Any telephone, modem, pager, text message, Experts here?

You have a rotary dial phone but do you still use it? The old handset must be comfortable and sound quality good but it must be inconvenient when you call an automated number and the other side says press 1 for Spanish, press 2 for Chinese... press 9 for Latin, press 10 for English.

I don't know about PageGate. It's fine that PageGate with GetTouchTone can understand DTMF but you should ask NotePage whether it can understand such tones sent using the Ademco Contact ID protocol--as just a series of numbers and letters or as an alarm message? And if not as an alarm message is there any facility in PageGate to pass that data to intermediary software that can understand, format, and pass it back to PageGate. And even if PageGate can do that, what do you intend to do with the alarm data--send it as an email to the Verizon email to SMS gateway or TAP to SMS gateway? It would be good to skip the email or TAP step if possible because they're just another opportunity for the message to get delayed or dropped. That's why I like the idea of that Topkodas device--though every alarm would need one it doesn't need email or TAP and goes straight to SMS (where getting delayed or dropped is also possible). You also have issues like How long will Verizon keep their free TAP service available?

Fine that you can use your computer's modem now but this would eventually be for customers, right? So you'll need multiple phone lines and modems because more than one alarm at a time could potentially call in and you don't want the phone number to be busy. A voice modem can translate DTMF to text and a program like PageGate can read it from the modem. There's a modem command you can use to see whether your modem has voice modem capability.

Seems to me Asterisk, AlarmReceiver, and an adapter card can do the same as PageGate in this situation.

Or is it that your alarms can be set to call either numeric pager services where PageGate and GetTouchTone would apply or a central station where Contact ID would apply? Or is it that your alarms are normally expected to call a central station with Contact ID but you were instead making do by calling a numeric pager service? Regardless, still good to avoid email or TAP gateways if you can. And computer should be able to be equipped to do GSM SMS.
 
I’m confused. Are you saying you need to support pulse-tone (e.g. old dial phone) or that you are on a digital network using DTMF?

FWIW, back in 1984 I worked for a phone manufacturer. We developed an acoustical speed dialer, and a replacement receiver module for old phones such as you have pictured: A customer would spin off the old carbon-based receiver from the handset and spin our digital one on instead and they could forgo the dial aspect altogether. Our module had the full digital keypad, 20 to 100 numbers stored in memory, and the 32-digit Watts-line access number for cheap long distance. Remember Watts-line? That was before Sprint and MCI, and how companies and the government used to call long distance before the AT&T breakup.

With these types of phones you still had four wires: Tip & Ring, A0, and A1 – which translates into two lines of Rx/Tx, powered by low DC voltage. Whenever there was a blackout or some other calamity, phones ALWAYS worked – and if not, you were screwed. Only once after an earthquake did I ever see the phones go down.

Anyways, DTMF uses X & Y to triangulate the keypress on a key pad of a digital receiver. So that means you have a 2-dimensional array of 3,4 – high tones and low tones. Federal regulations dictate the maximum speed at which these signals can pass over copper – the predecessor to the emergence of modem standards.

Of course that didn’t mean we couldn’t tweak the speed: We loved listening to Rock-n-Roll over the radio in the office, and well… we had this one phone modified with a thumbwheel POT hooked up to the RC timer on the Tx line and used it for competition… “first person to call in and we’ll play yer album request!”. We never used it for prize money; that wouldn’t be right. But um… anyone can modify their phone to be a speed dialer if the clock is off-chip.

Pictures of the phones I designed are on the home page of my website under Electromechanical Engineering Design|Communication: On the Lower-left is the circuit board for the digital receiver, and the upper right is the circuit board for the acoustical dialer. Both boards had the semiconductor epoxied to the surface and wire-bonded to the traces. They were hand-taped/Rubylith’d at 10:1. I designed the plastic housings too. SMD, robotic placement, and multi-pass “wave-flow” soldering processes were just beginning to reach the market.

Old school. Not like that now… but I can still cut tape using an X-acto with great precision. I’d probably make a fine surgeon.

90125 was a great album, so was Heartbeat City. KF
 
Mark5 and Kingfish,
To answer your questions - My rotary phone looks the same as the one in the picture but mine is Orange. The orange phone is in the guest room. Nobody uses it. It does work. Just tested it by calling my wife on her cell phone to tell her "I love you"

I have updated all the phone wires in my house. No more of those old 4 wire jacks. All new twisted pairs. Old rotary phone works fine with 2 wires.

Lets forget the Contact ID for now. Here is how I am thinking Marty's Central Station will work. One designated phone line into the modem of a computer in my house. All my security systems have whats called a pager feature. Remember how you used to call a old numeric pager? Dial the pager number and press Touch-Tone keys to leave a numeric message. PageGate software receives a Inbound Touch-Tone message (via voice modem). This triggers the software to send Outbound Message SMTP (email via Internet) Remember - Sending a text message by email is simple. 5552223333@vtext.com for Verizon. Other cell phone companies have different addresses.

More Letters and Words
SMTP Simple Mail Transfer Protocol

Here is how my Ademco Vista 10SE and DSC PC1555 alarm panels work. No central station, no monthly fee. All the alarm panels are connected to POTS Plain Old Telephone Service. When the alarm is activated the siren goes off if there is a fire, burglary, or a moth flying around a motion detector. If there is flood, power failure, or other less serious problem, the key pad beeps. Instead of a central station the alarms are programed to call the clients cell phone. If the Ademco Vista 10SE and DSC PC1555 panels do not receive a kiss off or hand shake signal from the central station, they just call over and over. DSC PC1555 can be set for 1 to 15 attempts. 8 is the default. DSC PC1555 gives a yellow error light on the keypad when it fails to communicate with central station. Can just live with the yellow light or power down AC and battery to make the light go off.

The newer DSC 1832 has a feature called Residential Dial**
**Failure to communicate using Residential Dial will not generate a Failed To Communicate Trouble.
This gets me excited! Makes me want to buy this panel.

Residential Dial
If Residential Dial is programmed and an event that is programmed
to communicate occurs, the panel will seize the
line and dial the appropriate telephone number(s). Once the
dialing is complete, the panel will emit an ID tone and wait
for a handshake (press a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, or #
key from any telephone). It will wait for this handshake for
the duration of Post Dial Wait for Handshake timer. Once
the panel receives the handshake, it will emit an alarm tone
over the telephone line for 20 seconds. If several alarms
occur at the same time, only one call will be made to each
telephone number the panel is programmed to call.


In addition to calling the central station both the Ademco Vista 10SE and DSC PC1555 can be programed to call a pager. Every alarm that I am familiar with has this feature. I have also worked with ELK, FBI, and HAI security systems. Page looks like a series of numbers as follows:
001201
001202
001203
001204
001205
001206
001207
001299

First four digits are account number. This imaginary house is located at 12 Main St. So the account number is 0012
Second two digits are the zone that is activated.

Here is a list of typical zones and the problem they relate to. Best to print this list and keep it with you so you remember what number is what problem.
01 MOTION DETECTOR
02 FRONT DOOR
03 BACK DOOR
04 SIDE DOOR
05 HI LOW TEMPERATURE
06 SUMP PUMP
07 AC FAILURE
99 Delinquency Transmission Cycle - 24 hour timer. No zone activity for 24 hours. Customer has died or left the house and forgot to set the alarm?

Note on: HI LOW TEMPERATURE sensor. Big security company put this in. It's stupid. You don't know if the heat went out and you should call a heating guy or the house is on fire and you should call the fire department.

I am thinking PageGate software will do exactly what I want it to. I might be wrong but Asterisk looks confusing to a stupid person like myself. I can't even figure out what hardware it is designed to run on. I should join their forum and ask some newbie questions.

Any one looking for some fun, enjoyable reading material? [Better then pornography :wink: ]
May I recommend PageGate Version 6 Documentation.
Download Server Manual (PDF) 232 Pages!
Download Client Manual (PDF) 45 Pages
 
Please keep in mind that I am not running a real central station. No body is paying me. This is only a free service for my friends, and relatives. If it don't work? Nobody will be mad at me. I am only trying to replace my old non-working pager.

I am not sure if the PageGate software will differentiate which house is sending a page? Not a problem, send the same text message to every client.

Here is a scenario of how Marty's Security Company might work? First we need to change the name to Marty's Security CO-AP

More Letters and Words
CO-AP as in Cooperative. Like a Food co-op

Curly, Larry, Moe, and Joe have houses monitored by Marty's Security CO-AP. Curly, Larry, Moe, and Joe also have electric bicycles. Curly, Larry, Moe, and Joe all have cell phones that can receive text messages. One day they all receive the same text message. 001205 Curly, Larry, Moe, and Joe all remember Zone 05 is Fire. Yes Five and Fire both start with F. Account number address 0012 is 12 Main St. That's Joe's house. Curly, Larry, Moe, quickly realize JOE'S HOUSE IS ON FIRE! Joe has been playing with Li-Poo Batteries from Hobby King. LITHIUM BATTERY FIRE! Curly, Larry, Moe each get a bucket of water, jump on their electric bicycles and pedal as fast as they can to Joe's house. [Is water good for putting out lithium battery fires?] When they arrive they are relived to discover that Joe has burnt his lasagna that he put in the oven and forgot about because he got drunk and fell asleep. Joe is really embarrassed about the situation. Joe invites Curly, Larry, Moe, for a meal of burnt lasagna.
 
Okay, now I understand that it's not for business.

PageGate software will probably work. I think it's overkill for what you want to do and too expensive--$150 for PageGate and $100 for what they call a Touchtone Receiver. I wouldn't be surprised if Touchtone Receiver just means their software GetTouchTone function to read DTMF tones. NotePage hasn't responded to your question yet but I also wouldn't be surprised if they'll want to charge you for the capability to send email. So it would cost $250 but could go higher.

You need a voice modem to read DTMF and it has to be able to do it ok because some are buggy (here's a list of ones known to work). The modem you have right now may or may not work. Get a voice modem at the auction website if necessary.

I think all you really need is one or more programs to wait for a phone call from an alarm, capture and decode the DTMF to text when a call comes in, send the text to an email to SMS gateway, and go back to listening for the next phone call.

To start, here's a free example program that listens for a phone call, plays a wav file greeting when a call comes in, records incoming sound to a wav file, and hangs up:
TAPIWave: A console (very little UI) sample that uses the Wave drivers written for TAPI 1.4. Your basic Answering Machine: http://www.rainyjay.com/tapi/tapiwave.zip.
Don't know whether it works well because I don't have a voice modem to try it.

Then you need a DTMF decoder program to decode the wav file to text. You can probably find a free one like this: scroll down some to Cliff Leitch's DTMF Decoder.

Then you need a free email sending program such as Blat - Windows Command Line SMTP Mailer or Joel Bennett's Send-SmtpMessage using PowerShell to send out the text of the decoded tones.

If you ever change your mind and want to use Linux there are a couple of approaches that are free besides Asterisk. And apparently people are making Raspberry Pi answering machines now.
 
Here are the specifications of my computer.
Operating system is Windows 7 Ultimate, Service Pack 1

Here are the specifications of my modem.
Zoom
Model 3030
V.92 PCI Softmodem
Specifications
Data Speeds - 56,000 bps receive/48,000 bps send with auto-negotiation of V.92 and V.90**
- 300 to 33,600 bps with support for all international and Bell standards
Fax Speeds - 300 to 14,400 bps, Group 3, Class 1
Standards Supported - Data: V.92, V.90, V.34, V.32bis, V.32, V.23, V.22bis, V.22A/B, V.22, V.21,
Bell 103/212A
- Compression: V.44, V.42bis, MNP5
- Error control: V.42, MNP 2-4
- Hayes AT and extended AT command sets
- V.80 for H.324 (videophone) compatibility
Dialing - Supports programmable duration DTMF (touchtone)
- Call progress tone detection (dialtones, busy, ring, etc.)
Video Support - V.80 (required for point-to-point H.324 video over standard phone lines)
Additional Features - Can be easily updated with software
- Voice mail with multiple private mailboxes, password protection, remote retrieval
and easy message review (requires soundcard)
- Plug-and-Play for automatic configuration with Windows 98SE, Me, 2000, XP,
Vista, 7
- 2 telephone jacks (RJ-11)
Regulatory Approvals - FCC Parts 15B and 68
- Industry Canada CS-03
- CE
- CSA (North American Safety Testing)
- RoHS Lead-free compliant
Physical Specifications - Height with bracket: 4.75 inches (12.1 cm), Width: 4.8 inches (12.2 cm)
Thickness: .8 inches (2.1 cm)
Warranty - Two Years
Here is a link to the specifications of my modem.
http://www.zoomtel.com/graphics/datasheets/dial_up/3030_29211_spec.pdf

Using Answering Machine software, DTMF decoder software, email sending software, and trying to get them all to work together sounds about as easy as putting a Ford motor, Toyota transmission, and Chevy rear axle in my Volvo car.

The more I look at the asterisk.org web site the more I don't understand what it is all about? Read the first sentence on the main page. "Asterisk turns an ordinary computer into a communications server." What is a "ordinary computer"? Mac, Windows, Ubuntu, Raspberry? Should just download, install, and see if it works.
 
marty said:
Here are the specifications of my modem.
Zoom
Model 3030
So you do have a voice modem and that's good. You see from NCH's voice modem list that they say certain Zooms are good for caller ID but not so good for DTMF because they're slow processing DTMF so don't use them for apps involving menus like press 65536 for English. So your Zoom may or may not be that way. But if you're not doing menus or you're doing DTMF decoding separately after the phone call maybe it doesn't matter if your modem is slow at reading DTMF. All you're doing is answering the phone, recording the sound of the alarm's pager tones, and hanging up. Who knows whether PageGate GetTouchTone processes tones during or after the call or whether any slowness even matters (maybe not) for just a few tones.

marty said:
Using Answering Machine software, DTMF decoder software, email sending software, and trying to get them all to work together sounds about as easy as putting a Ford motor, Toyota transmission, and Chevy rear axle in my Volvo car.
It's not hard. In general, you put them all in a command file so each one will run right after the other--like typing three commands. Arrange it so that the wav file the answering machine program puts out goes into the DTMF decoder. And arrange it so that the text file the DTMF decoder puts out goes into the email program. PageGate is more integrated but being more than you really need it'll take a little more effort to set up, what it costs doesn't include support, and it's $250 vs. $0 plus a little time trying to make things work. It's not for a business and you're not in a hurry.

Here's how to try the answering machine program if you want:
1. Make a folder to contain it.
2. Get that tapiwave.zip file and from it extract 2 files--greeting.wav and TapiWave.exe. Put them into the above folder.
3. Start a command prompt as in How to Open a Command Prompt in Windows 7. Suggest you do Option Two to start a command prompt from the folder you just created.
4. In the command prompt type tapiwave soundtest.wav and hit return.
5. If you don't get an error message and it's just sitting there looking like it's running, call your modem and see if it answers.

If you're not interested in trying it that's fine--then maybe PageGate would be a better choice. The above might take 5 minutes. Trying to run the DTMF Decoder or email sender might each take 5 minutes too.

Happened to find a phone recorder and answering machine program here that says it's fully functional but limited to 60 second recordings. So there's another alternative for you.

marty said:
The more I look at the asterisk.org web site the more I don't understand what it is all about? Read the first sentence on the main page. "Asterisk turns an ordinary computer into a communications server." What is a "ordinary computer"? Mac, Windows, Ubuntu, Raspberry? Should just download, install, and see if it works.
It runs on Linux and Ubuntu. You could try it but there's no point right now unless you have an adapter card for the phone line. And you'd want to run it on a separate PC than the one you use unless you want to be using Linux all the time.

Saw NotePage's answers to you about PageGate. You see how it gets more expensive?
The website for that phone recorder link above lists your modem as a voice modem. You can test whether it can do voice. Start up HyperTerminal and type AT+FCLASS=? if you see 8 in the results it's a voice modem.
 
Progress Report.
Download and install DLS 5 free software from http://www.dsc.com/
Looks like this software will communicate beautifully with a alarm panel if I had 2 phone lines, the proper modem, and a panel to test it with. Lists all the accounts, what zone went off, when, etc.
Copy from the help page.
Queue for Incoming
PSTN

PSTN stands for Public Switched Telephone Network. This is the most common connection method. In order to connect to a DSC panel over the telephone line, you will need an MD-12 modem connected to a free serial port on your computer, a free phone line for the modem, and the telephone number that the security panel is connected to on-site.

Problem :( DLS 5 won't send a email. Need more software for that.
Copy from Sur-Gard System II
Single Line Network Receiver
Quick Install Guide
The following is a list of compatible Automation Software manufacturers:
MAS, DICE, SIMS II, Genesys, Bold, S.I.S., IBS, MicroKey, ABM,
I am afraid to ask prices of this software.

Here is a DLS 5 Print Screen
dls5.jpg
 
marty said:
Problem :( DLS 5 won't send a email. Need more software for that.
Those two free email sending programs listed earlier could have been pressed into service if anything could.

Tried to look for a DLS 5 manual at DSC's website but their website requires registration. Instead looked at a DLS 4 spec sheet and DLS-2 and DLS 4 manuals found at other websites. Hard to tell but DLS 4 and DLS-2 don't look like they're made to inform you about an alarm event as a priority. I didn't see anything in those manuals about that. Unless maybe you were connected to a particular account and happened to be looking at the screen when the event occurred (edit: which isn't gonna happen because the alarm will take over the phone line and drop your DLS session as in next paragraph). DLS looked more like a remote programming and administration program for alarm systems (DLS might stand for DownLoading Software). Because with only one modem connection to the alarm system of one particular account how are you gonna know when another account's alarm has gone off?

So for what you want to do, DLS would have to work by running on your PC all the time and answering the phone when an alarm at an account calls you when something happens. If it doesn't do that and is really for remote maintenance, then as nice as it is because it understands the application regarding accounts, zones, and alarms, it might not be able to do the job. I saw some discussion that an alarm can be set up to call DLS for remote programming or maintenance but that an alarm event calling out during that time would take over the phone line and cut your DLS session off. Which leads me to suspect DLS isn't for monitoring.

The DSC MD-12 modem looks like an old 110-, 300-, 600-baud modem from the early '80s though its slowness isn't a problem if the application doesn't require more. Old technology so should be cheap, right? You should be able to use other modems than the MD-12. The DLS-2 manual had a long list of them.
marty said:
The following is a list of compatible Automation Software manufacturers:
MAS, DICE, SIMS II, Genesys, Bold, S.I.S., IBS, MicroKey, ABM,
I am afraid to ask prices of this software.
AutoIt Automation and Scripting Language. Free. Would require custom programming to automate sending email from DLS5. But if it can be done at all, AutoIt is as good as anything for doing it. If the above-named automation software companies even had anything ready-made for DLS 5 you probably wouldn't like what it cost for a hobby project. And if they don't have anything ready-made you'd have to use their product and adapt something which you don't seem to want to do.
 
DONE! I hope?

Unless anyone tells me not to, will buy Micro Seven Inc.® model CT10 Low-cost alarm-receiver $350 + $22 for shipping
http://www.microseveninc.com/brochct10.htm
image002.jpg

I like Micro Seven's web site. Wish all web sites were simple. You hear that Ford Motor Company. Give me information on a new truck please. NO flash.

Thanks to you all (especally Mark5) for your expert help and advise.

As a token of my appreciation (if I ever get this working) I would like to offer lifetime free monitoring service to everyone who replied to this topic. Before we get the lawyers involved please read the fine print:
We provide no liability using all our products for alarm receiving and alarm receiving software to all people and companies including alarm panel users, alarm central station, telephone companies, and all distributors.

More fine print:
A old lady had a security system installed in her house. She told me that she had a dream that a burglar came into her house. When she woke up she was not sure if it was a dream or it really happened. She was not sure if she should call the police or the alarm company? If any of you feel the need to call me every morning to discuss your dreams, there will be a additional charge for psychological help.

CT10 has a 9 pin serial plug. One of my secrete desires has been to have a serial port card in my computer. Please look at my GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R mother board.
pci.gif
There are 7 slots. Starting from the top:
1 Empty
2 Empty
3 + 4 Video Card
5 Empty
6 Modem
7 Empty

See this serial port card for $25 at Newegg
Rosewill PCIe Serial Card 1 Port Model RC-300E
ImgPrd-1732-Cm%5B66ccb1c5b68a455daf169362f05e25c2%5D.jpg

Will this serial port card fit in one of the top 2 slots? PCIEX1_1 or PCIEX1_2?
 
I'm going to script together those 3 free programs--answering machine, DTMF decoder, and email sender--mentioned earlier as a basic PageGate-like thing. If you have any interest you can wait 3-4 days. Just as a personal exercise so it's fine if you're not interested. Free, basically functional, and I hope fairly reliable vs. spend $350+$22 and you can always buy that device in a coupla weeks anyway.

Can't you get a serial card for cheaper than $25 nowadays? Like for free by pulling one out of some old, no-longer wanted PC. Here's a cheaper one: Quatech DSC-100 high speed dual serial port PCI card/ DUAL 16550 UART chips, DB9 connectors/ $7.50 OBO, free shipping/ used so already broken-in for you, more than 10 available, has good feedback. The Micro Seven spec sheet says the serial port only needs 1200 baud anyway so you don't need anything fancier--no need to pay more.

Ah, I see--the Micro Seven understands Contact ID. And you use a CM10 if you want to connect directly to your alarm panel with RJ11. Or you use a CT10 or CT200 with FXO interface or LS15E+ with FXS and FXO interfaces to connect to phone company. Hope CT10, CT200, and LS15E+ allow monitoring multiple alarm sites and not just one. What about sending out text messages? If they have no facility to do so I might be able to give you a script to do that if the info is accessible. Which it should be because the CT10 webpage says the software displays the info to the screen and also puts out a text file. So a custom script could read the text file, look at the account number to decide who to send the info to, and send the info to the email to SMS gateway.
 
Mark5,
Bought the Micro Seven Inc. model CT10 Low-cost alarm-receiver.
If you want to script programs together? Have fun. If the CT10 don't work I will be shopping for another solution. Think you will need a modem in your computer, a alarm panel, and two telephone lines to test your programs.

I am seeing older alarm panels on eBay for about $30. A alpha keypad is easier to program. Installation instructions are important. Let me know if you need any? I might have?

I chose that Rosewill PCIe Serial Card 1 Port Model RC-300E because it had good reviews at Newegg and a nice picture with a white background. The one you link to is PCI. The PCI space in my computer is taken. I need PCIEX. I see PCIEX1, PCIEX8, and PCIEX16 in the image I posted. I am guessing the RC-300E will fit in the PCIEX1 slot, but I am not sure?

If everything works as planed, alarm panels will call a designated phone line in my house. CT10 will receive the call and my computer will send a email containing contact ID event codes. Email can be a text message. Sending a text message by email is simple. 5552223333@vtext.com for Verizon. Other cell phone companies have different addresses.

I am not sure if the CT10 software will differentiate which alarm panel is sending a event? Its not a problem if the same text message is sent to every client.

Thinking about Magic Jack for the designated phone line.

Thanks again for all your help!
 
Got it. CT10 Alarm Receiver.
ct10_600x489.jpg
Here is a bigger picture.
ct10_1696x1382.jpg
On the left end is telephone jack and 12V DC power. On the right end is serial connector.

Have not fired it up yet.
Ask the Micro Seven Inc. Guy if it will work with Voice over IP (VoIP, voice over Internet Protocol)? Magic Jack or similar product.
His reply:
POTS lines works, but we are not sure whether internet phone lines work or not.
Good luck!

Did some searching around the internet about Plain Old Telephone Service POTS verses VOIP there seems to be a lot of confusion. Everyone wants to get rid of there POTS and get VOIP to save money. They want to know if there alarm panels will send events over VOIP? First problem as I see it is that the happy homeowners have no idea how to wire a phone line into a alarm panel? Second problem is the the happy homeowners have no idea how to re-program their alarm panels. Alarm installers are reluctant to recommend VOIP because they know POTS works and I suspect they don't know much about VOIP

I am different. I want to receive not send alarm events. I also want to pay less for telephone service.

Magic Jack costs $19.95 per year. See other similar companies. I am more concerned with the monthly fees then the initial cost.

See this thing - Obihai Technology's OBi100 phone adapter. Got good reviews at Amazon.
http://www.obihai.com/obi100pr.html
Works with Google Voice. I am really not comprehending what it does? Do like the price of free.

What type of telephone should I plan on using to receive Contact ID alarm events on the CT10 Alarm Receiver?
 
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