Feeling all alone in the big, wide world? Wally Dug shows you how to communicate with others by building your own modem.

For a start, there is the expense of a modem (the box of tricks which joins your computer to your telephone) along with such things as line rental and the on-line costs charged by some bulletin boards (in order to "cover expenses", some boards charge users to access some, or even all, of the pages on offer in their bulletin board).

Imagine a room full of people and magazines. When you enter that room, there are many things that you can do. For example, you may wish to browse through the magazines on your own, obtain new games and utilities or talk to some fellow computer buffs. Unfortunately, new people in the room just tend to sit back and do nothing. This, believe it or not, is a fairly accurate description of the average bulletin board.

Once they get started, not every person is suited to the complexity of the packet-in-line-TXD-RXD-XTC-ABC jargon of comms, yet still people spend a couple of hundred pounds on a modem only for it to sit in the corner of the room after just a few log-ons.

So what do you do?

You could try pestering some friends who are into comms but, as I said earlier, comms freaks are spread all over the world, so its not always easy to find one (although if you had a modem, you'd be able to find one no problem. But, then again, if you did have a modem, you wouldn't need to borrow someone else's modem to see if you liked it).

However, as usual, trust old Wally Dug to come to the rescue! Although I'm unable to the reduce the cost of the telephone charges, I am able to cut the price of the modem. Not only that, but you have the added incentive of building it yourself!

By simply completing the easy-to-follow step-by-step guide below, you will soon find yourself entering the exciting world of handshaking.

The usual words of warning apply - if you don't make these connections properly, you may just find that you get cut off and disconnected.

Required:

BT Trimphone
Small screwdriver
3 metre serial cable (Tandy ref. 3M SERIAL CABLE)
Sharp knife
Plastic strip wire connector, six socket variety (Tandy ref. 6 PLASTIC STRIP WIRE CONNECTOR)
Box of Swan Vesta matches
Can of Irn Bru
Small spot of glue
Communications software

Method:

1. Use the screwdriver to open up the Trimphone and locate the conductive relay (see Figure 1).
2. Carefully remove the conductive relay by cutting all the wires at their farthest point possible, except the long black one (this is the most important one) (see Figure 2).
3. Drink the can of Irn Bru.
4. Remove the matches from the box and put them for safety into the empty can.
5. Using the glue, attach the plastic strip wire connector to the side of the matchbox and the conductive relay on the inside (see Figure 3 and Figure 4).
6. Wire the relay to the strip as follows:

Green to connector 1
Yellow to connector 2
Blue to connector 3
Red to connector 4
Yellow/Green to connector 5
Brown to connector 6

7. Cut the male part of the serial cable off the lead (i.e. the part that has the prongs, not the holes).
8. Wire the cable to the strip as follows:

Blue to connector 1
Yellow to connector 2
Red to connector 3
Pink to connector 4
Black to connector 5
Grey to connector 6

9. Connect the serial cable to the Amiga and switch on (see Figure 5).
10. Any communications program such as NComm or JRComm will allow you to set the baud rate at anything between 75 and 115200 baud (see Figure 6).
11. Transmit and enjoy!

Notes:

• Try to obtain a British Telecom Trimphone as the conductive relay in a GPO Trimphone will only allow you either 75 or 1200 baud.
• Don't put the matches into the Irn Bru can if the can isn't empty as the iron in the drink may react with the sulphur on the match to create the potentially lethal iron sulphide.
• Make sure that the glue that you use will not melt the plastic strip wire connector (and don't sniff the glue either).
• Always remember to check that the Trimphone is plugged into your telephone socket or it will not work.

That's all for the now. Next month, I'll be showing how all you one-person businesses can improve your reputation by having your own facsimile machine in the office.

Copyright © Wally Dug Multimedia 1998