Telephone Ring Generator
Mk 2 (UK/USA)


Here is a telephone ring cadence generator which will generate both, what I will refer to as: UK and USA ringing formats; please read further.
This is a switch selectable dual output "re-hashed" version of my previous (2007) design, and uses a field programmed EPROM for generating both versions of the ringing sequence.
We know that the ringing sequence's are such:
UK format: 400mS ring, 200mS silence, 400mS ring followed by 2 second silence
(3 second total - then cycle repeats) Ringing frequency of the bells reckoned to be about 25Hz
USA format 4 secs ring, 8 secs silent, 30Hz ringing frequency, then cycle repeats.
Referring now to the schematic:

AC mains is stepped down to about 10 v AC and fed to the familiar bridge rectifier, filter capacitor and 3 terminal voltage regulator. However a series diode is inserted between the + terminal of the bridge rectifier and the filter capacitor. Therefore at the anode end of this diode will be a pulsating 100Hz unidirectional sinusoid which is used as an accurate "clock" (Cathode end being filtered DC voltage)
This positive going sinusoid is fed to a 4093 Schmitt trigger, its action produces a fast rise (and fall) square wave output necessary to clock following logic IC's.
A clamping diode b/w the Schmitt input (pin 2) and the Vcc rail precludes the input from rising greater than one diode drop above Vcc, excess voltage being dropped across 1K resistor. It was found by experiment that a 22K "bleed" resistor was needed at the gate input to prevent "lock-up" due to some sort of "charge storage" effect.
This cleaned-up 100Hz "clock" signal is now fed to a 4013 D type flip-flop which divides the signal by 2 and also gives a 50 Hz equi' mark/space signal. This then feeds the 7490 where another divide by 2 gives; 25Hz (for ringing frequency) and further divide by 5 give 5Hz or a 200mS interval suitable for producing the correct ring cadence.
The 200mS interval pulse train feeds a 4040 ripple counter which will advance its count for each falling edge of the incoming clock.
The sequential outputs of the 4040 are connected to the address lines of a 2716 eprom which has been field programmed to provide a serial output bit-stream of 200mS interval used as a gating signal to enable on and off the 25Hz ringing signal.
For each 200mS clock pulse the output of the eprom moves to the next sequential address. The first 64 locations contain the necessary coding for two runs of the UK sequence and the next 64 memory addresses's contain coding for the 4 sec ring, 8 sec silence US sequence.
The cycle then repeats again from the starting address.
Either "bank" is enabled by the switch connected to the A6 address line (see schematic).
In fact, in my prototype I used the redundant 110/220v mains selector switch to do this job (although is obscured in photograph)

You will need some means of programming an eprom (ie. eprom "burner")
I have used the 2716 (2K x 8) device simply because I have plenty available and can program and erase them.
However the astute reader will realise that many other types would work, and in fact we are only using 128 address locations and one bit of the 8 bit wide data byte stored in the eprom (D0)
The eprom contents are shown in the table (below) it can be seen that the pink higlighted locations represent a "ring" and all others silence (read from top to bottom)
The eprom is a basically a look-up table of the ring sequence. Either format is switch selectable.
Gating is achieved in the 4093 NAND gate, its output then inverted directly feeds a VMOS FET gate which switches the unregulated 15v rail onto the transformer primary.
The VMOS FET is preferred over a bipolar transistor etc here because of their power handling capacity and very low "on" state resistance (milliohms) which allows most of the +15v DC rail be available to the transformer winding.
The VMOS FET should have some form of heat sink (even if small).
Fortunately these devices also have an internal reversed biased diode, b/w drain and source which protects them against failure from transient spikes (refer to manuf' data sheets).

The particular FET specified 2SK3296, I salvaged several from defunct P4 computer mother board (in power supply circuit). However suitable replacement types are easily available.
I have used a 5000 ohm to 4 ohm loud-speaker transformer (in reverse - so to speak) to step up the voltage to the level necessary the make the bell solenoid actuate the armature (1 : 35 ratio)
The specification for signal required to ring a telephone bell was a 25Hz , 75v swing (usually with a neg 50v DC bias).
The prototype I have fitted into a "recycled" metal box.
This box can be salvaged from discarded PC towers, being the switch mode power supply of the computer.
Simply remove the internals (circuit board, fan etc) and you have a 6" x 6" x 3" sized metal box with IEC entry connector and on/off mains switch etc - ready for re-use.
Blank off any larger holes with scrap metal material.
I have used wire-wrap sockets mounted on a hinged prototyping board to facilitate construction of the "electronics" hardware.

SCHEMATIC





Eprom contents:
Address Data Address Data Address Data Address Data
0000 01 0020 01 0040 01 0060 00
0001 01 0021 01 0041 01 0061 00
0002 00 0022 00 0042 01 0062 00
0003 01 0023 01 0043 01 0063 00
0004 01 0024 01 0044 01 0064 00
0005 00 0025 00 0045 01 0065 00
0006 00 0026 00 0046 01 0066 00
0007 00 0027 00 0047 01 0067 00
0008 00 0028 00 0048 01 0068 00
0009 00 0029 00 0049 01 0069 00
000a 00 002a 00 004a 01 006a 00
000b 00 002b 00 004b 01 006b 00
000c 00 002c 00 004c 01 006c 00
000d 00 002d 00 004d 01 006d 00
000e 00 002e 00 004e 01 006e 00
000f 00 002f 00 004f 01 006f 00
0010 01 0030 01 0050 01 0070 00
0011 01 0031 01 0051 01 0071 00
0012 00 0032 00 0052 01 0072 00
0013 01 0033 01 0053 01 0073 00
0014 01 0034 01 0054 00 0074 00
0015 00 0035 00 0055 00 0075 00
0016 00 0036 00 0056 00 0076 00
0017 00 0037 00 0057 00 0077 00
0018 00 0038 00 0058 00 0078 00
0019 00 0039 00 0059 00 0079 00
001a 00 003a 00 005a 00 007a 00
001b 00 003b 00 005b 00 007b 00
001c 00 003c 00 005c 00 007c 00
001d 00 003d 00 005d 00 007d 00
001e 00 003e 00 005e 00 007e 00
001f 00 003f 00 005f 00 007f 00

In summing up, I have constructed and tested the above design and find it works well.

FRANK HUGHES VK6FH JAN' 2008.