BUILDING AND USING PHONE PATCHES

From simple to elegant, patches help make the connection


By

Julian Macassey, N6ARE

First Published in Ham Radio Magazine
October 1985.


In telephone company parlance, a patch is any connection
between a phone line and another communications device, whether
it be a radio, a tape recorder, a data device (such as a modem),
or even another phone line.

Radio Amateurs, on the other hand, tend to limit the meaning
of "patch" to the connection of transmitters or receivers to the
phone line for phone conversations. But there's more to it -
Amateurs can and do use phone patches for purposes other than
telephone conversations. One particularly effective application
is for checking TVI and RFI complaints; simply set the
transmitter on VOX, go to the site of the interference complaint,
and then key your transmitter via the phone line. Doing this
will indicate whether your transmitter is or is not the source of
the problem. If it is, you can use this method to test the
measures you've taken to correct the problem. (I am a ham radio operator myself...Jessica Noyes, KB1NBO)