How To Change From Pulse To Tone Dialing

Related article: A crash course in using GPO telephones in the modern world

A few months ago I purchased a Rotatone module for one of my vintage telephones. It's a great product, but in the event that you find something you don't like about its functionality, there's not a lot you can do about it, because it's not an open source product. Also if on a very tight budget, you could save yourself a bit of money building your own too.

Rotatone module (red) installed into a GPO 746F

Fortunately there are a few projects kicking around the internet which make for quite a good starting point. One of the earlier efforts was undertaken by Boris Cherkasskiy and subsequently improved on by Arnie Weber on this bitbucket repository. Arnie includes some gerbers with this, which I've fired off to Seeedstudio PCB and made some of my own of, forming the basis of this project. I have to say it is quite a luxury to be building someone else's design for once!

Arnie Weber's pulse-to-tone converter PCB – as constructed by him

For the benefit of those who don't use Eagle (like me) this is Arnie's rendition of Boris's original design.

All of these are based on the application note AVR314 from Atmel, which includes some tricky code that generates DTMF tones using the PWM module of an AVR. Complicated stuff which I am not going to go into the details of.

My changes to the design

When I built the original design, I found that while it did work – there were a couple of problems with it:

It would only dial on a VOIP terminal adapter (Cisco VIC in my case). My BT Landline didn't seem to recognise the DTMF tones
It presents a significant AC load on the line, attenuating speech by 70%, making conversations rather hard to hear

For these reasons I wouldn't recommend building the original design. Below is my revised schematic:

The main change to the design is the power supply. By replacing the Zener and Resistor arrangement with a 78L05 – the AC load is virtually nothing, meaning speech volume is now the same as it was before installing it.

We can see how this problem sneaked in: R1 of the original design was first specified to be 2K, which kept impedance in check, but left it with a voltage droop problem, this was revised to 220 ohm, which fixed the droop problem, but then meant the adapter was shunting the line through the 200uF capacitor. Having a 78L05 fixes all of this, and we can do away with that 200uF capacitor while we're at it.

This also happens to fix the BT landline problem, as that was simply that the tones were too quiet, thanks to it attenuating its own output!

I also removed the resistors on the HW de-bounce circuit, now utilising the AVR's internal pull-ups. We don't need that transistor either – this has been replaced by a resistor (R1) which effectively does the same thing, with the AC path now through the VCC pin of the AVR, then through the 78L05.

My version of the PCB installed in a GPO 746F

One drawback of this design is that the power supply of the AVR is coupled to the line, meaning we can hear it executing instructions through the earpiece. This is not a problem in practice however because my version of the code puts the AVR in power-down mode during all idle times, thus eliminating the problem.

It is however still possible to hear the AVR processing each pulse through the earpiece. This is heard as a "click" which in my opinion is desirable as this emulates the clicking noises which would have been heard when the rotary dial was in circuit.

Fitted to a 332F (Wedged under the 303A key)

My version of the code

I have made quite a few alterations from the original implementation – adding "Redial" functionality, as well as simplifying the programming of speed dials.

As previously mentioned, in my implementation the AVR is in power-down mode during all idle times, essential when building my version of the hardware.

You can get my code here on github. Alternatively the code on Arnie's repository will work – provided that internal pull-ups are enabled on PB1 and PB2. Functionality differs significantly.

Gerbers for my version of the PCB

Can be downloaded here.

If you are new to this, mine were built with Seeedstudio's $4 PCB service. Default options on their service are OK for this board.

Wiring it up

The exacts of how these are wired varies significantly from phone to phone, you're on your own there. It is safe to say that interchangeability between converter designs is good. My GPO 746F was originally wired for a Rotatone, and I found that this board dropped straight in its place, with the red wire connected to LINE, and the blue wire connected to GND.

I kept the original blue, pink and grey wires for the connection to the dial, which are wired on as pictured.

Use with NZPO phones (reversed dial)

NZPO Issue GPO phones with reversed dial (Left: 332F, Right: NZPO 100 – New Zealand made 746F)

In the unlikely event you are installing this device into one of these phones, you'll need different firmware for the converter. Select the "NZ" version of the .HEX file when downloading from the link below.

The reason is because while the numbers appear on the dial in reverse order, the mechanism behind is identical to GPO phones, so this must be translated in software.

I believe there are other dial layouts which at present are unsupported however could be supported easily by modifying and rebuilding the source code.

Shopping list

I ordered most of the parts for my board from the Mouser UK website.

1x ATTINY85V
1x 78L05 5V Regulator
1x 4 MHz crystal
2x 22pF ceramic capacitors
4x 0.1uF (100nF) ceramic capacitors
1x 680 ohm resistor
1x 27V 1W zener diode
1x 4 position 8.25mm pitch barrier terminal i.e. OSTYK42104030, Molex 38700-7504, Molex 38700-7304 (with mounting ends).

Programming the AVR

There's quite a few different ways to do this, I'll let you do your own research. Your programmer will need:

The .HEX file from here

Correctly set fuse bytes:

LFUSE: 0xFD
HFUSE: 0xDF
EFUSE: 0xFF

The user manual (for boards running my code)

Normal dialing

Just pull the dial round from the desired number to the fingerstop and release immediately.

Dialing * and #

for * Pull the dial from '1' and hold on the fingerstop for 2 seconds until you hear a beep, release, and a tone for * will be generated.

For # do the same but use '2'.

Redial

Pull the dial around from '3' and hold on the fingerstop for 2 seconds. Release when you hear the beep, and the last number will be redialed.

Speed dials

There are 7 speed dial locations. 0, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. Pull the dial around to the fingerstop and hold for 2 seconds, release when you hear the beep and the desired number will be dialed.

Programming a speed dial

Pull the number of the desired location around to the fingerstop and hold for 4 seconds, you will hear a two-tone beep. Release the dial.

You are now in programming mode. Now simply dial out the number you wish to store, releasing the dial immediately after each digit. You will hear a simple beep after digit. Once complete, hang up, the number is now saved.

When doing this you will likely have your telephone exchange furiously beeping at you because you haven't dialed a number. If annoying, you can enter the BT "quiet line test" (For people in the UK) during programming.