Hi All,

I need to lash-up something so that we can monitor the kids
while we are in the shed doing home-cinema things.

We have a standard baby alarm, but the range isn't up to
the job. We also have a set of walky-talky type things, which
work, but I can't find a way to have two units on 'vox' while
a third is on receive (two ankle-biters, hence two senders).

Sticking one of the radios in front of the baby monitor in the
house kinda sorta works, but it's a horrible cludge and I
don't trust it.

I've been racking my brains, and I can't think of a simple way
to do it. Anyone have any ideas?

If it helps, we have a spare cat 5e cable between house and shed
which I could use, provided I can think of what to put at each end!

The shed is about 30 metres from the house, and is metal clad, which
doesn't help.

Ta,

Glenn.

"Glenn Booth" wrote in message
...
Hi All,

I need to lash-up something so that we can monitor the kids
while we are in the shed doing home-cinema things.

We have a standard baby alarm, but the range isn't up to
the job. We also have a set of walky-talky type things, which
work, but I can't find a way to have two units on 'vox' while
a third is on receive (two ankle-biters, hence two senders).

Sticking one of the radios in front of the baby monitor in the
house kinda sorta works, but it's a horrible cludge and I don't trust it.

I've been racking my brains, and I can't think of a simple way
to do it. Anyone have any ideas?

If it helps, we have a spare cat 5e cable between house and shed
which I could use, provided I can think of what to put at each end!

The shed is about 30 metres from the house, and is metal clad, which
doesn't help.

Out of interest:

Although you seem to be 'responsible by raising this question; at what point
does "doing home-cinema things" in a shed thirty metres away form a child
segue into "leaving a child unattended"?

quote
http://www.nspcc.org.uk/html/advice/...thomealone.htm
A few other points to guide you
a.. Never leave a baby or very young child alone at home, whether asleep
or awake, even for a few minutes. It doesn't take long for unsupervised
young children or babies to injure themselves.
b.. Most children under thirteen should not be left for more than a short
period.
/quote


I'd hate to think of you answering to a Magistrate or, God forbid, a
Coroner.

--

Brian

"Glenn Booth" wrote in message
...
Hi All,

I need to lash-up something so that we can monitor the kids
while we are in the shed doing home-cinema things.

We have a standard baby alarm, but the range isn't up to
the job. We also have a set of walky-talky type things, which
work, but I can't find a way to have two units on 'vox' while
a third is on receive (two ankle-biters, hence two senders).

Sticking one of the radios in front of the baby monitor in the
house kinda sorta works, but it's a horrible cludge and I
don't trust it.

I've been racking my brains, and I can't think of a simple way
to do it. Anyone have any ideas?

If it helps, we have a spare cat 5e cable between house and shed
which I could use, provided I can think of what to put at each end!

The shed is about 30 metres from the house, and is metal clad, which
doesn't help.

Ta,

Glenn.

Sounds mad but it does work!
Use your cable as an antenna extender:- cut out two (or three) 6" disc of
foil, attach a wire to them. Laminate the discs. Connect the disc wires to
your 5e wire and lay your transmitter(s) and receiver on their respective
discs. The discs and cable simply act as an antenna feeder wire with a
capacitor on each end.
Simple, cheap, effective!
Peter

Hi,

"Brian Sharrock" wrote in message
...

Although you seem to be 'responsible by raising this question; at what point
does "doing home-cinema things" in a shed thirty metres away form a child
segue into "leaving a child unattended"?

A fair point, but the difference in time getting to the children between
being downstairs and being in the shed is only about 15 seconds, and
we have gone to some lengths to ensure that the house is 'child
safe' (as far as that is possible). It takes longer than that to get there
if they wake when I'm on the loo. I really wouldn't do this if I
thought there was a danger.

b.. Most children under thirteen should not be left for more than a short
period.

Most? That seems silly. Who's going to decide which children don't
fit the 'most' category? Our kids never get left alone unless we can hear
or see them, which is why I need to be completely confident in whatever
system I use for this. As a result, my lovely home cinema has currently
never been used by more than one parent at a time!

Now you've got me paranoid though (that's a good thing where little
people are concerned). I might go the whole hog and get a couple
of cctv cameras.

Thanks for keeping me down to earth!

Regards,

Glenn.

Brian Sharrock wrote:

quote
b.. Most children under thirteen should not be left for more than a short
period.
/quote

What a ridiculous notion! When I was 11, I used to have to walk from
school to my sister's primary school, collect her, and walk home. We
would then be there, unattended, until my parents came home several
hours later.

This wasn't in some quiet little village; it was in west London. And it
wasn't in the 40s, it was in the mid 80s. I didn't see anything wrong
with it then, and I still don't now.


--
Grunff

"Glenn Booth" wrote in message
...
Hi All,

I need to lash-up something so that we can monitor the kids
while we are in the shed doing home-cinema things.

We have a standard baby alarm, but the range isn't up to
the job. We also have a set of walky-talky type things, which
work, but I can't find a way to have two units on 'vox' while
a third is on receive (two ankle-biters, hence two senders).

Sticking one of the radios in front of the baby monitor in the
house kinda sorta works, but it's a horrible cludge and I
don't trust it.

I've been racking my brains, and I can't think of a simple way
to do it. Anyone have any ideas?

If it helps, we have a spare cat 5e cable between house and shed
which I could use, provided I can think of what to put at each end!

The shed is about 30 metres from the house, and is metal clad, which
doesn't help.

Well, if you could run a network you could just use a pair of internet
enabled webcams and a PC in your 'home-cinema'.

Really speaking, you're 30m away and who knows what might happen in the
house. Maybe you should reconsider your priorities.

Paul

Ta,

Glenn.

"Grunff" wrote in message
...
Brian Sharrock wrote:

quote
b.. Most children under thirteen should not be left for more than a short
period.
/quote

What a ridiculous notion! When I was 11, I used to have to walk from
school to my sister's primary school, collect her, and walk home. We would
then be there, unattended, until my parents came home several hours later.

This wasn't in some quiet little village; it was in west London. And it
wasn't in the 40s, it was in the mid 80s. I didn't see anything wrong with
it then, and I still don't now.


--
Grunff

That's noffing ! When I started school - for various reasons; it wasn't at
the beginning of a term- my mother took me to the school where we went into
the Head Mistress's room. On admitting me the Headmistress asked my mother
how would I get home?
The Headmistress then summoned a pupil - who incidentally was terrified at
being called into the Headmistress's office, not knowing what 'crime' he'd
committed- and ordered him to escort me back to my house at the end of the
day! I was five (and a day) and 'Val' was six (and a quarter)!

--

Brian

Glenn Booth wrote:
Hi All,

I need to lash-up something so that we can monitor the kids
while we are in the shed doing home-cinema things.

We have a standard baby alarm, but the range isn't up to
the job. We also have a set of walky-talky type things, which
work, but I can't find a way to have two units on 'vox' while
a third is on receive (two ankle-biters, hence two senders).

Sticking one of the radios in front of the baby monitor in the
house kinda sorta works, but it's a horrible cludge and I
don't trust it.

I've been racking my brains, and I can't think of a simple way
to do it. Anyone have any ideas?

If it helps, we have a spare cat 5e cable between house and shed
which I could use, provided I can think of what to put at each end!

The shed is about 30 metres from the house, and is metal clad, which
doesn't help.

Ta,

Glenn.

simple. 2 microphones and one audio amplifier at the house end, connect
amp output to cat5, and a speaker in the shed. Adding a variable R on
the speaker would allow some handy volume control at shed end. Adding a
vogad to the amp would improve its performance, this changes gain
depending on noise level.

Your baby mon contains amp and speaker, if you add an output socket to
it you can just plus the cat5 into it, then all you need is the
speaker. news:sci.electronics.basics would probably explain how.


NT

wrote:
Glenn Booth wrote:
Hi All,

I need to lash-up something so that we can monitor the kids
while we are in the shed doing home-cinema things.

We have a standard baby alarm, but the range isn't up to
the job. We also have a set of walky-talky type things, which
work, but I can't find a way to have two units on 'vox' while
a third is on receive (two ankle-biters, hence two senders).

Sticking one of the radios in front of the baby monitor in the
house kinda sorta works, but it's a horrible cludge and I
don't trust it.

I've been racking my brains, and I can't think of a simple way
to do it. Anyone have any ideas?

If it helps, we have a spare cat 5e cable between house and shed
which I could use, provided I can think of what to put at each end!

The shed is about 30 metres from the house, and is metal clad, which
doesn't help.

Ta,

Glenn.

simple. 2 microphones and one audio amplifier at the house end, connect
amp output to cat5, and a speaker in the shed. Adding a variable R on
the speaker would allow some handy volume control at shed end. Adding a
vogad to the amp would improve its performance, this changes gain
depending on noise level.

Your baby mon contains amp and speaker, if you add an output socket to
it you can just plus the cat5 into it, then all you need is the
speaker. news:sci.electronics.basics would probably explain how.


NT

You have just described the old-fashioned wire"more" baby alarm that
used fixed cables. I suggest the OP checks jumble/boot sales and
secondhand shops if they haven't done a "not allowed to sell electrical
stuff" and dumped them. I think I even have one here (_if_ I can find
it

Chris

Hi,

"Owain" wrote in message
...

In the current climate of paranoia, putting CCTV cameras in children's
bedrooms is possibly liable to misinterpretation.

There is probably someone who would misinterpret it, but there are
plenty of 'bunny' and 'teddy' shaped cctv systems designed specifically
for the purpose, so I don't see it being a big deal.

Regards,

Glenn.

Hi,

"Owain" wrote in message
...

I did wonder about whether extending the house smoke alarms to the shed
would be a good idea. In the event of a fire, you want to get to the
children before they can hide anywhere and you have to waste time looking
for them under beds and in wardrobes (especially if the RCD has tripped
taking out the house lights...)

I've already done that - the shed is connected to the alarm systems.


Local paper this week had a story about a small child (two years old?)
getting past a safety gate, opening mummy's handbag, finding mummy's
lighter, and setting mummy's bed on fire whilst mummy was asleep in bed. As
so often is the case, the batteries in the smoke detector had been removed.

It doesn't matter how close you are, kids are highly ingenious in their
suicide attempts! They can injure themselves even within arms
reach. We have CO and smoke/heat alarms all over the place and
we just live with any false alarms as being better than no alarms.

When they were small, both our kids could just pile up 'stuff' to
a height where they could climb over safety gates. Hard to know
if they made things better or worse.

Regards,

Glenn.

"Brian Sharrock" wrote in message
...

Out of interest:

Although you seem to be 'responsible by raising this question; at what
point does "doing home-cinema things" in a shed thirty metres away form a
child segue into "leaving a child unattended"?

quote
http://www.nspcc.org.uk/html/advice/...thomealone.htm
A few other points to guide you
a.. Never leave a baby or very young child alone at home, whether asleep
or awake, even for a few minutes. It doesn't take long for unsupervised
young children or babies to injure themselves.
b.. Most children under thirteen should not be left for more than a short
period.
/quote


The website also says:
quote
Many young children play outdoors with other children without a parent or
carer being present. As they are unsupervised, they are 'alone', but most
people would agree that this is an important part of growing up.
/quote

So Messrs Booth and co are errmm leaving them "unsupervised" as "part of
(their) growing up".

Hi,

"Fred" wrote in message
...

"Brian Sharrock" wrote in message
...

http://www.nspcc.org.uk/html/advice/...thomealone.htm
A few other points to guide you
a.. Never leave a baby or very young child alone at home, whether asleep
or awake, even for a few minutes. It doesn't take long for unsupervised
young children or babies to injure themselves.
b.. Most children under thirteen should not be left for more than a short
period.
/quote


The website also says:
quote
Many young children play outdoors with other children without a parent or
carer being present. As they are unsupervised, they are 'alone', but most
people would agree that this is an important part of growing up.
/quote

So Messrs Booth and co are errmm leaving them "unsupervised" as "part of
(their) growing up".

For the record, I haven't actually left them unsupervised at all, ever.
The upshot seems to be "most" 13 year olds shouldn't be left alone
"for more than a short time", but "young children" can play outside alone
(mine don't), and we have no definition of "very young", or "young".

Seems to me that common sense is called for, and the nspcc site is a bit of
a cop out. I'm a member too, for whatever it's worth. Ah well. I just won't do
anything unless I'm convinced it's as safe as possible.

Regards,

Glenn.

"Glenn Booth" wrote in message
...
Hi,


The website also says:
quote
Many young children play outdoors with other children without a parent or
carer being present. As they are unsupervised, they are 'alone', but most
people would agree that this is an important part of growing up.
/quote

So Messrs Booth and co are errmm leaving them "unsupervised" as "part of
(their) growing up".

For the record, I haven't actually left them unsupervised at all, ever.
The upshot seems to be "most" 13 year olds shouldn't be left alone
"for more than a short time", but "young children" can play outside alone
(mine don't), and we have no definition of "very young", or "young".

Seems to me that common sense is called for, and the nspcc site is a bit
of
a cop out. I'm a member too, for whatever it's worth. Ah well. I just
won't do
anything unless I'm convinced it's as safe as possible.

Regards,

Glenn.

Oh dear perhaps I should have put a smiley after my post. I was aware of
this anomaly where it is OK to leave a child outdoors possibly with
strangers, whereas it is not OK to leave children in the safety of your own
home.

In practice you know your own children and whether you are happy to leave
them for a while. It's not as if they don't know where you are.

Hi,

"Fred" wrote in message
...

Oh dear perhaps I should have put a smiley after my post. I was aware of
this anomaly where it is OK to leave a child outdoors possibly with
strangers, whereas it is not OK to leave children in the safety of your own
home.

S'allright, I got the jist of it :-)

Regards,

Glenn.