1950s Payphone Augmented with Raspberry Pi

David Sluder modified a rotary payphone into the “world’s most impractical Bluetooth headset."

Jeremy Cook
3 years agoRetro Tech

Today you likely carry a phone – or more accurately a computer-based communication device – in your pocket, making payphones rather rare today. Nonetheless, they’re rather charming implements, with an impressive build quality that allowed them to stand up to the abuses of nature and humans alike. As what might be thought of as an ode to this telephonic history, David Sluder decided to turn a 1950s-era Western Electric rotary payphone into “the world’s most impractical Bluetooth headset.”

This hack began 10 years ago, but wasn’t finished(?) until more recently, using a Raspberry Pi 3 B that wasn’t available when the project started. As outlined in Sluder's write-up, the first step was to map out the electronics. Poking around here was relatively straightforward, given the analog electronics of the day. He was able to use the existing speaker on the headset to output sound, and subbed in a microphone recycled from a cheap earbuds/mic set to receive audio input.

Recognizing pulses from the rotary input is handled by the Pi, along with audio input/output. It communicates with an actual phone via a Bluetooth dongle, making it a very impractical device indeed.

Future goals include enabling it to ring when it receives a call, generate a dial tone, and clean it up so that it looks more presentable. It’s a neat proof-of-concept, and a great example of how old electronics can be augmented with modern technology!

Jeremy Cook
Engineer, maker of random contraptions, love learning about tech. Write for various publications, including Hackster!
Latest articles
Sponsored articles
Related articles
Latest articles
Read more
Related articles