Radio TX for power outage notification??

[noloflashradio]

Problem: When our repeater loses power and goes to back-up power we have no way of knowing...

(I cant imagine that I am the first to think of this)
Solution:
Dedicate a radio, in the shack, that will be connected to a trigger relay and timer to signal, say, every 15 minutes, when the main power goes out. (I would need to build this unless it's out there) . The radio would be set to signal on TX so we would be notified and would run on the backup power supply.

Any ideas of existing products or discussion related to this idea would be greatly apreciated!
Thanks!

[Bigfella237]

I'm no repeater expert but I thought most had options to notify over-the-air if they're running on backup?

I know our old local FD repeater (back when we were conventional) used to superimpose a damn annoying beep-beep-beep over the Tx audio when the mains power failed.

Andrew

[Bill_G]

The higher tier products (Quantar, MTR, MSF, MSR) had alarm over the air, but it just beeps. All you knew was something broke.

Ritron makes a cheap little box called The Quick Talk Wireless Monitor that has four inputs, and about 30 secs of recording memory - just enough to say "AC power fail at Mountain Site". It has an integrated 2W UHF or VHF radio you program for your repeater input (or output), and a variety of setup choices for the messages and inputs. It works just fine, and now everyone knows what is broken before they call you.

[escomm]

The higher tier products (Quantar, MTR, MSF, MSR) had alarm over the air, but it just beeps. All you knew was something broke.

Note that the MTR3000 does not provide any such functionality. The MTR2000, of course, did. Just another small example of how the MTR3000 is NOT a replacement for the MTR2000 (Motorola's own words)

[noloflashradio]

The repeater in question is an Icom IC-FR4000...
I was going to connect an HT1250 to a relay and homemade timer to signal (13 pins don't have PTT/on-off....so I would have to pull to contacts off the PTT lapel mic...better ideas?)

[Bill_G]

The higher tier products (Quantar, MTR, MSF, MSR) had alarm over the air, but it just beeps. All you knew was something broke.

Note that the MTR3000 does not provide any such functionality. The MTR2000, of course, did. Just another small example of how the MTR3000 is NOT a replacement for the MTR2000 (Motorola's own words)

They are following in Microsoft's footsteps where the next generation product is not necessarily an improvement.

[KG4LHQ]

The higher tier products (Quantar, MTR, MSF, MSR) had alarm over the air, but it just beeps. All you knew was something broke.

Ritron makes a cheap little box called The Quick Talk Wireless Monitor that has four inputs, and about 30 secs of recording memory - just enough to say "AC power fail at Mountain Site". It has an integrated 2W UHF or VHF radio you program for your repeater input (or output), and a variety of setup choices for the messages and inputs. It works just fine, and now everyone knows what is broken before they call you.

Will this work on ham?

[Bill_G]

The higher tier products (Quantar, MTR, MSF, MSR) had alarm over the air, but it just beeps. All you knew was something broke.

Ritron makes a cheap little box called The Quick Talk Wireless Monitor that has four inputs, and about 30 secs of recording memory - just enough to say "AC power fail at Mountain Site". It has an integrated 2W UHF or VHF radio you program for your repeater input (or output), and a variety of setup choices for the messages and inputs. It works just fine, and now everyone knows what is broken before they call you.

Will this work on ham?

According to the specs listed at their web site, no.

[KG4LHQ]

I seen the specs didnt know if it still would or not lol.

[abbylind]

There is an aftermarket repeater controller that does just that. We have one that announces that the main power is out or the DC power has dropped to X volts every 15 minutes I cant recall what the make is though. I'll research it

[abbylind]

See if this fills the bill

http://www.catauto.com/cat200.html

[KG4LHQ]

Hey Abbylind,

I have a Cat 300 DX Repeater Controller currently on my TKR-851. Any idea how to make it do that?

[abbylind]

Im not familiar with the 300 series but from the 200 website info...

Logic Inputs
Four logic inputs activated by a voltage change from other equipment at the repeater site, causes the CAT-200B to activate voice messages as alarms or announcements. Information about the repeater site will be instantly available.

The the AC line voltge could be added to the logic input

[noloflashradio]

Abbylind,
Thanks for the info....have to learn more about how to make it do the powerout notification with an IC FR3000