Anyone use an old school intercom between house and garage?

Door bell?

Gee thanks.
FWIW, I use a RAM on my two wheels and mostly try to not use my cell phone when I'm awake. It's often left behind in my shop, work sites like sawmill or in the MULE glovebox. Not one of my prorities to be real honest but they are handy and great for travel and in the woods for safety.

I'm avoiding putting a cellphone mount on my bike, I just keep it in its holster. The holster almost cost me as much as the damn phone did.

Mines in an OTTER case which I've broken and glued up already...
Otter LT warranty doesn't apply to obsolete models like my S5...

There's a steel triangle from the old ranch hanging outside the door. If she wants more, she comes out to the shop with a good book and reads to me. What A Wife!

The most reliable intercom is a speaking tube. No moving parts. No electricity needed. No batteries. Made from the right material they can last for centuries and require no maintenance.
http://www.douglas-self.com/MUSEUM/COMMS/voicepipe/voicepipe.htm

That's actually a great idea. The field phones idea someone else mentioned is good, too.

I like old rotary phones. You can buy or build a box that allows you to connect two or more regular landline telephones as an intercom system. Or, you can get an Xlink bluetooth gateway which allows you to have your cellphone in a spot that is out of the way, has a good signal and is perhaps charging, and make and receive calls through it using a wireless link between it and an old rotary wallphone or whatever you like.

Here's my favorite method, though. Run a CAT5 drop to the workshop. That way you can surf ADV, order parts, look up info etc. on your computer. And, you can also get something like an OBI200 and plug it into the network and power from the wall outlet, and plug whatever landline phone you like into it. Get a free Google Voice phone number and set up the OBI to use that number. Then use that for any phone calls you need, including to and from the house. It doesn't require the computer to be on nor even present.

I already have regular phone lines run out to the garage, but not ethernet. Coax as well. I was going to repurpose those phone lines for a wired setup.

Charles.

You can still use an OBI and a Google Voice number. Just set it up in the house, then connect the shop phone line to it and plug in any landline phone in the shop.

You can port your old land line over to a Google voice number or some other cheap on-line VOIP service and use it through a portable OBI (or similar) device. I can take mine anywhere in the world, plug it into an internet connection and use the phone as if I was making/receiving calls from home.

I didn't port mine over. Instead I'm using it as an additional line, which I can call from my home phone or any other phone number.

Buy a cheap 2 way radio that works on frs.
You say "where the hell is my dinner"
She says "ask the dog"

What distance are you talking about? We're running a yagi to the main house from the workshop; approx 600' (as the crow flies) --with zero issues.

If the distance is longer, you can also setup a simple & inexpensive repeater in between. Have done that as well; a small battery & solar panel, to power the repeater.

This sounds like a great reason for both of you to get ham radio licenses.

FCC is lowering the GMRS license fee to $35 for a 10 year license soon. GMRS is a no test license for everyone in your house. They share some frequencies with FRS radios but you can get much better hardware for GMRS. They're still cheap enough to have several and not worry about getting them dirty. If you have access to a repeater in your area you can communicate over miles not feet. You can use the radios anywhere you go vs an intercom attached to your house. Downside is everyone can hear everything you say.

https://www.amazon.com/Aiphone-CCS-...ocphy=9003832&hvtargid=pla-311155667029&psc=1

Wife is old school. Hand written note on one of the inside dogs and releases it and it comes to me while out at the shop.

Edit: Wife and I are techy/computer hip. We know about apps and stuff. I even have online shop computer. It is just her druthers.

Just don't mount the speaking funnels in a way that your drunk buds (or wife) can pee in them...

What a brilliant idea! That would provide redundancy to the old "Dinner Bell" and totally obsolete the old ranch "triangle!" When the Wife is serious, she would no longer need to step outside with a shotgun or release the Pomeranian.