I need a bit of advice please! I would like a system to allow two people to talk to each other over a distance of about 200 yards. There’s no line of sight and no mobile reception, but we have a multicore signal cable being installed which has a few spare cores to hopefully use for some sort of phone line. Over that distance is a normal phone going to work? Is there any kind of digital system we could use which might not suffer so much from voltage drop?

Cheers!

Do you have WiFi or any kind of internet access? SKYPE?

Is there any kind of digital system we could use which might not suffer so much from voltage drop?

Morse and an air horn????

There is internet at one end but I thought a USB cable/network cable would not work over such a long distance.

Wallis talkie, tin can and string 😉

Cat5e/Cat6, maybe shielded if there’s a chance of interference. Should be OK for about 300ft. Laptop at either end with static addressing between the two.

EDIT – Stick in a repeater between the two if the signal is too weak.

Thought cat5 was allowed a max length of 100m?

A couple of old linesman phones with local battery function, both have a battery and can ring either way,check ebay, could get some old millitary style ones.

I work with Cisco IP telephony systems. They sell analogue gateways that can support distances in excess of what you are looking at.

The actual distance supported depends upon resistance etc. but the figure they quote is 3,000 feet using 26 AWG cable.

You can pick up a suitable Cisco router and FXS card cheaply on Ebay – see examples below.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cisco-1760-V-Router-Call-Manager-Express-CME-4-1-PVDM-/110877424844?pt=US_Enterprise_Router_Modules_Cards_Adapters&hash=item19d0cf3ccc#ht_3767wt_1041

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cisco-Voice-VIC-2FXS-FXS-Card-1760-2600-2600XM-2691-/150485635116?pt=US_Enterprise_Router_Modules_Cards_Adapters&hash=item2309a4902c#ht_1278wt_716

This combination would also allow you to use Cisco IP phones to expand the solution if needed. You would also need two standard analogue handsets to plug into the FXS ports on the router.

These?

walkie talkies innit.

”get the kettle on, red leader, i’m on my way in from the man shed.. kssshhhhkkk”

cat 5e is 300m

Faz- max length for a segment is (about) 100 metres, so roughly 300 ft.

Canford or TecPro Headsets, beltpacks, and a basestation? Multiplex over 3 lines.

how many STWers to change a light bulb?