<div>I used one of these DTMF devices on my 2nd trip to EU back in the 1990's. None of the phones had dtmf (all pulse dial) so I couldn't use my calling card. On the first trip, I had used my trusty Yaesu HT held near the telephone to enter DTMFs.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Back on Subject.... Yes, the device I was proposing was exactly one of those piggy back DTMF generator "critters". But it it had a way to guide you through a message or creation of a packet via an LCD display, great. It would then squirt out 1200AFSK NRZI data or DTMF. Such a device would be the sort of thing you'd keep in your go bag. Yes, I know this defeats the come as you are use the built in DTMF pad on HTs. Like I said in last email, the uber geeks can enter the correct DTMFs from memory or by hand.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>The aprs-tt would then either read back the packet to you (ie ai4px at lat 34.xxx 80.xxx icon jogger, status off duty) or a simple "ai4px packet accepted" in Majel Barret's voice of course. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>Back in the 1980's General Instruments made a text to speech chipset that would speak when ascii words were fed to it. Is there any comparable chip available today? Most things I see are the IVR store and playback chips.</div>
<div> </div>
<div> I tend to think that DTMF would work better since the device in question would not be hooked to a mic electrically. If I was going to hook it up electrically, I'd just use an open tracker or tiny trak in mic-e mode.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>I haven't read the APRS-TT page lately, but many repeaters will pass DTMF tones as long as the first digit is the #. We need to make sure that aprs-tt can tolerate the leading #.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Dave VanHorn: very good idea of shortening the dead time between digits. It's one of those "why didn't I think of that" moments.</div>
<div><br clear="all">Wes<br>---<br>God help those who do not help themselves.<br><br><br></div>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Jan 30, 2010 at 13:07, Alex Carver <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:kf4lvz@yahoo.com">kf4lvz@yahoo.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote style="BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; PADDING-LEFT: 1ex" class="gmail_quote">> From: "Wes Johnston, AI4PX"<br>
<div class="im">> Subject: Re: [aprssig] An amusing aside (Text Pagers)<br><br></div>
<div class="im">> If we had a way to see the numbers we've entered, or<br>> somehow compose a<br>> message / posit packet offline, then have a pic processor<br>> spit out the DTMF<br></div>> string for us, we'd have a winner. But then again,<br>
<div class="im">> why not have the little<br>> pic processor spit out a normal packet? the answer<br>> may be that a 1200 baud<br>> AFSK packet can't be squirted in by holding a small device<br>> close to a<br>
</div>
<div class="im">> microphone... the DTMF's can. So I could use this little<br>> cigarette sized<br>> black box with an lcd display on it to compose a position<br>> report "off<br>> line",then it would build the DTMF tones needed to convey<br>
> my info. I would<br>> hold this near the mic of any radio or HT and vollia. <br>> This would be the<br>> deal maker. Preprogramming DTMFs in one or two<br>> memories is close, but no<br>> cigar. Along the same lines, we *could* compose aprs<br>
> packets by hand, but<br>> we all use software to build the packets for us. This<br>> should be no<br>> different. The true "hacker"/ "uber geek" types can<br>> certainly punch all the<br>
> right DTMF sequence, but to reach the masses, a helper<br>> device would go a<br>> long way toward general acceptance / useage.<br><br><br></div>What you just described is identical to the old pocket dialers that used to be sold in places like Radio Shack during the 80's and up to the early 90's prior to the true rollout of cellular service when payphones reigned. It was a little pocket box with a keypad on it and enough memory for 100 ten digit phone numbers. A person would hold the dialer up to the handset of the payphone (after inserting correct change) and then recall one of the stored memory slots. It would warble out the DTMF tones right into the microphone and dial the payphone. Some of the later versions had LCD screens on them so you could see what was typed.<br>
<br>I've seen this written as software for PDAs now, but you can probably still find the hardware versions laying around on eBay or other places. I found a couple just with a quick search for "Pocket tone dialer":<br>
<br><a href="http://salestores.com/sharpel6.html" target="_blank">http://salestores.com/sharpel6.html</a><br><a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/Sharp-EL-6250-Dial-Master-Pocket-Calculator-Dialer_W0QQitemZ120524337611QQcmdZViewItemQQptZCalculators?hash=item1c0fcf71cb" target="_blank">http://cgi.ebay.com/Sharp-EL-6250-Dial-Master-Pocket-Calculator-Dialer_W0QQitemZ120524337611QQcmdZViewItemQQptZCalculators?hash=item1c0fcf71cb</a> (wrapped link)<br>
<div>
<div></div>
<div class="h5"><br><br><br><br>_______________________________________________<br>aprssig mailing list<br><a href="mailto:aprssig@tapr.org">aprssig@tapr.org</a><br><a href="https://www.tapr.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/aprssig" target="_blank">https://www.tapr.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/aprssig</a><br>
</div></div></blockquote></div><br>