# How do I make a telephone ring? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 25, 2006, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-make-a-telephone-ring/370227 "2006-08-25T17:52:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-make-a-telephone-ring/370227/21 "2006-08-29T13:58:03Z")
[QUOTE=Nature’s Call] A cow-orker was cleaning out the basement, found a rotary dial wall-mount telephone, brought it to work and mounted it on his cubicle wall. It’s been there for years. This week, because they were running out of room downstairs, a group of users have moved to our floor - infiltrating the I.S. inner sanctum (bum bum BUMMMMM!) When one of them asked what the phone was for, he answered, “It’s the emergency hot line. If it ever rings, there’s trouble.” He meant it as a joke - but the user believed him! So we’ll string the poor user along for a while. It’s the right thing to do. So my question: How can I make this sucker ring? [/QUOTE] You never specified why making it ring is a problem. Does it not have a plug on the end? I know you probably have a digital phone system, but as someone else mentioned, if there’s a fax machine or modem in the office, plug the phone into that jack and call the number. ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-make-a-telephone-ring/370227/22 "2006-08-29T18:32:10Z")
[QUOTE=Q.E.D.] Not many PBXs still in use, I’d wager. Most systems are fully computerized CBXs. These may or may not supply ringing voltage–I’ve seen some you can plug in ordinary phones and they work fine, but without all the fancy features of the digital phones. Other systems might be completely digital, and the ring signal is just a data packet. [/QUOTE] Exactly. We call them analog and digital lines here. If the lines in the office are all digital you won’t get the old phone to ring. You may be able to hook it up to the nearest fax line. That should get it to ring for sure. ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2006, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-make-a-telephone-ring/370227/23 "2006-08-30T02:20:12Z")
[QUOTE=Oslo Ostragoth] [slight hijack continued] I used to read occasionally of people (seems like most were Southeast Asian immigrants) who got busted by the fish and game guys for “telephoning” fish. I take it to mean that were using crank telephone boxes to send a current through the water, stunning the fish and causing them to float to the surface, making capture of said fish astonishingly easy. [/ slight hijack continued] [/QUOTE] The official term is _electrofishing_ and I believe it is usually illegal without special research permits. You often hear this technique used to catch catfish; I found a few pictures from the 1950’s of guys hold very large catfish that the telephoned. I believe you drive a rotary phone with a car/marine battery, run the tip and ring leads in the water, and then dial the phone. I am not sure where the battery connects to the phone and that is probably just as well. Supposedly adjusting the frequency will affect different sizes and types of fish. I tried to find a good link to verify my understanding, but alas, my foogle gu is not up-to-snuff. As an aside, I read about electrofishing in an outstanding novella, _Poachers_ by Tom Franklin. It is easily one of the best stories I have ever read. ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2006, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-make-a-telephone-ring/370227/24 "2006-08-30T02:31:36Z")
If you don’t want to build a circuit, [here](http://cgi.ebay.com/MICRO-SEVEN-LS100-MINI-PBX-SIMULATOR_W0QQitemZ150027531383QQihZ005QQcategoryZ51279QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem) is an LS100 on eBay for the freakishly low price of $25. Of course, you’d need to wire the phone up with an RJ11 jack and if you do that, you may as well take **Bildo** ’s suggestion and plug it in to the fax line. ---
**Author:** ![Slypork](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc29f/32.png) [@Slypork](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slypork)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2006, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-make-a-telephone-ring/370227/25 "2006-08-30T18:42:53Z")
**How do I make a telephone ring?** Mount it on a gold band. Of course it is going to be awfully hard to hold your hand up… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-make-a-telephone-ring/370227.md?page=1)