[MR] Carrier pigeon calls (or period music) as custom ringtones for SCA events.

[David Chessler]

For those who require their cell phones (mobile 
phones) at SCA events, disguising  the ringtone 
is often a problem. The apparatus itself can be 
hidden in many ways, but when it receives a 
message it is likely to become "blatantly modern."

Sometimes the apparatus can be put on "vibrate," 
though most period garb does not have pockets, so 
calls will often be missed. Some people have 
suggested using ringtones based on period music, 
though such ringtones may be hard to find.

During a recent flareup of this discussion on the 
Merry Rose (Atlantia), I suggested that the phone 
could use a carrier pigeon call as the ring tone. 
This would be "period" and appropriate. 
Unfortunately, it turned out to be more difficult 
than I anticipated. However, I recently developed 
a solution to the problem, which will also work 
for musical ringtones like "Greensleeves," or 
plainsong (Gregorian chant) or any other period 
music or sound effect. (Servant's voice saying: 
"master, master, a message has arrived for you," 
in a language appropriate to your persona?)

The first thing to do is get a sound file. 
Ringtones should usually be based on .mp3 files. 
However, as explained below, it is possible to 
convert .wav files (which are higher quality sound) to .mp3 with free software.

A carrier pigeon is the common park pigeon that 
we city people call "rats with feathers." 
Technically, it is an introduced species from 
Eurasia, known as the "rock dove" or "rock 
pigeon" (Columba livia). (Some people may want to 
use calls of hawks, falcons, kestrels, or other 
raptors--the process is identical.)

So the first task is to find your .wav file. Most 
bird and animal calls can be found at 
http://www.enature.com/home/indexNew.asp although 
I found the call I actually used on some sound 
effects site that I seem to have failed to 
bookmark. I will not insult you by listing the 
many sites that have free downloads of music of various vintages.

To convert your sound file to a .mp3, and edit it 
for length (you probably want 10 seconds or less 
for a ring tone) one possible free software is 
Audacity http://audacity.sourceforge.net .

I next wasted a lot of time trying to transfer 
the .mp3 to my cell phone. Emails failed (sound 
files got lost). Bluetooth didn't seem to want to 
do it. Then I found http://www.myxertones.com/ 
which permits you to send ringtones to most cell 
phones from most American carriers  through 
various workarounds that are explained on the web 
site. Sign up and then sign in, and you can 
browse your own hard disk for the ringtone. When 
you send it, instead of sending it at the 
"cellphone default" volume, send it as loud as 
possible (one of the options). Then follow the 
instructions to save it as a ring tone, and 
select it as a ring tone when you need it.



--

Davitt il Bigollo da Piƒa
Goldƒmith's Agent in Livorno
Fa¢or in the lands of the Mughuls
Coral and Emeralds from Inde and Serendip

Checky argent and azure, two cheƒs rooks or in 
chief, a cheƒs knight or, a three-turret tower or in baƒe