Walkie-talkies (also known as handheld or PMR, Personal Mobile Radio) can be bought at low prices even from department stores, and they can be operated without a licence in many countries. Considering the low cost, such a set would be very suitable for use as a wireless baby monitor, with the addition of several external components. These are connected to the jack sockets for an external loudspeaker/microphone and an external PTT (Push-To-Talk) switch, which are often found on these devices.
Project Image :
Wireless Baby Monitor Project Image
The walkie-talkie with the extra electronics and microphone is placed in the baby’s room. When the PTT switch on the other walkie-talkie is actuated for about a second the ‘baby’ walkie-talkie produces a series of tones, which the external electronics can detect. This then activates its own PTT switch for about 5 seconds, so it switches over to transmit. During this time the other device can hear what the external microphone picks up.
Circuit Diagram :
Figure 1-Wireless Baby Monitor Circuit Diagram
Figure 1 shows the circuit that the author designed for this. It has been designed specifically for a Tevion 3000 PMR sold some time ago by Aldi. This type of PMR has a combined jack socket that includes all the required connections.
The voltage present on the PTT connector is used to generate the supply voltage for the circuit via R3, D1 and C1/C2. When the loud-speaker output presents a series of tones (when the PTT switch on the other walkie-talkie is held down), it causes T1 to conduct. This also turns on T2 and T3, so that the external microphone is connected to ground. The resulting current that f lows through the microphone should be sufficient to activate the PTT circuit in the walkie-talkie, causing it to transmit. If the external microphone doesn’t draw sufficient current, a resistor (R8) should be connected in parallel. Some experimentation with the value of this resistor may be required. If you want to make use of the internal microphone then R8 should be replaced with a wire link.
Circuit diagram :
Figure 2-Wireless Baby Monitor Circuit Diagram
When the walkie-talkie switches to transmit the built-in amplifier stops producing a signal and T1 turns off. However, since electrolytic capacitor C3 has been charged up in the mean time, transistors T2 and T3 will keep conducting for several seconds until C3 has been almost discharged via R4. In the Elektor labs a simpler version with the same functionality (Figure 2) has been designed for use with a cheaper PMR set that can be obtained from Conrad Electronics (PMR Pocket Comm Active Pair, order number 930444). These walkie-talkies have separate jack sockets for the LS/Mic and PTT connections.
When there is a call a series of tones is produced that is used to turn on T1 via R3. T1 then activates the PTT function and the microphone amplifier is turned on. How-ever, it ’s not just the audio signal that is used, but also the DC offset produced when the internal output stage is turned on. Both the internal as well as external loudspeaker are driven via an output capacitor of 100 µF. When there is a call it charges up via R3 and the base-emitter junction of T1. If the walkie-talkie is called often there would be a danger that the output capacitor would remain charged and the DC offset of the audio signal would no longer be sufficient to turn on T1. To prevent this, D1 is connected in reverse across the base-emitter junction of T1, pro-viding a discharge path for the output capacitor.
To keep the circuit active for a minimum amount of time the microphone voltage is used to provide an extra base current. This is done by charging C1 via R1. When the transmitter is turned off the microphone and R2/ D1 provide a discharge path for the capacitor. C2 ensures that the circuit won’t react to spikes caused by interference. As can be seen from the second circuit diagram, use is made of two connectors, a 2.5 mm jack plug for an external headset and a 3.5 mm plug for the PTT function. These connectors are particular to the walkie-talkies we used here. With other types of walkie-talkie you should first check the connection details of the connectors before you connect the circuit up.
When the circuit is used as a baby monitor you should check that the microphone you’re using can pick up all the sounds. In our case the microphone didn’t appear to be very sensitive. The microphone amplifier has probably been designed for a voice that is near the PMR unit. When used as a baby monitor the microphone should therefore be positioned as close to the baby as possible.
Author : Wolfgang Papke - Ton Giesberts
