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Comment by isoprophlex | Hacker News Reader

That's very cool, but a lot of effort; I just want one of those with a 3.5mm jack plug, so I can do video calls by speaking into a 70 year old bakelite earpiece, haha.

Does anyone know if the electronics in these old phones will allow me to just wire up a 3.5mm cable to the receiver? Or will this need some active amplification?

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A lot of folks in the vintage/retro telephone community I’m in seem to like these pick-up coils. I bought one (they’re cheap, low risk purchase) but haven’t used it yet.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0034I75IK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b...

Hah, I remember using one of these with a small reel-to-reel.

In principle it should work for video calls by sticking it to your computer, yes ? The sound quality might leave something to be desired.

There are adapters for handsets on Amazon, but interfacing to a phone could be harder as you have to provide DC power and deal with duplex audio on a single pair. If you're only using it as a mic, a 9v battery, resistor and decoupling capacitor might work.

An easier way could be to join the conference audio through SIP.

Coupling capacitor, not decoupling, right? You want the AC signal and want to block DC.

Yes, I stand corrected.

Doesn't the handset RJ10 have two pairs? If you skip the base, and have a sufficient amplification circuit, couldn't you just use the weighted handset to a 3.5mm connector?

It's easier than you think - I bought an old non-working phone (a candlestick phone in this case), removed the innards and replaced them with a speaker and microphone... it works really well!

I had originally planned to make it accessible via bluetooth but when I realised the phone shell was thick brass, I decided to leave it as a 3.5mm jack

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