SMS control ?

Although a past topic on this Forum <A href='http://www.rev-ed.co.uk/picaxe/forum/topic.asp?topic_id=2814&amp;forum_id=17&amp;Topic_Title=Parity+problem&amp;forum_title=PICAXE+Forum&amp;M=False ' Target=_Blank>External Web Link</a>, there's a very lucid account (perhaps dated?)at =&gt; www.riccibitti.com/tinyplanet/tiny_article.htm <A href='http://www.riccibitti.com/tinyplanet/tiny_article.htm ' Target=_Blank>External Web Link</a> of cellular SMS/micro linking. It's been organised by 2 Italians for a Tiny12 micro &amp; old Ericsson T10 <b>+ a commercial data cable </b> (often costly), but a glance shows the setup could be &quot;Picaxable&quot;.

PP (= Pre Picaxes!) I did considerable fiddling with such cell phones myself, &amp; found their specialised connectors a real pain to emulate with paper clips &amp; hot melt glue! Although some like the Y2K era 9600bps M-BUS Nokias were simpler &amp; more receptive to mods,the best approach for others (such as abundant early Ericssons) was to bypass the external conductive pads totally &amp; solder directly to the internals.Yikes- naturally this ruined the phone for normal use &amp; at the time (2001)was too costly to consider. However 5 years on such golden oldies clutter up desk drawers &amp; are probably free to a good home.

Ozzie's own 'Silicon Chip&quot; had a great couple of Nokia SMS controller articles late 2004 in fact =&gt; www.siliconchip.com.au/cms/A_102994/article.html <A href='http://www.siliconchip.com.au/cms/A_102994/article.html ' Target=_Blank>External Web Link</a>

Aside from their different bit protocols, mono Nokia 51xx/61xx etc M-BUS oldies still look the most receptive, especially since slow 9600bps data rates aren't an SMS worry. The tolerant Picaxe serial may let you even neglect a MAX-232 ?! There's a very lucid M-BUS interfacing account =&gt; www.mbarron.net/mbus/ <A href='http://www.mbarron.net/mbus/ ' Target=_Blank>External Web Link</a>.


<b> Given global SMS/txt coverage, such Picaxe-SMS linking seems well worth exploring, perhaps for enthusiasts/students searching for a decent, but CHEAP, Picaxe project. </b> Stan

Extra: Yes- I've played with the inbuilt AT style modem on 2005 era Sony Ericsson K700i etc, but these swish SE cell phones are still too good to dedicate just to an SMS project...

Edited by - stan. swan on 02/05/2006 05:44:56

Hi Stan, what do you think of the SMS controller kiy sold by Jaycar &amp; DSE ??? I bought one of these some time ago but have yet to assemble it.

I'm impressed with it,but ponder it's maybe more complex than a barebones Picaxe driven approach. For those who don't know this kit see =&gt; <A href='http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=KC5400&amp;CATID=&amp;keywords=sms+kit&amp;SPECIAL=&amp;form=KEYWORD&amp;ProdCodeOnly=&amp;Keyword1=&amp;Keyword2=&amp;pageNumber=&amp;priceMin=&amp;priceMax=&amp;SUBCATID= ' Target=_Blank>External Web Link</a>

Thanks Stan, I grabbed one of these at the time because it didn't look too bad for the price of $49.95. I have been looking around for a data cable but these seem a bit hard to find, the paperwork in the kit shows a DIY cable which allows the MAX232 to be omitted. just a bit fiddly with the funny connections on the phone as you mentioned.
Also if anyones thinking of buying one then buy it from Jaycar not DSE, DSE ones are $79.95 for what looks to be the same thing.

I'd be interested to see a PICAXE version


Edited by - Phil75 on 02/05/2006 10:26:23

The Ericsson protocol is nice and easy and shouldn't be discounted too quickly. Perhaps with the way things are going, if you start on an Ericsson article, by the time your article is finished, prices for these phones will be lower!!

I have had an in depth look on the Ericsson AT extended protocol and while placing a call is easy as pie, sending a tailored SMS with variables is actually still quite complex. The relatively complex checksum required by the phone would be a little tricky for a humble picaxe to calculate.

A preset SMS would be OK to do as the checksum would always be the same and the picaxe would not have to calculate it. It would just regurgitate the same string.

But yes, a Nokia based M-bus approach opens more doors than the Ericsson one, due to the amount of old phones out there.