@BEGIN_FILE_ID.DIZHow to make a hallmark red box @END_FILE_ID.DIZ Hallmark RedBox! I bought the guts to buy a hallmark card at 3 pm yesterday, before 5 I had a working box... Heres the instructions for the compleat idiot (or those just having trouble) Materials: --------- 1 Hallmark digital recording card (~$8, card store) 1 1/8 inch mono phono plug (~$1 or in a junk bin) 1 SPST switch, or momentary contact NORMALLY CLOSED (~$1 or junk bin) The QUARTER.VOC File (and access to a sound card to play it, and software that lets you loop it) 1 case of some sort (I used a case from a DAT, but anything you can put the stuff in will work. Perhaps the case from a Data Tape or a 8mm Video tape, or just a casette) 1 Tube of silicone sealant (epoxy will probably do, I just happened to have silicone on hand) What to do: ---------- 1. Remove all components from the plastic thing inside the card, this includes sliding the battry pack out of it's drawer. 2. Cut the following wires: Both wires going to microphone (both are green, mark which one goes to the center of the mike) Both wires to the battery pack (red and white) Both wires to the switch mechanisim (green and black) 3. Discard the switch mechanisim. 4. Wrap the battery pack in electrical tape (I used red tape just to be cheesy, since the box is clear) 5. Solder the SPST switch to the black and green wires that used to go to the original switch (polarity is NOT important) 6. Solder the phono plug to the 2 green wires. Polarity shouldn't really be important, but to be on the safe side, the wire that ran to the center of the mike (I told you to mark it) should go to the TIP of the plug. 7. COnnect the battery. (This battery pack puts out 6.25VDC, I suppose you could replace it with another battery, but why bother?) POLARITY IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT!. The red wire goes to the Positive terminal, and the white goes to the negative. On my box, if the pack is laying flat, with the exposed part of the batteries pointing up, the positive terminal is the one on the left (if you are facing the terminals) I'd use a multimeter just to be sure. 8. Glue the pc board to the top of the battery (this saves space and hassle later, but is not necessary for operation) 9. Program the thing... I used the QUARTER.VOC file (sorry, i don't have a copy of it in any other format) and I looped it 10 times, with a random delay of between .5 and 1 seconds between each quarter (who puts them in at regular intervals anyway?) Plug the phono plug into your soundcard, turn the volume Waaaaaaay down (trial and error will give you the proper volume) and play the voc file (after setting the switch on the pc board to the record position, and flipping the SPST at the beginning of the VOC file) 10. Test it... Best way to test is to call a long distance Directory Assistance (Im partial to 808-555-1212 which is Hawaii) If it doesn't work, go back to step 9. The ideal volume is one that can be heard clearly, but does not cause the speaker to break up. 11. Once you have the thing programmed, there is no need to keep the phono plug attatched. If you want to save room, cut it off. 12. Put the thing in the case. Drill several holes in the case where the speaker will mount. I mounted the speaker with silicone very carefully applied to the edges of the speaker. Same was true of the battery pack. The switch obviously mounts in a hole on the side of the case. Thats it... Comments/Questions: Why the SPST Switch? First off, I thought the switch that came with the thing looked really cheaply made, and would probably break. Secondly, bu putting in a switch instead of a momentary switch, it allows me to record $2.50 on the box, and play the whole thing back just by flipping the switch, rather than having to hold it down. Why not OMNIBOX.EXE For some reason, OMNIBOX didnt sound right to my ears. I know that QUARTER.VOC works, so I used it. There you have it. the Under $10 red-box. -Tox ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jeff Burchell burchell@cats.ucsc.edu toxic@phantom.com | _________ Just another long-haired Cyberhippie, standing on the | \ \ / / on-ramp to the Information Superhighway with a joint in | \/ \/ his hand, and a thumb in the air. | "If this is a highway, where are the BurmaShave ads?" | Semper Bi! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----------------------- Headers ----------------------- Path: search01.news.aol.com!hp81.prod.aol.net!news.ans.net!howland.reston.ans.net!agate!darkstar.UCSC.EDU!cats.ucsc.edu!burchell From: burchell@cats.ucsc.edu (Jeff Burchell) Newsgroups: alt.2600 Subject: HALLMARK SUCCESS! Date: 2 Mar 1994 02:04:59 GMT Organization: University of California, Santa Cruz Lines: 111 Message-ID: <2l0s8b$55d@darkstar.UCSC.EDU> NNTP-Posting-Host: am.ucsc.edu X-Newsreader: NN version 6.5.0 #1 (NOV)