.

 

Is that family member, always at the same place?

 

You need to shop for a new plan. The $30 / month unlimited plan I have plan allows unlimited texting to and from any country.

Are you US or Canada based?

Canada based

 

Is that family member, always at the same place?

She would be somewhere at the airport parking lot.

 

i am with BobTPH, get a better plan... those rates are outrageous and something that went on years ago.
no room for that crap today. i am in Ontario and travel to USA all the time.
Just to name one of the choices, Freedom Mobile has flat rate unlimited plans (like $29-$39CAD/mo) for Canada USA and Mexico. call text, play games, anything you want all day long.
https://shop.freedommobile.ca/en-CA/plans?isByopPlanFirstFlow=true&planType=5G+Plans+List

 

She would be somewhere at the airport parking lot.

Then I suspect you need a signalling range much more than 50ft.

 

I signal daily to 6000Km away with Whatsapp on my cheap phone provider for $0 extra.
A laser pointer can be more expensive at $10

 

yes - if you are on a network... and he is not. airport parking lots are multiple stories park houses and laser pointer does not go well through concrete. if one is looking for RF solution, off the shelf and low cost products would be WalkieTalkies. the downside is one has to carry extra item. one can also DIY some LoRa Meshtastic modules.