Fire Station Alerting

c17loadsmasher · Post by **c17loadsmasher** » Sat Jul 10, 2004 1:05 pm

Hello all... just wanted to query for some ideas on a good, reliable alerting system we could implement (inexpensively) at our fire station for alerting. Now I don't know the specifics, like the tone freqs or what not...but I can tell you that it's a single tone that we do use to set off our pagers. Currently the station just has a $40 scanner hooked to the PA and it's locked onto our dispatch freq...154.2500. Problem is...someone wants to watch TV and they don't want to hear all the chatter they turn down the PA amp. Or when someone goes to bed they turn it down. The solution would be something that would open up like a pager... Any ideas? My old fire department had one of those old /\/\ alert monitors with a handle on it that they used...so regardless of the PA volume, it kicked wide opn when we got the tones. Would I just have to use a Minitor or something like that?

--Chris

OX · Post by OX » Sat Jul 10, 2004 1:13 pm

One of the local departments to me used a Minitor II pager, left it in the charger and plugged the earphone output into the paging amp. Crude but effective.

ffighter_94 · Post by **ffighter_94** » Sat Jul 10, 2004 1:20 pm

I have used these with alot of success, they have options for relay outputs and battery backup as well.

http://www.veetronix.com/page19.html

It is a alert monitor, I guess best way to describe it is a modern Plectron, except this one is programmable.

x1sspic · Post by **x1sspic** » Sat Jul 10, 2004 2:41 pm

http://www.federalwarningsystems.com/pr ... ?prodid=25

This is what my ambulance corp uses. They have it hooked up to the fire alarm system so that when the tones drop, the fire alarms go off for about 5 seconds. Works nicely for waking you up at night

Bob · Post by **Bob** » Sat Jul 10, 2004 3:28 pm

We have a couple of the Fed Sig Informers at my station, and we all hate them. It could be the programming too, I suppose.

How about a GM300 or a CDM? Both of those radios can be programmed to manual reset or to auto reset after a certain amount of time, dropped carrier, etc. They'll drive a relay for alerting, and you can take the audio from the radios and pipe it into the PA system too. Maxtracs will work, but you have to do some work to get them to auto-reset.

Maxtracs and GM300s can be had on ebay for half of the price of a new Informer. The CDM1250 or 1550 can also be programmed to put tones out, so if you find yourselves in a pinch, it could be used as a backup base radio.

KitN1MCC · Post by **KitN1MCC** » Sun Jul 11, 2004 7:51 am

Well do you use single tone or dual tone.

both ways u could use a comm spec two-tone decoder/encoder hook it up to the audio out on the scanner with a relay that turn on the speakr /spounds Klakston with use of a relay. and put a by pass swich in when they want to hear all the traffic

Alan · Post by **Alan** » Sun Jul 11, 2004 8:08 am

We like to use something with an acknolgement so we know the message was receiced.
Zetron Model 18, or MDC1200 call alert.
We bring the outside hall radio RX audio through a set-reset relay to the audio input of the house PA amp. Use an "InterM" amp. It has a "chimes input that we activate with the Zetron or MDC horn output. Gived a pleasant escalating chime.
The Zetron/MDC output "sets" the relay to steer the radio RX audio to the PA so all radio transmisions now go over the house PA.
After the call they push the "reset" buton that resets the se/reset relay. No more radio audio until the next call.

c17loadsmasher · Post by **c17loadsmasher** » Sun Jul 11, 2004 2:30 pm

It's a single tone...long.

KitN1MCC · Post by **KitN1MCC** » Sun Jul 11, 2004 3:13 pm

i think Ramsey kits makes a single tone decoder kit with a 567 IC and a few parts it is like 5 bucks

Andy Brinkley · Post by **Andy Brinkley** » Sun Jul 11, 2004 4:16 pm

The Federal Signal Informer does a good job and allows for many options in the programming.

Comm-Spec stopped making the SD-1000 decoder board several years ago, so since then I have been using Midian:

http://www.midians.com

But by the time you buy a decoder board, a receiver, a timer and relay along with the enclosures and wiring to do a proper job you will be pretty close to the purchase price of an Informer.

fireradio · Post by **fireradio** » Sun Jul 11, 2004 5:18 pm

Like someone else already said, I think you can get a Minitor II and an amplified charger and hook that into the PA system... I don't know for sure if the Minitor amplified charger has the proper outputs, but I'm pretty sure I actually saw a rescue squad that had it set up that way. They even had a relay that set off an alarm-bell. That seems like the easiest way to me...

derekjmu · Post by **derekjmu** » Sun Jul 11, 2004 8:03 pm

i just finished putting together an alerting system for my volunteer dept. they were ready to spend almost $3000 on a fancy "bells & whistles" system, but for considerably less money i put together a basic system that serves our needs quite well.

needed components:

minitor III or IV amplified charger
minitor II, III or IV pager (not SV, minitor II pager WILL fit in the III/IV charger)
PA amp
time delay relay (http://www.smarthome.com/7279.html)
plastic project box from radio shack
various connectors and speaker wire

the minitor III/IV amp chargers have a built in relay with an accessory port on the back of the charger. wired correctly, this trips the time delay relay. use the time delay relay to make/break the audio connection from the minitor amp/charger to the PA amplifier. the time delay relay can be adjusted to keep audio flowing throughout your station speakers for 60 secs to 60 mins, depending on your requirements. we have ours set to stay open for about 90 seconds after the tones drop.

we already had the pager and amp/charger from our equip. stock. amp on ebay was $30, relay was about $30. 7 ceiling speakers were $150 and we had speaker wire donated by a local electronics shop.

granted this project takes a little time and work, but if you really want the "auto-mute" for your alerting system and don't want an informer, this works well.

kb9suy · Post by **kb9suy** » Mon Jul 12, 2004 2:30 pm

Thats exactly what we have but it also turns a red florescent light on in the sleep in quarters so we can see when we get up instead of being blinded by the big red light.

c17loadsmasher · Post by **c17loadsmasher** » Mon Jul 19, 2004 5:29 pm

Well, looks like the pager idea is going to be the route we'll take. I got a Minitor II out of the equipment stock and it's related charger. Granted, it's not amplified, but I am sure that the volume out of the headphone port will work. We currently have a scanner used the same way, and the PA Amp pipes it thru the station pretty well. What I figure I will do is go and take it to the Crap Shack and see if they have a plug for it (figuring they do, since the scanner has one) and plug it up and have Central drop tones and see how it works. Any other caveats I should be aware of?

truckie292 · Post by **truckie292** » Sun Jul 25, 2004 9:19 am

I use the ALERT monitor from Vetronix, has switched outputs, and is programmable (easily) with their cable and software programming kit. In fact, I use 2 of the monitors, one in the station that activates station buzzer (ala squad 51...lol) and the other one is at our siren location that trips the siren timer.

Fire Station Alerting

Fire Station Alerting

Alert Reciever

alerting