Cell phone for intercom

[hemismith]

I do sound and lighting for little church and community productions that have no budget. We've tried all sorts of options for intercom with varying degrees of success. Right now we are back to cell phones. I think everyone has iPhones and we just used the conference calling feature. Sometimes reception hasn't been great so we could try wifi calling, although I've had mixed results with that. We will have a dedicated wifi network with several access points, but our internet speed is only 5 Mbps up, 20 Mbps down (but I'll measure again today).

The last posts I saw here about this were many years ago, but Mumble was recommended. Is that still the best option? Is there something independent like Firechat that does voice? It must be full duplex and not PTT, but low-latency.

Thanks.

 

[Jay Ashworth]

Your uplink speed is probably not an issue; all your phones would be on the LAN.

Mumble is probably a good bet; track down the postings from the guy who build a Raspberry Pi image that's a complete standalone server; lots of people reported success with that (where by "lots", I mean 2 or 3 in addition to him .

 

[Lou Kohley]

I made a couple mumble servers out of old computers that I had laying around including a netbook that is 10 years old. Seems to work rather well. You can also get some lightweight gaming headsets with mute switches on them. That way you set mumble to be on all the time and mute at the switch. No screen needed.
I used the current version of Lubuntu and installed the mumble server following instructions online. I searched "install mumble server".

LOU

 

[hemismith]

Thanks, I'll look into those. I do have an old laptop, and it's pretty cheap for the small number of users we would have. And you can pay for as little as a month at a time.

 

[Lou Kohley]

Pay? If you run a server you don't need to pay anything. It runs on your local network.

 

[aeh20s]

I worked with a dance company a couple years back that used the Zello app on their phones for Walkies. It worked pretty well.

 

[NateTheRiddler]

Discord? I know it’s “intended for gaming,” but it has tremendous API capability and you can set permissions, god mic settings, etc. Teamspeak is also a great option but requires more bandwidth.

I have used Discord and Bluetooth in-ears to work a few loud volunteer gigs, with great success.

EDIT: Oh, and it’s free. And fun.

 

[AudioGreg]

I'll second Discord. We use it frequently and even have 2 channels tied into wired intercom. Works very well for intercom, as it's full duplex ie many can talk simultaneously and everyone on channel hears all conversation. Zello works well too, but being a PTT app it's more akin to a walkie talkie so only one at a time can speak.

Mumble (similar in function to Discord) is also good and its big plus is that if you setup a local server you don't need any internet at all, just LAN/WiFi to connect your devices. Its downside is a bit of a learning curve to setup.

 

[Jay Ashworth]

How did you cross-connect Discord into 2w PL, Greg?

 

[macsound]

I've also been thinking about old cordless home phones. Buy 1 kit that comes with 4 or 6 handsets and plug in the base station somewhere that gives range to the space. Just pushing talk on the phone adds yourself to the "party line"

 

[Jay Ashworth]

I've also been thinking about old cordless home phones. Buy 1 kit that comes with 4 or 6 handsets and plug in the base station somewhere that gives range to the space. Just pushing talk on the phone adds yourself to the "party line"

You want to be looking for DECT compliant cordless phones.

 

[AudioGreg]

How did you cross-connect Discord into 2w PL, Greg?

2 ways. both involve running Discord on a PC to connect to the cloud audio.

1-using Dante Virtual Soundcard (DVS) on PC, pipe Discord to/from Dante network and into a 4W port on our RTS Zeus matrix. This port is conferenced into a partyline for as many other users to join as needed. Beltpacks join this partyline via a 2W-4W interface connected to another Zeus port on the partyline. Sounds like a lot of overkill, but this is how matrix systems work... we managed 2 channels of Discord in this fashion by running the desktop app connected to CH1, and then running Discord in a browser on the same computer connected to CH2. DVS allows for 16 channel of IO to Dante, so both channels still travel thru one network connection to the Zeus ports.

2-for systems with only 2W belpacks, we use a 2W-4W interface (ST Model 45, or RTS SSA-324) to bridge the computer in-out (USB audio via an ARX-USB-3) to the 2W circuit. i just built a cool little box not much bigger than a beltpack that serves as a Dante/2W bridge using the ST Model 5132 module. Itching to try it out for the purpose of this discussion.

 

[AudioGreg]

How did you cross-connect Discord into 2w PL, Greg?

another method comes to mind...using the JKaudio BlueSet. This device plugs into the headset port of your 2W beltpack and creates a bluetooth connection so you can use a BT headset. The BlueSet can also be switched into a mode that connects BT to a phone instead of a headset. In this case use Discord in place of a phone call. I have one of these so I can try it out in the next day or so. Seems like the BlueSet and any old cell phone could be the most direct path to tie Discord into 2W.

 

[Jay Ashworth]

I have ... well, one of the BT adapters. It only goes one direction at a time.

And "dante to my RTS Zeus matrix" *is* sort of cheating...

 

[Ben Stiegler]

I've also been thinking about old cordless home phones. Buy 1 kit that comes with 4 or 6 handsets and plug in the base station somewhere that gives range to the space. Just pushing talk on the phone adds yourself to the "party line"

background noise might accumulate quickly with that many open mics, tho unless you have headsets on all of them

 

[Jay Ashworth]

Yeah; someone's done all the homework on this topic, and picked out a specific model of DECT phones with headset jacks, ans good headsets to match -- forget if that was on here.

 

[jtweigandt]

Yeah; someone's done all the homework on this topic, and picked out a specific model of DECT phones with headset jacks, ans good headsets to match -- forget if that was on here.

I'm the guy. 2 years plus in on the Rasp pi running as mumble server. the dect headsets I use are Logitech H820e. The rasp pi or the pc sees them as just another usb headset, and the dect wireless gives you 300 feet plus of roaming. I also have used rasp pi units as clients I have some old hp thin clients running linux off a stick as stations, and occasionally cut in phones via mumble. It all just works once set up. Have done quite a few shows this way now and would never go back to walkie talkies. Mumble is all internal.. don't need an internet connection. I believe discord, you have to have a live internet connection. Set up everything as PTT or the crosstalk/noise is unbearable. The logitech units have a nice mute button on the boom mic and a red indicator at the tip to show when muted.