The Nearly Absolute Phone Patch is easy with a Handheld and Cellphone (

[@mostlypostie1]

Hi Dave, here in Australia we use auto patch quite a bit on commercial HF radio frequencies to enable phone calls in the Australian outback. It works very well and is used often. These systems are typically Codan or Barrett, using CCIR selcall.

[@MountainMan7.62x39]

Very similar to what I'm looking to do in America in the Appalachian Mountains

[@ManuelPinner]

The DTMF Key pad is Use Today on The Yeasu Fusion System, also some radios have duplex, like the Yeasu Radios and ICOM,

[@DudleyaSetchellii]

I talked to my brother in Viet Nam while near Windsor, Canada. I asked how they did it and it was said by Ham radio. I was impressed and glad to hear my brother was safe at the time. No one else was home at the time.

[@billmoran3812]

Auto patch is/was a method of remotely connecting a repeater to the telephone line, and allowing the remote operator to dial the phone line using DTMF tones through the radio. This contrasts with a phone patch which was a network interface that could directly connect a transmitter and receivers audio circuits to the telephone line. Control of transmit and receive function was by the radio operator at the phone patch. In the 60’s I did countless phone patch connections with radio operators on Navy ships at sea, allowing crew members to speak with their families thousands of miles away. Often these conversations spanned from the western Pacific to the US East coast. And yes, Senator Barry Goldwater K7UGA, was very active in MARS Back then. I did many phone patches with him back in those days.

[@timmack2415]

My 2-Meter repeater has an auto patch. It covers a remote area of Pennsylvania where there is little or no cell service. It's built into the controller and no manual keying is necessary at the repeater site.

[@silviobianco6375]

Dave i used the phone patch in the late 1970 and 1980 most in 20 meter connecting personnel from the South Pole ( Antartica ) to their family here on the states. Also before the HT come out with the touch tone pad we would rig out with a 9 volt battery a spare touch tone pad from an house phone , we removed from the phone and wire up with the 2 meter radio on the car and made autopatch call before the ( mobil phone } was available , same way used as simplex one at the time , that was neat, old memory ,thanks for reminded me 73 Silvio

[@charlesdonaldson962]

FYI.. the PTT to receive changeover was automatic on the phone patch I used yet I would have to explain to my collar beforehand to wait until they hear a beep when I release my PTT then they can talk and it comes through by v o x. If they try to speak before I'm through transmitting it just walked over my transmission is if they were on a radio. As long as they wait for that beat and speak and it's not extremely loud where they're at it works. But like you said people have to get used to saying something and not interrupting each other and expecting the duplex they are used to. On the one I used the phone line was at a different location so there were two radios on the mountain and two at the office with the phone line. And we could call to the first receive I suppose at the office and the whole system works wonderfully ten cents a minute. Thank you so much Dave for what you do.

[@danielwietchy1037]

Use of phone patch is what started my interest in Ham Radio. In 1977, I used a SBX HF five (5 watt) radio (5167.5 kHz) to make a 525-mile autopatch call from Nome Alaska to Fairbanks Alaska to talk to our company HQ. The tallest tree in Nome was perhaps 3 feet tall. I was amazed at the time. Also, up until 3 years ago, autopatch was in use to allow local Fairbanks Alaska Hams living in deeply incised valleys to connect to a mountain top repeater with autopatch capability to make local phone calls. With the birthing of more and more cell towers, that need has disappeared. However, I miss the "public" radio/phone patch banter which was always entertaining.

[@seanwood8043]

C.B. or GMRS should be up your alley as well as amateur radio then sir if your not already, I find them to be gateways to amateur radio and how it all starts off for alot of folks, 73 ,WRFK696/ SilverFox

[@BryanTorok]

I was about to comment that commercial communications are illegal on Amateur Radio. But, then I realized that was not on the amateur bands. That is just below the current 60 meter band.

[@ImnotChuck.]

An auto-patch is one particular method of making a radio-to-telephone line connection, but is NOT the only way. I have made many telephone patches for ships at sea using my HF two-way radio; this required a piece of equipment (called a "phone patch") at my location in order to mechanically connect my two-way radio to the telephone network. In operation, I (the ham) was in control of the call and had to manually switch my radio between transmit and receive modes based on each of the people on the call saying "over" when they had finished speaking and were ready to listen. Conversely, an "auto patch" is a piece of equipment that is co-located with a ham radio repeater; it allows a ham to use his/her transceiver (usually VHF) to send an audio tone signal to the repeater's "auto patch," which causes the repeater to connect to the telephone line. In operation, the ham using the auto patch with his/her transceiver is in control of the call. He/she can interrupt the person talking on the telephone, but the person talking on the telephone cannot interrupt the ham. I am sure that KE5OG understood that, but he made quite a mess of trying to explain it in this video.

[@DonHavjuan]

I used to use marine radio phone patched frequently on the great barrier Reef in the 90s. The system used two frequencied like a repeater, so the phone's audio was constant, and the RF signal would just squelch in when you transmit. It was fully automatic.

[@DonDegidio]

Hi Dave, I had bought a Yaesu auto patch unit for the FT101 when I bought my FT901DM. Did use it several times in the early 80's after I installed my yagi for some airmen posted in the Azores. They did not have the problem of remembering to say OVER, but their relatives did. Glad I had setup a phone extension to remind them to say OVER. It was fun to provide that service, but did get expensive at times for the long distance calls. Stay safe. 73 WJ3U

[@dougtaylor8735]

My understanding about Barry Goldwater was that he kept his station going 24 hours a day and had other amateurs come to his house to help with the calls. He would pay any long distance charges as needed. My brother recently restored his old Collins gear that was used during the Vietnam war and it is all in a museum in Arizona.

[@jlvetor123]

David, phone patch is what got me interested in ham radio. In 1963 while in the U.S. Navy serving in the Antarctica that is how I was able to talk to my wife in Virginia. I would go to the radio shack and they would get us connected through a phone pouch. Several years past before I got my first ticket I am now NX9U.

[@theodoreroberts3407]

I heard about that, but never knew how it works. That's a piece of history I'm glad you shared. Thanks.

[@kingduckford]

If you have a mobile or base station transceiver and a computer handy, and a 3.5mm audio connector, and Skype or other phone PC program, you can set up something with much greater audio quality by directly plugging the audio directly to the PC without any distortion of one speaker picking up another speaker for audio input. Not as handy per se as your method, which works and is resourceful, with the common items many carry today. But, someone at home with the right setup could have a "killer" auto patch system setup in a jiffy, or on the ready if you do capture video or audio gates to your computer! Audio capture, with modern software, can do incredible audio feats, clean up signals in some cases. A truly superior way to use this obsolescent (not obsolete) method.

[@johnf8877]

As a kid, I talked to my Dad on MARS and said over. I was 5 and figured it out.

[@bydefault7795]

Back in the 70's we used to use a marine frequency to call a ship-to-shore operator at AT&T who would patch us to the phone (land) line. You could hear some really interesting conversations on that frequency!!!

[@loctite222ms]

Doing a phone patch this way is obvious once pointed out. A sort of "why didn't I think of that?" idea. Good explanation.

[@jimkunkle2669]

When my brother was in the navy in the late 80s he was an assault boat driver in Norfolk for two years. I loved with him one summer. He called me from his boat and told me what time to pick him up at the base. I’ve often wondered how he did that.

[@steinshaw2490]

I noticed one other comment about VOX, I was thinking that would help keep from having to push to talk. Maybe there is a reason it wouldn't work that I don't realize? I suspect it would take some before hand testing and experimenting. Also, the Idaho Wood River club runs a 2M patch. I thought you'd like to know of at least one still out there.

[@michaeldewalt8786]

There is one net; the Maritime Mobile Service Network. A public service net serving the maritime community, that prefers that all of it's base station Hams, have an auto-patch.

[@GeorgeAdams]

SMSGTE over APRS has helped me send quick messages.

[@gn02020202]

I am not sure I would call auto-patch a thing of the past. We have it setup going directly to 911 dispatch for both emergency and non-emergency calls.

[@greatwhitebuffalo6807]

I will have to try that, thanks.

[@charlesdonaldson962]

I have a VHF radio coming with a Motorola phone line adapter and I'm going to see what I can do to hear for myself at the house and business.. used off eBay I have no numbers for that adapter but the things wired completely to the radio with the several wires and has a phone line coming out of it. 😮

[@BryanTorok]

Our local club did away with the autopatch for two reasons. 1) Bozos calling 911 on our phone line causing the local PD to respond to the repeater site. 2) The ongoing expense of paying for a phone line and the hassle of maintaining a POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) analog line at a commercial location.

[@thebugg333]

I hear commercial radios dial voice extensions when I scan. From what I can tell it's a large paper / magazine plant and our local power company with their remote dispatch techs. I may want to do this myself to some capacity and I am thinking of using VOX to key up the conversation...I just have to figure out how to do it with my voip system I self host.

[@Allofthemonkeys]

I worked at a remote camp and we had a base radio with what I now know is autopatch (or similar) that we used to call the outside world.

[@donaldsmith3048]

I have a phone patch that connects to a repeater, it is called half duplex. The repeater is full duplex but the mobile is not. It is a auto patch. It was used where I worked in the 80's and 90's for service tech to call customers when they needed to. It is still connected to the 465 MHz repeater. Not needed anymore so when they trashed it I brought it home. With a repeater there is 2 frequencies, I have seen mobile radios that did full duplex and they were used to talk full duplex to a repeater with the auto patch to people on the phone! None of this is needed now but was a good thing 30,40 years ago. I have talked on them and they worked great for that time! This was Not Ham Radio but if it can be done on any repeater it could be done on Ham repeater. The cost is the only thing. A large company can justify the cost where a Ham Club can't. The cost of this is large.

[@sertacpamukcu]

Before Inmarsat and similar satellite phone services patching to PSTN was a crucial thing for sailors & soldiers on the field. But nowadays or at the near future things like starlink (or failed Iridium at the past) will cause the patching gonna be forgotten.

[@raykiii]

Brilliant Dave! I never would have thought of that. It's so simple.

[@steveschlembach]

Did you mean “nearly obsolete?”

[@RB9522]

By the way, did you mean "Obsolete" rather than "Absolute"?

[@cheapskateaquatics7103]

I remember my dad using it to call us when he was deployed in the 90's.

[@ChipLohman]

Think MARS phone patch, executed internationally several times each day. Allows military pilots or deployed personnel to communicate with their operations center or simply wish Mom happy birthday, from 40,000 ft.

[@davidgreenseeker167]

I just cross band repeat through zello. Problem solved. This also goes out to all my family who are on the same zello group.

[@michaelruther9175]

Been about 10 years since I used auto patch. I used a local repeater with my wife and she could not understand it wasn’t the same as a phone call.

[@BryanTorok]

Dave, there is a problem early in your explanation. It is illegal to use Amateur Radio phone patches for the purpose of avoiding or circumventing paying for toll calls. I don't doubt that hams did it and got away with it, but it really was not correct. If you were mobile in area code 330 and made an autopatch call on a repeater in area code 216, unless you said something to reveal your location no one would know you were beating paying the toll charges.

[@RINNTY]

How about trying the vox.mode.?

[@Pimporly]

I myself today invented my own way to Communicate with my 11 meter CB Radio between Cellphone and the Radio and I'm doing it the old Fashion way I have special Cellphone Wired that is connected to my Radio Audio out to the Input of my Cellphone then I have a microphone over the speaker so the other Party on the Phone can hear the Person over the Radio Saying whatever they are Saying to the person on the Phone. But Yes I have to be Interrupt Button Operator. when the Person want to tell the other Person over the Phone to the Radio operator I have Push the Button and put the microphone right over the Cellphone Speaker so the Radio operator can listen the person over the Air. Simple I used to do this in the Early 80's mid night and the Concept still work just beautifully. 73 From Miami Ara David Miami 305

[@stephaniestephanie1290]

Hi. So you have to have a cell phone? Then you call on your phone using speakerphone and turn on your baofeng and talk thru your baofeng without pushing PTT? Sorry I'm confused. I still don't get how to actually do it with a baofeng.

[@neotoxo54]

Interesting...couldn't you use the 'VOX' mode on the hand held to keep from having to 'push to talk'...?

[@TheTypicalHam]

Or hook an audio cable with the Vox function. This is literally the most hillbilly way of doing it. It's not an auto patch, it's holding a phone to a radio. Huge difference. What is automatic here? Auto patch.....

[@mwechtal]

But FCC rules specifically say you can't use auyopatch to save long distance charges. 😉

[@j.kevinhunt147]

Good info but a second take - and a script - would have been advisable, as well as pre-made graphics. I lost count of the number of times the term "autopatch" was erroneously used instead of "phone patch." The demo using a cell phone and HT was likely impossible to follow without prior knowledge of the topic. There also are what I'd maintain are some erroneous historical assertions, though some are more fairly described as differences of opinion. First, let's clear up a definition: An "autopatch" is an unattended radio/telephone interconnection device at the site of a repeater or remote base, that a radio user at another location may, by means of DTMF tones transmitted by the user's radio, be activated to patch radio transmissions between the user and the repeater/remote base, over the public switched telephone network (PSTN), thereby allowing the distant radio user to place telephone calls using a radio. An autopatch is an unattended form of phone patch. A phone patch is an attended device controlled by a radio station operator present at that station, that permits a distant radio operator to be patched into the PSTN by the attendant at the station with the phone patch. The primary use of autopatches in the 80s and 90s was to enable noncommercial, personal, and emergency phone calls to be made by hams via their mobile VHF or UHF radios, or handheld VHF or UHF radios. Cell phones were very expensive, and the coverage offered not very extensive in those days. While it could be said that users were avoiding phone charges, it was really a public service and personal third party communications endeavor. The 911 autopatch calls were usually available to all hams, whereas other calls were limited to members of the group that maintained the repeater and paid for the phone line, who typically paid an annual membership fee. The autopatches also did not allow long distance calls except by use of special DTMF commands or to emergency response agencies. Autopatches are only permitted on 2 meters and higher frequencies and a control operator has to always be monitoring the repeater and able to terminate calls that violate FCC regulations. The phone patches done manually by station operators are usually done via HF. Some HF nets did violate FCC regs by holding daily sessions of several hours during which net check-ins from throughout the net's propagation radius contacted each other for the sole purpose of avoiding long distance charges, by phone patching each other to residents in the city where the patch operator lived. Other nets, however, served (and still serve) mariners at sea, scientific operations in remote areas, etc, who otherwise lack phone service. The Orion, Iridium and similar commercial satellite phone services have made these uses much less common. In the 70s and 80s, numerous instances of lifesaving phone patching occurred. For example, the late Dave Urfer WA7ROJ/EL5B, while in the Liberian jungle at a mission, maintained continuous duty on 20M SSB communicating with U.S. hams who phone patched him to CDC in Atlanta during a deadly Lassa Fever outbreak. Dave stayed at his radio, passing situation reports to, and getting medical directions from, CDC via the phone patches, for several days. The nurse at the outpost died in his arms. After the outbreak was under control, the President of Liberia decorated Dave with the nation's highest civilian award for bravery. Dave was who inspired me to become a ham, and was my first Elmer. There is still a role for phone patching, both manual and autopatch, for emergency traffic when a station in distress or assisting persons in distress, has no cell phone access or coverage. With computer sound cards and the apps available for cell phones and computers, phone patching ought to be very easy, involving a few key strokes, but no one has written and made available those apps. They also would be useful for interconnecting agencies using different frequencies or communications platforms, using the phone patch as the interactive bridge 73, Kevin WA7VTD

[@jamesbordenkg7wbb629]

Dave, Could you put the radio in VOX mode?

[@cmritchie04]

What about using VOX?

[@taketwophoto2206]

What’s with the 3 advertisements?

[@ManuelPinner]

You can put Your HT on VOX Mode,

[@TheNoCodeTech]

nice

[@jasonwilliams3223]

That's not a patch lol. That's just holding devices close together

[@TheTypicalHam]

Or hook an audio cable with the Vox function. This is literally the most hillbilly way of doing it. It's not an auto patch, it's holding a phone to a radio. Huge difference. What is automatic here? Auto patch..... Look up the definition.

[@chrissewell1608]

I almost want to think, the old style Phone / auto patch, still has a place for severe emergency use. Ie. Cell phone towers destroyed! Its obviously obsolete for generaluse, due to modern cellular phone coverage. There are still a few out back spots, where there is no phone or repeater coverage. But this jibber-ish description of, what ever it was, seems useless as a means of connecting a phone to radio. Sorry... What was described was calling another ham, on the radio, and asking them to make a phone call.

[@ManuelPinner]

I have unlimited calls on T-Mobile,

[@KE5ZZO]

jerry rigged crap