InterceptRadio.com Forums

Wanted to run this past you guys to see if anyone has a suggestion.
So as the story goes.....

When Valleycom turned off the VHF simulcast / two tone paging, my dept lost the ability to activate the volunteer horns.
So I have finally got the okay to move forward with the project of getting the horns back up and running. Which brings us to today.

I contacted a company that is going to build two pager boxes with a relay for the horns. Here is the box http://www.inforad.com/nh100.html

Here is the crossroad we are at right now.
The person programming the Nighthawk says he needs a capcode (which I already for from valleycom) and a 4 digit PIN to program in to the box. I was not sure what he meant about a PIN so I went back to valleycom and asked about a 4 digit PIN. And in turn they did not know what the 4 digit PIN was for either.

Come to find out this Nighthawk box is numeric only (which I'm told works much different than and alpha pager). And it requires some type of 4 digit security PIN to activate it. Valleycom's system does not have the ability to send this PIN. The company were buying this from is going to contact Nighthawk and see if they have any suggestions/ideas.

Not knowing the technical stuff going on behind the scene I was hoping that someone here on the board may be able to point me in the right direction.

I'm fairly certain that a few of the volunteer depts in Sno County have their volunteer horns activated via page (Arlington Heights FD). I'd like to know how they are doing this.

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There are a number of desk top and wall mount POCSAG receiving units that have a port that activates scrolling message signs and other devices.

You'll find these devices to be a little more prolific in Europe and Australia... but can be had in the U.S. too.

I would imagine you could easily build a relay similar to what you might have used with an old Regency receiver or Minitor amplified charger that when closed it would activate a building top siren.

The other challenge would be to have a capcode specifically to trigger the alert.... I imagine you wouldn't want the horns firing with EVERY station call. I imagine it would be pretty easy for Valleycom to assign a capcode for that purpose only.

http://www.wipath.com/pdt3000.html

http://www.eeontheweb.com/paging_data_products.htm

Just a couple of links to products I found quickly. I've seen more out there.

I have since found out a bit more.

The Nighthawk device needs to receive a 5 digit code at the beginning of the page. The first 4 digits is the PIN assigned to the device and the 5th digit activates the device based off of it's number. 1 being ON. 0 (zero) being OFF. Sadly Valleycom paging system can not send pages in this format.

As far as the capcodes. I've already worked that out with them and tested it out. It's just a matter of us getting the right hardware that will do the job.

I will take a look at these two links. Thanks. Looks like they would do the trick with the optional relay.

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Station 74 uses a Nighthawk FAS-8 (8 Relays) Not all used. I know Gas stoves turn off, Gas B B Q turns off, Lights turn on, and Speakers open. So that is 4 relays that I know are being used. You might look at that.

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Realistic Patrolman PRO-48, Uniden BC-800XLT, Radio Shack PRO-2018, Uniden BC-895XLT, Uniden BC-245XLT, RCA RP-6100,
Realistic PRO-2006, Uniden BR330T, Uniden BCT15X

If I'm not mistaken a couple of years ago you had a similar question on how to activate a siren at one of your stations, how did you solve that problem ?

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Realistic Patrolman PRO-48, Uniden BC-800XLT, Radio Shack PRO-2018, Uniden BC-895XLT, Uniden BC-245XLT, RCA RP-6100,
Realistic PRO-2006, Uniden BR330T, Uniden BCT15X

Ya I know, it's bit of a broken record.
It never came about back then. Commissioners (and others) kept turning down the idea.
Now it came to the table again and got the okay to move forward. As long as the cost is reasonable.

I really thought we had everything figured out this time but sadly we have come to a roadblock again. As mentioned there are other receivers out there however I don't know the cost of them. Something I need to check in to.

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We use Scope Digital Pagers, way better then Motorola. Scope has a charger with built in relay output, maybe this would work?

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Realistic Patrolman PRO-48, Uniden BC-800XLT, Radio Shack PRO-2018, Uniden BC-895XLT, Uniden BC-245XLT, RCA RP-6100,
Realistic PRO-2006, Uniden BR330T, Uniden BCT15X

Yeah. That may work. Which model do you guys have?
http://www.scope-uk.com/products/geo_84zaa.htm

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That's what we use, can hold 8 Capcodes.

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Realistic Patrolman PRO-48, Uniden BC-800XLT, Radio Shack PRO-2018, Uniden BC-895XLT, Uniden BC-245XLT, RCA RP-6100,
Realistic PRO-2006, Uniden BR330T, Uniden BCT15X

I set them an email this morning. We will see what happens.
Thanks for the help.

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I finally got this project done and wanted to post a small update.

We purchased a couple of Scope pagers with charging stations from http://www.firstresponseactivation.com/
The relay output on the charging dock was the key. However, it was only rated at 28v 2a. So I had to build a box with a relay that when activated would close the 120v connection setting off the whole system. I have attached a couple of pictures.

Valleycom is going to add the new cap codes to our run cards next week.

Many thanks to FireDawg89 for the tip on the Scope pager.

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Nice job Rodentkj ! I don't know why Motorola has not built a pager like the scope ? Everyone loved the Minitors and now with everyone going to digital paging you would think they would have a better pager for the firefighters.

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Realistic Patrolman PRO-48, Uniden BC-800XLT, Radio Shack PRO-2018, Uniden BC-895XLT, Uniden BC-245XLT, RCA RP-6100,
Realistic PRO-2006, Uniden BR330T, Uniden BCT15X

Nice work and smart thinkin'!

If you don't mind spillin' the beans. How much did the retailer hit you for those nice Scope pagers?

I may be in the market.

Thanks!

The pager and charging dock are sold separate and cost about 125.00 each.

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