Doing some work for my city on a storm siren and need to understand better how 2-tone works. I'm also a volunteer firefighter and have been in the electronics/communications industry in various capacities for almost 20 years. To my knowledge the activation of systems from 2-tone is similar to the DTMF decoder boards. I'm looking for something that can decode at least two, preferably four different 2-tone calls to activate different relays. I've only been able to find DTMF boards like this and don't know if those will work. Anyone have any thoughts?
2-tone decoder board
- Thread starter Brandenatsignal
- Start date
Something like this? MTSD-3 - Midian Electronics
That would probably work. I was looking at Midian boards, but I didn't know exactly how they worked or if anyone had experience with them. I can find examples of DTMF boards in use all day, but 2-tone seems to be a closely guarded or lost art.
Federal Informer is what you need. I've implemented 100's of them for Fire Station Sirens as well as storm sirens. They have 2 relays to play with depending on needs. You didn't specify frequency so that would help also.
We're in the VHF 150-155 mHZ range for pretty much everything. Those are pricey, but I get it. Federal makes good stuff and it's reliable vs what is effectively a high priced arduino shield.
I get Informer is a bit pricy new. You can find them used but they are far and few between because they work and work well. If this is for a station siren yes there are other cheaper options but if this is for a storm siren or warning siren of any type reliability is what you need. I would never use a pile of amazon parts on something like that. It could save someone. I get funding is a issue with volunteer agencies but there is money out there if you look for it. Even local funds from knocking on a few business doors would cover the cost of an Informer.
This.
If it's life safety, you need a proven product. I would trust a used Informer over what most will build out of an arduino. You can hack away all you want with a microcontroller of your choice, just make sure your suit is all pressed up and nice for when you get dragged to court.
MissouriSirens
Member
This is a very late reply but you could buy an FC from federal signal. It can activate from two tone, DTMF, MSK, and POCSAG. They are a bit pricey though.
Basically different version of the same thing mentioned 3 times earlier in this thread.
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