FYI – The two videos were shot using my iPhone 4 – the first one is available in HD on Vimeo.

So, I have this vapor tight light fixture that I’ve been wanting to make blink on and off, like a radio or cell phone tower signal light but was having a hard time coming up with a practical way to do it.

The main problem is that the light fixture runs off of 120 volts and I was not finding a practical cheep a way to control a mains voltage light. Sure I could use a DMX controller but that’s expensive and overkill. I found light socket flasher buttons (insert the “button” between the bulb and the socket and heat change makes the light blink) but those are old school, hard to find, wear out over time, and the flash rate is not customizable.

Of course I thought about using a microcontroller like my Arduino to control the light, but interfacing mains voltage devices with low voltage microcontrollers seems to be something a lot of people steer away from (the Arduino forums seem to be particularly against it). So, I was having difficulty finding circuit designs that would put me on the right path.

I finally came across this blog post which had a low voltage switching mains circuit; exactly what I was looking for.

Switching 120 Volts with 5 Volts (or less)

The circuit is really nice, it allows you switch mains voltage devices while keeping whatever low voltage trigger (e.g. a microcontroller) you’re using completely isolated from the mains voltage. I only made one change to the circuit by adding a 2200 uF capacitor on the low voltage side to help with flash timing:

The circuit was perfect, I only added a 2200 uF cap on the low voltage side.

The key component in this circuit is the MOC3020M, an opto-isolator/triac. What happens is when light from an internal LED (pins 1 and 2) comes on the emitted light causes a change the resistance between the internal triac (pins 6 and 4) allowing it to conduct. The internal triac on the MOC3020M is used to trigger a second (external) triac, in this case a 2N6073A, which is used to switch the mains voltage device.

By using an opto-isolator you break the physical (i.e. electrical) connection between what’s on the side of pins 1 and 2 (your low voltage trigger) and what’s on the side of pins 6 and 4 (high voltage device). The 2N6073A triac is used simply because it can handle larger loads (up to 4 amps if a proper heat sink is used) than the MOC3020M can handle on its own. I used a 2 amp breaker to keep the 2N6073A well away from its 4 amp limit for a couple of reasons: one, I don’t plan on using a 480+ watt bulb in the light (currently using a 25 watt) and two, I could not fit a proper heat sink on it.

With this circuit you can switch and mains voltage device with as little a 1.5 volts.

Making it Blink

I had originally intended to use my Arduino to control the blinking of the light, and though it works great and offers a lot of control options (variable blink speed, etc.) I decided to go a different route and use a simple LED blinking circuit because I just wanted the light to blink on and off and the Arduino (or other microcontroller) solution felt like overkill.

I decided to use a simple transistor based LED blinking circuit because I already had the parts for it, and it was relatively simple to modify the flashing speed to get what I wanted:

Notice that I used 1Mohm resistors instead of the 100k used in the original circuit. The two 1Mhom resistors along with the capacitors control the blinking speed. Lower resistor and capacitor values means a faster blinking rate. If you wanted to be slick you could probably use potentiometers in place of resistors to make the blink rate adjustable on the fly.

The circuit is designed to flash two LEDs back and fourth and is admittedly superfluous; a single LED flasher would have worked just fine. I decided though that I wanted to use the second LED as an indicator on the enclosure of the flasher circuit.

Instead of connecting an LED on the right side I connect the mains switch. The combination of resistors and capacitors that I used on the flasher circuit gave me a blink rate of nearly 20 flashes per minute from the vapor light. In case your wondering, 20 flashes per minute seems to be the slowest flash rate that the FAA permits^{(pdf – page 43)}.

Notes

• The flash rate is controlled by the two 1Mohm resistors and the capacitors on the flasher circut. I had to experiment with various configurations of resistors and capacitors to get the flash rate I wanted. Using the two 1Mohm resistors gives you about 1.6 volts to the LEDs which is not enough to make an LED light up very bright but is enough to trigger the mains switch.
• The 2200uF capacitor used on the mains switch is not necessary but in this case is used to help get the flash rate of the light where I wanted it.

In Action

Build Pictures

Here is the mains switch laid out on a breadboard for testing. I tested that the circuit worked several times before connecting mains voltage to it.

The flasher circuit laid out on the bread board. The tape on the left transistor is there to identify it as bad (I fried it during testing).

The mains switch in its final form.

The flasher circuit in its final form.

I hadn't really worked out enclosures for everything before starting the project. I finally decided that there was enough room to put the mains switch inside the vapor light's junction box and run a cable out to control it.

I cut a piece of acrylic for the mains switch to sit on when mounted in the junction box.

Belive it or not I managed to get everything to fit in the junction box, even the breaker. The red CAT5 cable (with the two orange wires) will connect to the flasher circuit.

The breaker is as much for safety as it is to protect the 2N6073A from being overworked since it does not have a heat sink. Since the junction box walls were a little too thick for the retaining clips on the breaker, I used a little hot-glue to help keep it in place.

Tip – I used a stepper bit/Unibit to drill the hole for the breaker. Stepper bit/Unibits are great for drilling holes like this, if you don’t have a set, seriously get yourself one. You will not regret it.

After stuffing everything in the junction box I tested it with the flasher circuit.

I used a CAT5 cable from the light to the flasher box so I could plug it in with an RJ45 plug. This way I can easily change what controls the light if I want. I used a barrel adapter for power so I'd have the option to use a wall wart; here it's powered by a 9v battery pack.

Mains Switch Parts List

Flash Circuit Parts List

Brief History

V1 of the iPhone Call Recorder worked great but I found it suffered one issue after I published the post about it. I realized that the capacitors used to isolate the headphone and microphone needed to accumulate a bit of charge before they caused enough isolation to prevent talk back on the opposite end of the call. This meant that you needed to have a recording device plugged into the iPhone Call Recorder that puts out ~3 volts and both parties had to talk (to cause a charge to go through the caps) before the caps charged effectively. This really isn’t a big deal but I felt like it could be improved.

The [simple] Solution

I tried several other ways to try to accomplish what I was after but I mostly just ended up with a headache. From V1 this project was both incredibly frustrating and something that I just couldn’t let go of. What I kept coming back to was that the capacitors simply needed to be “pre-charged” but to do that required putting voltage into the system, not something I was keen on doing unless I could keep it from getting to the iPhone and the recording device.

The solution turned out to be quite simple:

Don't pay too much attention to this schematic... there are errors.

The design in pretty much the same as V1, except for the 9v battery, a couple 330 ohm resistors, an LED, power switch, and an additional capacitor. The battery pre-charges the two (primary) capacitors whilst an additional capacitor is used to keep the DC from passing out the recording output. The two primary capacitors isolate the mic and headphone (to prevent talk back) and also keep the DC from the 9v battery from getting to the iPhone. The 330 ohm resistor is used to knock the voltage down because having the full 9v going to the caps causes to much charge and completely blocks audio from the recording output.

The upshot to all this is that from the get-go the talk back problem is eliminated, even if you don’t have a recording device plugged in (or one that does not output voltage) there is no talk back. The one drawback is a slightly less punchy level on the recording output for the iPhone side of the conversation; I haven’t found this to be a big issue.

V2 Improvements and Features

• Improved talk back prevention – filter capacitors are now pre-charged via a 9v battery.
• Smaller (less fugly?) enclosure.
• Smaller and higher quality potentiometers.
• TRRS jack for iPhone compatible headsets – for instance you can use the ear buds that came with your iPhone to record a call.
• iPhone input is via a jack – Version 1 used a hacked TRRS cable coming out of the enclosure – this was inelegant and would make it difficult to repair if the cable was damaged.
• LED – ’cause LEDs make everything cooler.
• If the battery dies (or the switch isn’t turned on it functions the same as the V1 iPhone Call Recorder.

V2 Pictures

The following pictures are of a couple of V2 iPhone Call Recorders I made. The first one uses a small enclosure that is nice in that it has a battery compartment built in and is compact but its small size makes it difficult to work with. If you plan to make the iPhone Call Recorder V2 and you don’t have a lot of experience with electronics; I’d recommend using the alternate enclosure (noted in the parts table below) which offers a bit more room to work with.

This alternate enclosure is easier to work with than the one pictured previously. I like this enclosure better for that reason... and it's brushed aluminum and we all know brushed aluminum makes the world a better place.

Existing Options

Just to reiterate – Looking at my server logs I see thousands of Google searches related to recordign calls on the iPhone. I have no doubt that this is functionality people want built into the iPhone. People don’t want to have to use a bulky box and cables to do it, like me they want an app. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell there is no way for an app to be written that will record calls without the need for a third party (paid) service. It’s simply something that Apple hasn’t allowed, or for one reason or another, in their API.

There are two apps that I know of that facilitate recording calls on the iPhone – SpoofApp and Recorder 10:

• SpoofApp – In the time between my Version 1 Version 2 SpoofApp landed in the App Store and no longer requires a jail-broken iPhone. SpoofApp is a free app but you still need to purchase per-miniute credits in order to make any use of it. I briefly played with SpoofApp and it works well for recording outgoing calls.
• Recorder 10 – Available in the App Store for the low price of $0.99 but again, it only records outgoing calls and you have to pay per-min charge.
• Neither SpoofApp nor Recorder 10 lets you start a call recording mid-call.
• Both services require that your recorded phone calls sit on a third party server (privacy issue).

I would pay $50.00 for a native iPhone app that allowed on the fly recording of incoming and outgoing calls, saved the calls on the iPhone, and allowed for easy transfer of the recordings off iPhone. Unfortunately, it is my understanding that even if a developer wanted to, it’s not possible to interface with the iPhone during a call in such a way that would allow the recording of phone calls. For one reason or another Apple has not included APIs in the iPhone SDK to allow it. SpoofApp and Recorder 10 overcome this limitation by routing your call through a third party phone system which works, but has limitations.

Again, my solution is not perfect either, anything besides a native app is going to feel like a kludge. My solution is expensive, bulky, and requires basic soldering skills to make. However, it does surpass current apps in that it allows on the fly recording of incoming and outgoing calls and does not require you to pay per-miniute fees. It does what current apps can’t. Beyond the app I described, there is certainly room for improvement on a hardware solution, someone smarter and better equipped could make a hardware solution orders of magnitude better than mine.

DIY

I made a couple of V1 iPhone Call Recorders for people and a couple of V2s before publishing this and received dozens of requests for pre-made iPhone Call Recorders. However, most people lose interest really quickly when they find out it would cost them over a hundred bucks for one.

To be fair to myself, and the family I support, I have to charge for the time it takes me to assemble the iPhone Call Recorder. When you add all the costs up (parts, labor, shipping) a pre-made iPhone Call Recorder is expensive. For most I think this is a novelty item and they see some electronic bits thrown together by some guy in his garage (actually I’m in my house) and think it’s going to cost five bucks and get really sad when they find out it’s a lot more.

Besides that, It’s just not something I want to commit to at this point. I’d like to move on to other projects.

So, I’m not going to be taking requests for pre-made iPhone Call Recorders but what I have done is draw up a nice schematic and made a parts list complete with supplier links. I have tried to make it as easy as possible for you to get what you need to make your own iPhone Call Recorder V2. It does require that you have some basic electronics understanding and soldering silks (or a friend who does) but it never hurts to learn.

If you want to make one yourself, which I encourage you to do because making stuff is fun, I’ve posted a nice schematic and parts list with suppliers:

The Schematic

Here is the iPhone Call Recorder V2 Schematic drawn up in Visio [click to embiggen]:

For better resolution you can download the schematic as a PDF – here

The Parts

UPDATE – 04.26.2009: I have updated the parts list to reflect the parts that I use for pre-made iPhone Call Recorders and what I recommend you use if your going to DIY. The small black enclosure shown above is no longer listed because I recommend the larger (and easier to work with) aluminum enclosure. However, the part numbers for it and the custom perf board are: 546-1593PBK and 854-PR1593P respectively.

As always, if you have questions please leave a comment (preferred so others can benefit) or e-mail me at adam [at] awaitinginspiration.com.

If you make your own iPhone Call Recorder please, please, please, let me know and send me some pics.

Ok, there are a gazillion DIY digital picture frames out there, this is nothing new. I figure I’d share it though because it shows a good use for outdated hardware but it also serves as documentation so six months from now when I’m asking myself “how did I do that?” I’ll have somewhere to look.

A few months ago I acquired an iMac G4 Lamp (Apple officially designates it the “iMac G4 Flat Panel”), which these days is a pretty useless piece of hardware; especially if it’s missing the OS like mine was. However, even with the hardware to slow to be of any real use, I felt like it would be a shame dump it. The iMac G4 has a great 17″ LCD so I figured it would make a great digital picture frame. Since my G4 was missing the OS, I decided to use the PowerPC version of Ubuntu¹, and after some searching, testing, and cursing, I found that these instructions, with some tweaks to suite my needs worked the best.

EDIT: 3/24/2010 – Added missing step to install Samba, edited the fstab code to remove a space, and made note about Ubuntu version.

I won’t get into it here because there are already tons of HOWTOs (Google is your friend) but the first thing I did was to install Ubuntu Desktop.

NOTE: I originally set this up with Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope) when I upgraded the Ubuntu install to Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) something broke and feh refused to read pictures from the Windows share (despite is being mounted properly). I troubleshot the issue for a little bit to no avail and so decided to just go back to 9.04. Since this is not a production system (i.e. no used for anything but a digital frame) and has no access to the internet (blocked by firewall) I’m not worried about running an outdated version of Ubuntu. 9.10 may work perfectly fine and my issue could have stemmed from an in-place upgrade, not sure.

After Ubuntu was up and running I installed the image viewer feh by opening a terminal and entering:

sudo apt-get install feh

Like Vegard, my pictures are stored on another computer but accessible through a network share. I wanted to setup feh to display the the pictures stored on that computer; but unlike Vegard my frame will be connected to my network via a wired connection so I don’t need to mess with rsync like he did.

The first thing you want to do (if your pictures are stored on a Windows share like mine) is install Samba so that you can connect to it using cifs.

sudo apt-get install samba smbfs

That’s it no Samba configuration is necessary.

The second step is to create a mount point for the share. In a terminal I entered:

sudo mkdir /media/framepics

Next I edited the fstab config so that the share gets mounted to /media/framepics and stays persistent even after a reboot. Again, in a terminal I entered:

sudo nano /etc/fstab

This opens the fstab config in nano for editing. On the last like I entered:

//enterprise/phat_drive/data/pictures/imac_frame /media/framepics cifs username=yourusername,password=yourpassword,iocharset=utf8,file_mode=0777,dir_mode=0777 0 0

Note – the above code should be placed on a single line.

Here’s a quick explanation of the fstab edit:

The first part:

//enterprise/phat_drive/data/pictures/imac_frame

Is the UNC path to the share where the pictures are stored – enterprise is my server and the rest of the path phat_drive/data/pictures/imac_frame leads to the folder where the frame pictures will be stored.

The second part:

/media/framepics

Is the mount point I created, after the share is mounted I will be able to access the share from /media/framepics as if it were a local directory on the iMac.

The third part:

cifs

Is the file system used when accessing the share and as far as I can tell this is the best option; the share that’s being mounted is on a Windows box.

The fourth part:

username=yourusername,password=yourpassword

Is where I put the user name and password needed to access the share on the Windows server.

The fifth part:

iocharset=utf8

Is the character set used when accessing the share on the Windows server. Again, as far as I can tell from my reading this is what you want to use.

The sixth part:

file_mode=0777,dir_mode=0777 0 0

Is the file permissions set for the mount point – 0777 gives full access to the share from the iMac. Last two 0s are used to set the dump option and mount order, for this purpose 0 on both is fine.

Once the line was added to fstab I hit Ctrl X and answered Y to save the changes and exit out of nano. I then rebooted to make sure the share mounted properly after a reboot.

The next step was to set feh to start after a reboot, rescan the image directory periodically, and set the iMac to automatically turn the screen off at night and back on in the morning. I used the scripts from Vegard as a guide:

The first script is used to start feh:

#!/bin/bash
export DISPLAY=:0
feh --quiet --recursive --randomize --hide-pointer --full-screen --slideshow-delay 300 /media/framepics/ &

delay is the time in seconds that the image is displayed; in this case 5 minutes. /media/framepics is where feh will look for images. I saved this file in my home directory (you could stick it anywhere) as start-feh.sh and gave it execute permissions. I then went to system > Preferences > Startup Applications and added the script to the start up entries so feh would start automatically on boot.

The next three scripts are used in conjunction with cron to restart feh periodically and turn the screen on and off at scheduled times.

When feh starts it reads the images currently in the directory and will only show images that existed when it started. In order for newly added images to show I need to stop and restart feh periodically:

#!/bin/bash
export DISPLAY=:0
killall feh
feh --quiet --recursive --randomize --hide-pointer --full-screen --slideshow-delay 300 /media/framepics/ &

killall feh kills the feh process and the next line is exactly the same as the start-feh script. This script is also saved in my home directory as sync-feh.sh and given exicute permissions.

This script turns the screen off:

#!/bin/bash
export DISPLAY=:0
xset +dpms
xset dpms force off

This script turns the display on:

#!/bin/bash
export DISPLAY=:0
xset +dpms
xset dpms force on

They were are also saved in my home directory as screen-on.sh and screen-off.sh and given execute permissions.

The next step is to setup cron so that sync-feh.sh, screen-on.sh, and screen-off.sh run at set times. Form the terminal:

crontab -e

I added the following:

00 07 * * 1-5 /home/adam/screen-on.sh
00 09 * * 0,6 /home/adam/screen-on.sh
00 23 * * 1-5 /home/adam/screen-off.sh
30 0 * * 0,6 /home/adam/screen-off.sh
0 * * * * /home/adam/sync-feh.sh

The first line sets cron to run screen-on.sh at 7AM Monday – Friday.

The second line sets cron to run screen-on.sh at 9AM Saturday and Sunday.

The third line sets cron to run screen-off.sh at 11PM Monday – Friday.

The fourth line sets cron to run screen-off.sh at 12AM Saturday and Sunday.

Finally, the fifth line sets cron to run sync-feh.sh every hour, to refresh the images. Every hour is probably excessive but whatever.

I then removed the desktop background image and set the background color to black, removed the desktop icons (I had to use gconf-editor to remove the mapped drive icon) and completely hid all the panels. With the background set to black, the icons and panels removed, all that shows when sync-feh.sh runs every hour is a blank black screen.

¹ The PowerPC architecture is no longer officially supported by Ubuntu. However, it is still available and supported by the community.^↵

Image Source: oskay

8/26/2009 – I have seen some comments around some forums that this device is illegal. It’s not. It’s perfectly legal to make a device that enables you record phone calls and it’s perfectly legal to record phone calls to which you are a party of. However, depending on your jurisdiction, you may have to notify the other party that the call is being recorded. It’s always illegal to record a phone call to which you are not a party. Your mileage may vary, when in doubt do some reading, and consult a lawyer.

The Problem

This post is outdated but is being kept here for historical purposes. Please see iPhone Call Recorder V2

I’ve wanted a way to record phone calls to and from my iPhone since I’ve had it but hadn’t really looked into solutions until a couple of weeks ago. What I really wanted was a native iPhone app that would record incoming and outgoing phone calls – there is SpoofApp but it requires a JailBroken phone, per-minute fees, and looks like it only works on outgoing calls. Another iPhone app Recorder 10, does not require a JailBroken phone but like SpoofApp you have to pay per-minute fees and it only records outgoing calls.

Exhausted after searching for something I assumed would be out there already, and finding nothing I figured that the only way I was going to get what I wanted was to do it myself.

I had a few criteria that I wanted to meet:

• Portable as possible.
• Record both sides of the conversation.
• The ability to start recording the conversation midstream.
• As little indication that the call was being recorded as possible.

Before I go any further – laws regarding the recording of phone calls vary from state to state and federal laws may apply as well. Don’t be stupid, do some reading and if in doubt talk to a lawyer. If you make this device and get yourself into trouble using it I’m not responsible. I’m also not responsible if you release the magic smoke from your iPhone.

The Obvious Solution

This post is outdated but is being kept here for historical purposes. Please see iPhone Call Recorder V2

When you talk on a phone, whether you notice it or not, you hear a smidgen of your voice through the phones speaker. If phones didn’t do this it would sound strange when you talked on the phone. So my first test was to just record the headphone output [using a splitter] of the iPhone to see if I got both sides of the conversation. You can record both sides of the conversation like this but the iPhone side of the conversation is unacceptability low.

This is the method used by Rory but he uses the built in microphone on his Mac to record his side of the conversation. So, while Rory has a workable solution it requires the use of a computer so it’s not all that portable.

8/25/2009 – Previously I incorrectly stated that this method causes an echo on the recording but after going back and trying it last night I could not replicate this effect; go figure.

With this method you’re relying on the smidgen of audio that the phone feeds back to your ear piece. This is not enough to get a decent recording of your side of the conversation, which is why Rory uses his Mac's mic to record his side of the conversation.

Without using a second recorder (in Rory’s case his Mac) for your side of the conversation using this method your recording sounds like this. Notice you can barely hear my side (iPhone side) of the conversation and when it gets loud, you can’t hear my side at all.

A Better Way

This post is outdated but is being kept here for historical purposes. Please see iPhone Call Recorder V2

So, I started to look at the pinout of the iPhone headphone jack which is a TRRS (Tip, Ring, Ring, Sleeve) jack. I stumbled across this post that gave instructions on how to wire a breakout cable so that you could use your own headphones and mic with the iPhone and after some dabbling I came up with this:

In this schematic the W, R, Y and NS (White, Red, Yellow, and Not Shielded) note the color of the individual wires for the TRRS cable I used.

Which, if you haven’t guessed already, does not work. Well, It actually does work. It records both sides of the conversation beautifully. The problem is that the person your talking to hears everything they say repeated back to them (delayed by a millisecond) in their ear peace, very loudly and very clearly. Not only would this “talk back” be very annoying for the person your talking to, it would defiantly indicate to them that something odd was going on with the call.

It seems obvious now but it took me awhile to figure out what was going on – to get the recorder to work the way I wanted, I needed to combine the headphone output and the mic input (my side of the conversation), to one single output that would go to the recorder. By doing this I ended up feeding the headphone output of the iPhone back into the mic input of the iPhone, which is why the person on the other end heard everything they said repeated back to them. The obvious solution was to not combine the headphone and mic to one output, but to record the calls I’d either need two recorders (one for each side of the conversation) or a recorder that had multiple inputs. I wanted to get it working using only one recording output.

I wondered if using a mixer would solve the problem and to test this I connected the headphone and mic outputs to my little Behringer mixer on separate channels and it worked beautifully. Unfortunately, as beautifully as it worked, it required the use of a small but not so portable mixer. So I consulted Google and found some schematics (link 1, link 2) for some simple two channel mixers. However, using simple mixer did not do enough to keep the headphone and mic separated, it helped but it wasn’t enough. Finally, by using strategically placed capacitors I was able to virtually eliminate the “talk back”problem.

The Solution

This post is outdated but is being kept here for historical purposes. Please see iPhone Call Recorder V2

To keep things simple I combined the left and right headphone channels [see: Stereo-to-Mono Summing Box] to make a mono signal going to the recording output but the headphone output for the iPhone user (you) is still stereo. Also, you could probably use lower resistor values all around since the signal coming from the iPhone isn’t that hot but I decided to err on the side of caution for now. The potentiometers are your garden variety (Radio Shack) 100k audio taper pots; you could use 50k or probably even smaller with this setup and they only control the signal going to the recording output, which gives you some control of the recording levels.

Depending on the headset you use, you may need to modify the cable to have the headphones and mic on separate jacks; the one pictured here was made with separate headphone and mic jacks. Here I have the iPhone Call Recorder hooked up to a hand held voice recorder (which has a mic input) but you could use any recording device that accepts a 3.5mm jack.

Click here to listen to a phone call recorded using the iPhone Call Recorder.

Notes

This post is outdated but is being kept here for historical purposes. Please see iPhone Call Recorder V2

• It’s very likely that this is not the best (in fact it’s not), or the only way to accomplish recording phone calls on the iPhone, but it does work and it works well. I agree that the best solution would be a native iPhone app. but it’s my understanding that it’s not even possible to write an app. that records phone calls on the iPhone without using third party services like Recorder 10 and SpoofApp do (which they charge you for and are limited in functionality).
• As Gizmodo “journalist” Joanna Stern pointed out this is a “fucking ugly” solution. What she fails to note though it that it works and is in several ways it’s better than any of the software solutions available.
• While “Fucking Ugly” this solution does not require you to jailbreak your phone, you don’t have to pay per-min fees to use it, you can record both incoming and outgoing calls with it, your recording stays with you and is not on some third party server, it gives no indication that the call is being recorded, it lets you start recording mid-call, and it affords you the ability to use an external set of headphones and an external microphone even if you don’t want to record the call. In any case it’s certainly better than just rolling over and paying for an app. that does not do what you want/need it to do as “journalist” Joanna Stern suggests we all do.
• Despite “journalist” Joanna Stern’s assertion this is not a “switch box” it does not use any switches at all.
• I agree with everyone that it’s rather large but I used a project box that I had lying around; it could certainly be made to fit in a smaller box.
• Several people have asked “If you willing to go through the trouble make this breakout box, why not just jailbreak? It woudl be easier.” First, I have not jailbroken an iPhone, but based on my understanding of the process, I’d say that for me the amount of work between jailbreaking and making this breakout box is about equal. For someone less familiar with electronics this may in fact be more work than simply jailbreaking but you only have to make this breakout box once, by jailbreaking your iPhone your entering a never ending arms race with Apple (at least if yo want the latest iPhone OS). Also, the only app. that is available for a jailbroken phone that records calls is SpoofApp. SpoofApp seems like a great app. but as mentioned in the beginning of this post it not only requires a jailbroken phone, you have to pay per-min fees to record calls, only works on outgoing calls, and your recording ends up on a third party server that you have no control over; a privacy issue.
• You still get a little “talk back” but it is so mild that unless you were really, really, really listening for it you would not notice; it’s extremely mild. You actually have to blow in the receiver hard to get it to produce the effect.
• The headphones act as a microphone with this setup but it’s so weak that it has no effect on the recording.
• The headphone volume on the iPhone affects the level of the recording output.
• Obviously (or maybe not) this setup requires that you to use a separate headphone and mic during calls – you could just use something like this.
• The iPhone puts out ~3 volts on the mic line because it’s expecting an electret microphone. You could filter this with a capacitor but it probably won’t hurt anything. I’m assuming that I’ll always be using and electret mic so I didn’t add one.
• The TRRS cable I used was actually just a 3.5mm video cable. This type of cable comes with a lot of video and digital cameras. TRRS jacks and cables are surprisingly hard to find – Mouser does have a TRRS plug but I could not find TRRS jacks anywhere.

Build Pictures

This post is outdated but is being kept here for historical purposes. Please see iPhone Call Recorder V2

FYI – Utility lines have already been removed.

Now, I’d like to build this for our boys (it would be great for Airsoft); but it can serve a second purpose – pull up the ladder and it would make a safe (at least temporary) shelter from the zombie hordes.

The main platform is 10x10 with the "deck" being 4x4. The utility pole is roughly 16 feet tall; the floor would be ~7 feet off the ground. Canvas would be used to enclose the sides completely - that way it can be rolled up to open the house for a 360° view.

The idea is to have to pole supporting all but the deck of the house.

Taken using the Ring Light.

First "100 Things About Me" picture taken using the light ring.

My ring light was completely inspired by Joe Holst’s blog post on his own DIY ring light. Stop by his site and take a look at his – it’s much prettier than mine.