Hi Lenny, Several thoughts: Don't know what state you're in, but here in Calif. we have a state agency that supplies such phones to folks who are deaf etc. if you're state has such, might be worth a check with them. I'd start with any agency that helps the hard of hearing to track that possibility down.
You could get a simple digital message recorder that does only 1 message and record the correct tone in it. She'd have to hold it up to the phone and press play. Would take some looking to find one that'd be mistake proof enough to be practical. Also maybe worth a call to a manufacturer of specialized phones etc. to state the need, see if they care. I can suggest UltraTech of Maddison Wisconsin, they make TDDs and special phones for that market. Technically it wouldn't be a big deal to make one, there are integrated circuit chips that do the touch tones, all you need is a few parts to interface to the phone line. However to sell one, anything that is to be connected to the phone line has to meet rather rigid specs and be "type certified." This is no deal for a big company who makes phone equipment, but would be rather expensive for a small manufacturer. It is not worth complaining to the maker of the door entry system, there are solid reasons why they need to use the longer tone to unlock. I could build a single prototype for your mom, but can't do more than one under our silly grant and have no means of getting stuff type certified, so that doesn't help much. I hate phones that give only a short burst of tone with a button press, don't know who thought that was an idea. Let me know how it works out, and maybe we can help persue ideas. Tom fowle smith-Kettlewell RERC Net-Tamer V 1.13 Beta - Registered
