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[aslamma]

EDIT: I think most of my questions will be answered here...just not sure what would be different if I go with the Shack Intercoms though.
http://www.x10community.com/forums/index.php?topic=14534.0



So I am thinking about giving the Radio Shack intercoms a shot:

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2464775&cp=&pg=1&sr=1&origkw=intercom&kw=intercom&parentPage=search

In addition to these, exactly what hardware will I need?  Bill mentioned I might need another sound card, which could a simple USB adapter....but what else do I need as far as cables, etc?

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I am open to the Westinghouse ones as well, I think they look nicer.  But not sure about the powerline interface and I thought the radio shack one would require less "hacking" because of the outputs? 
http://www.buy.com/prod/westinghouse-whi-4cupg-4-channel-voice-activated-intercom/q/loc/111/90128815.html

[aslamma]

Couple questions:

-For the additional sound card, can it be a standard PCI or does it HAVE to be an external one?  Would having two sound cards mess up my existing audio?  Never done that before so a little confused by it.

-Until I start getting into, I am still a little confused by the setup.  If my computer is a HTPC that is playing music, would this have a problem of sending audio out to the intercom? (just like BVC sends it audio).  Or is there someway to just have BVC output to the additional sound card?

[s0urc3f0ur]

-For the additional sound card, can it be a standard PCI or does it HAVE to be an external one? Would having two sound cards mess up my existing audio? Never done that before so a little confused by it.

The mother board sound card cannot handle both line in and line out from a single source. Thus the need for an external SC. No It should not mess up your existing audio. You can assign which Sc you want for which device. I have both my standard audio and BVC  audio coming from the external SC in case I want to here playlists and songs from my computer over my Icoms.

-So I am thinking about giving the Radio Shack intercoms a shot

By the looks of those intercoms you may still have to mod a Line out jack from your Icom. The Instructions for this can be found in Step 4 of my Mod of the Icoms

-but what else do I need as far as cables, etc

Some hook up wire and a mini TRS cable should be fine.  It looks as  though the input on the radio shack Icom is an RCA type of connector. If it is you will either need an RCA to mini TRS cable. or and adapter that changes either the mini TRS to RCA or and RCA to mini TRS. ALL can be found at Radio shack.( Mini TRS cables are the kind of cables that your destop speakers or Headphones  use for connections)

Hope this helps

[aslamma]

Picked the radio shack intercoms and they would not recognize the voice activation from more than about 3-5' unless I was pretty much screaming.  So if that is the capability then it is not very practical for what my goals are.  One of them also locked up on me and would not work until I removed the batteries for a while.  I ended up returning it a few hrs later.

The other thing I noticed is there is a pretty significant delay between the time BVC recognizes a command until execution...about 2-3 seconds.  Using the same trigger..."an all off" command, it works almost immediately using a slimswitch. 

So not sure where to go with it now.  It looks like the westinghouse icoms are still a good option...but the big downside for me is that they are not battery controlled, which really limits the positioning.  So strike 1 on my first attempt.

[jbalt]

I have been experimenting with the Radio Shack intercoms mentioned here.  I was disappointed to find out that the VOX wasn't particularly sensitive from more than a few feet away.  Also, when one intercom would transmit there was a "hang time" of several seconds until it could receive again, which really slowed things down and made voice commands difficult.  I also wasn't thrilled about having to buy/obtain another sound card.  Intstead, I settled (for now) for a reduced functionality that uses only one soundcard.  I use one intercom (they come in pairs) solely as a receiver connected to the computer, and the other becomes my "wireless microphone" (transmitter).  I was worried that I was basically installing a mic in my house for the world to listen in on me.  Using a scanner I found the transmit frequency (about 910 MHz) and noted that the signal was somewhat "scrambled".  I'm sure with the same intercoms or some effort someone could listen in on my day to day activities, but for now it's nice to know that the signal isn't "in the open."  I lock the transmit so that it is always "listening" for voice commands, and when they are picked up they go from the "wireless mic" intercom to the receiver intercom, then into the mic input (NOT the line in connector) of the computer.  Sounds being output from the computer line out go to a separate set of regular computer speakers but unfortunately do not get rebroadcast back to the other intercom (it can't transmit and receive at the same time anyway).  I did tap into the speaker of the "receiver" intercom to get my output audio signal, and it works very well!  I was surprised.  I'm sure someone may have a better solution, but if you can solder and follow instructions it really isn't that difficult.  If anyone is interested I am putting together a step by step on how I did this.  While I hesitate to use the word "kludge" to describe this process it works very well, albeit I only have one "microphone", but augmented with remotes it works for me.

[jtbalt]

Sorry, I had to make a correction to my account name - apparently my typing skills aren't what they used to be 

[HA Dave]

I have been experimenting with the Radio Shack intercoms mentioned here. 

Yeah... I think a little more trial and error experimenting may be needed to perfect the intercom setups yet... maybe finding the exact brand/model might help.

I set up my BVC using cheap $17 baby monitors. They've been working great for about two years now. I was out shopping the other day... and saw some really NICE new baby monitors. Ether way.... they are pretty easy to hide away... as they don't need to be close to the user.