"Bill Jeffrey" bravely wrote to "All" (13 May 05 10:29:49)
--- on the heady topic of " Phoneline to Soundcard - NEED HELP"

BJ From: Bill Jeffrey
BJ Xref: aeinews sci.electronics.repair:48060

BJ I've tried this (coupling to the phone line) a couple times, without
BJ real good luck. The problem I experienced is that the outgoing audio
BJ is MUCH louder than the incoming audio. Kinda makes sense, since the
BJ outgoing audio will undergo line loss before it get to the other end,
BJ whereas the incoming audio has already undergone that loss.

BJ Question: has anyone else found this to be true? And if so, would it
BJ make sense to take the tap at the earpiece in handset instead of
BJ across the line? The incoming audio is present at the earpiece, of
BJ course - and so is the outgoing audio, in the form of sidetone, which
BJ is carefully set up to have the same apparent loudness.

BJ BTW, if you have an old Bell phone (the hefty ones, like the 302), it
BJ is easy to monitor it without making any connection. Simply place an
BJ audio transformer on the case, and connect one of the windings to the
BJ mic input of the recorder/sound card. The transformer picks up the
BJ audio from the induction coil inside the phone. We used to do this in
BJ the old old days, using the output transformer from any old radio. Of
BJ course it won't work in modern lightweight phones, since they have no
BJ coil inside.


What you need is a hybrid phone network. Basically it balances the
voice so that it has the same volume as the speaker. Older phones used
a transformer to balance the levels. New phones use an IC instead.
Another trick is to clip onto the speaker of a speaker-phone.

A*s*i*m*o*v

.... I worked hard to attach the electrodes to it.