As others have mentioned, he can spring (or gravity) load the door and then pull a pin etc. somehow. As mentioned, using the current radio set, a solenoid (with a diode so it only pulls on one of the two states) would work. Also, Radio Shack has lots of RC toys that don't go at all till you push a button or such so you can ditch the diode. Also, as far as RC goes, there is a remote doorbell gizmo that even has settable addresses etc - could be made to work. Someone mentioned a wire to trigger the solenoid. BUT, I have to wonder, why not just pull a string? (I know, I know, no PIC! no electrons even!) -- Looking forward: Alan Shinn Experience the beginnings of microscopy. Make your own replica of one of Antony van Leeuwenhoek's microscopes. visit http://www.mindspring.com/~alshinn/ -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The list server can filter out subtopics (like ads or off topics) for you. See http://www.piclist.com/#topics