Fire Station Alerting System

[DisasterGuy]

I don't think that an NFPA inspector would find this as an acceptable configuration if he saw it.

There is no such thing as a NFPA inspector. ISO does however look at NFPA 1221 for methods of alerting ERFs. The standard calls for monitored redundant dispatch circuits. Anyone that is involved in dispatch circuits (either for the communications center or ERF) really needs to read and understand these standards.

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[speedway_navigator]

A quick innovative temporary solution.
The communication techs in our federal govt team have a saying,
Semper Gumby, always flexible.

 

[DJ11DLN]

I think I'd call that doing what you had to do to get by. But do get a base radio (mobile + decent power supply) capable of 2-tone decode and put up an external antenna and invest in some decent feedline for it. Never hurts to have some redundancy and this is the sort of thing that can be budgeted and approved in advance, not done as an emergency purchase with all the mess that goes along with that. It could have functioned in place of the Federal unit until replaced in this instance and saved you some sore hide here on RR. And no I am not disagreeing with the do-it-right-the-first-time folks, quite the contrary. I just know from long experience in a not-always-well-funded department that sometimes you have to make do. And it helps to have something reliable to use as a backup when needed.

 

[BlueDevil]

Thanks guys. If I lived in Utopia I definitely know how I would do things. Unfortunately I don't live where many of the authors of these posts live. We have our new Federal Signal Station Informer in place and it is connected to a backup generator. It has always received a very strong signal due to our very close proximity to the dispatch transmitter. Hopefully in the future I can have a greater influence on the radio/communications budgeting process. I like a proactive approach and doing things right the first time.


Cheers,

Brandon

 

[BlueDevil]

Here is the proof. Rest easy!

Cheers,

Brandon

 

[PaulNDaOC]

At the very least all dispatchers must be aware of the situation and have a couple of viable alternate methods or contacts they can put into play just in case an acknowledgement is not made for a call in a predetermined amount of time.

 

[motomeso]

Have you actually had a radio technician come in and look at the decoder?

 

[BlueDevil]

Have you actually had a radio technician come in and look at the decoder?

Yeah, the radio technician was the one who advised that we needed to replace our original diehard Federal Signal Station Informer. It stopped working after he and some other radio techs made some adjustments to the Zetron controllers at Dispatch. They came back a few weeks later to perform some fine tuning and adjust some volume controls and the old diehard station decoder started working again. Weird.