How To Record A Phone Conversation With A PC

1. Get the Correct Equipment

One of the first steps to record a phone conversation with a PC is to get the correct equipment. If you have a modem or intend to buy one, you can consider getting one with an output channel named Telephony Answering Device. This output can connect into the input of your sound card.

If you have a broadband connection and have no use for a modem (like me), then you can consider setting up a phone bug, which we discuss next.


2. Set Up A Phone Bug

There is an electronic circuit for recording phone conversations you can make. Do a search for phone bug schematic to understand the electronics behind this circuit. Then you either solder the components yourself or get someone to do it.

Once you have this phone bug, connect the circuit to the phone line on one end and to the Mic In of your sound card on the other.


3. Get Proper Software

Now, you need to get good audio recording software like Sound Forge. If you’re short on cash, you can also use the default Windows Sound Recorder.


4. Record Away

Ok, you’re all set! Record away the next time you get a phone call. Let me know how it goes – I typically get good quality audio from recording a phone conversation. Try it – you’ll be surprised how easy it is.


Conclusion

Well, hopefully this little article has gone some way in showing you how to record a phone conversation with a PC. You will find this really useful at some point in the future when you need to log conversations but have no tool for doing it.

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V.Vadivelan

There never a wrong time to do the right thing.

Did you know that it is possible to use the computer as an electronic bug? To use PC to record phone conversations is much more practical – and cheaper – than to do so using a conventional tape recorder, besides being able to record hundreds of hours of conversation, for the audio is recorded in a file in the hard disk of the computer. And you may also convert the audio files into MP3 so they take even less space in the hard disk, or you may even save the files in an audio CD so the recorded phone conversations may be played in any CD player.

Until not long ago voice modems were very popular in the market. These modems had an answering machine, speaker phone, and phone conversation recording system as extra features. For not knowing those features existed, most users did not fully use the potential of their modems, so the manufacturers ended up removing them from the newest models to reduce their price.

Some of the most modern modems have an output channel called TAD (Telephony Answering Device), which can be used to connect the modem to the sound card, through a cable similar to the one used in the connection of CD-ROM drive to the sound card. You may record phone conversations through that connection using your sound card. In order to do that, your sound card also needs to have a TAD input and you will have to install the cable connecting the modem to the sound card.

With the popularization of the broadband Internet connection, less and less users have modems in their computers. The solution to transform the PC into a phone conversation tape recorder is the construction of the small circuit we describe next. This circuit is very simple to be assembled, and it is very cheap too. Even a user without a deep knowledge in electronics can assemble it without great difficulty. The parts you will have to buy are: a 4K7 x 1 W resistor, a 220 nF x 200 V capacitor, two 5 V x 1 W Zener diodes, a 10 K logarithm potentiometer (that will work as the volume control) and a mono P2 male plug. There is also a phone transformer. To reduce the price of the equipment, we suggest you simply remove the transformer of an old modem (from a 2400 bps one, for instance). See in the picture how the modem transformer is. We've posted a tutorial called "How to Dessolder Components" that can be of great aid for those who doesn't know how to remove the transformer from the modem.

After assembling the circuit, all you have to do is connect it to the phone line on one side and to the Mic In channel of the sound card on the other. To record conversations, you will need a recording program, like Sound Forge. In case you don't have any, use the Sound Recorder for your Windows. Since the phone line quality is not high, you may record at 11.025 Hz mono so the recorded file is the smallest possible.

Attention: Please remember that recording a phone conversation without the other party consentment can be a crime. Please consult your state/country laws in order to not break the law.

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S.VinothkumaR
Behind me is infinite power,
Before me is Endless Possibility,
Around me is Boundless Opportunity,
Why should I fear!