What about an intercom???

[CJDave]

[img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] We are converting a grainery to an all-weather shop and "spousal avoidance center". The building is a bit over a hundred feet from the nearest corner of the house. What is available ....if anything.... in the way of a WIRELESS INTERCOM to use as communications between the two buildings. They share the same electrical system IN GENERAL . They meet at the distribution panel, which is fed from the main. Any possibilities? We've thought about a phone line, but it HAS to be an underground line because of ice and so forth. We DO have two phone lines in here so if we did go with a phone we could simply call the other number and get the shop. Any suggestions???

[EJB]

Why not walkie-talkies? You can use them as intercom, but also have the flexibility of using them for other things as well.

We have a pair of the commerical motorola walkie-talkies and get about 1-2 mile range on them depending on terrain; my guess is your shop is a whole lot closer than that... [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

Tried one of those intercoms that is supposed to work over the electrical wires many years back and thought it was pretty much junk [img]/forums/images/icons/frown.gif[/img] (Maybe they have improved, but I still think a wireless option is better)

[dummy]

From my experience, a <font color="blue"> "spousal avoidance center" </font color> [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] needs to be communication free. Seems if she has to come find me to talk, she does it less often. As long as she isn't the beverage control center also, no real need to hear from her.

[herbenus]

You might be able to do something with the phone line. I have a cordless phone that can intercom back to the station which has speakerphone capability. You should be able to find wired phones with intercom ability. Most businesses use them.

[TimSullivan]

We had the same problem and used a good quality phone system to solve it. Our solution is a two line unit and has three headsets. The main unit is in the house and two charging units and portables are in the garage and barn respectively. The units have an intercom feature or one line can call the other. Both incoming lines can be answered from any of the headsets.

The system works well and cost me about $175 dollars at Sams. Our particular ATT model is no longer made but there are several others that maybe even better. Our units work up to about 250 feet from the base. Our barn/shop is about a hundred feet from the base unit in the house and we have had no problems what so ever.

[Bird]

Last Fall we bought something called Panasonic Triple Talk phones from Sam's club; 3 handsets, one base, and two other charging units. The base is also an answering machine, each handset has caller ID, can store 30 speed dial numbers, is a speaker phone, and Intercom. Best phone system we've ever had. You could have the base unit and two handsets in the house and one handset and charging unit in the shop or barn.

[Gatorboy]

Bird,

We bought that same system for our house. It's great -- no need to have phone outlets everywhere, and when I need to call my son out of his room for dinner, I can just call him on the intercom rather than shouting throughout the house.

[fivestring]

"spousal avoidance center".

I like that. [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[Harv]

We got the exact same phone set a few months ago, Bird. Since we're using it down here in our suburb house the distances aren't very great, but we use the intercom feature a lot. Whoever answers the phone can even intercom someone else in the house and "transfer" the call on the spot. Pretty slick. [img]/forums/images/icons/cool.gif[/img]

[CJDave]

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Thank you for the GREAT responses to our phone question. Do I understand this right......you bought a cordless extension phone setup that has a second "hangar" and "charger" for it so THAT unit stays in the shop and just sympathetically rings when the base unit does? That would be just the thing, especially if it has pager capabilities. The term:"Spousal Avoidance Center" came from a guy who was on "last Comic Standing" the recent TV reality show. [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img] The guy was from Elk River MN and SHOULD HAVE WON the competition but didn't. [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]