Radio TX signaling for power outage

[noloflash]

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. (I would need to build this unless it's out there) when the main power goes out. 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!

 

[AK9R]

Some repeater controllers can be set up to monitor commercial power and change the courtesy tone accordingly. I suppose the controller could do other things, but it might require additional infrastructure, such as phone line or Internet connection, at the repeater site to get the word out.

There are cell-phone based automatic dialers available that will send a SMS text message depending on the binary or analog inputs to the dialer. For instance, you could set up one of the binary inputs to monitor commercial power and set up an analog input to monitor temperature inside the transmitter building. The dialer would sent a text message if you lost power or the building got too hot/cold. Sensaphone and Temperature Guard are two products along these lines that I'm familiar with. The only recurring cost is bottom of the line data plan with a cellphone carrier.

Another solution is to use APRS. Some APRS devices, such as the Argent Data Tracker2 and Tracker3, can be configured to send an APRS message based on a hardware input. The APRS message would be routed to an email server that would send you an email advising of the hardware event.

 

[noloflash]

Thanks for the reply.
I do not have internet or phone connections at the location of the repeater and I am trying to avoid ongoing expenses, although there are inexpensive data only cell phone plans. It seemed most efficient to use the existing radio to notify.

I still need to figure out how to build the timer and relay circuitry.

(I played with a Moto Ht1250 and it looks like the best way is to pull a wire off each side of the lapel mic button. the 13 side pins do not seem to have a simple on/off PTT to use with a relay or MOSFET)

 

[WA0CBW]

Another way would be to build a tone generator of several beeps every few seconds. The output of the tone generator is connected to the audio in to the repeater transmitter. A simple relay connected to the ac trips the tone generator on putting a beep or two on the repeater audio signalling that the repeater has lost AC power.
BB

 

[n9mxq]

Our setup has low volume beeps to announce loss of mains. The repeater and each remote receive site has their own tone.

 

[noloflash]

The repeater in question is an Icom IC-FR4000

 

[fineshot1]

Thanks for the reply.
I do not have internet or phone connections at the location of the repeater and I am trying to avoid ongoing expenses, although there are inexpensive data only cell phone plans. It seemed most efficient to use the existing radio to notify.

I still need to figure out how to build the timer and relay circuitry.

(I played with a Moto Ht1250 and it looks like the best way is to pull a wire off each side of the lapel mic button. the 13 side pins do not seem to have a simple on/off PTT to use with a relay or MOSFET)

What more do you need than what W9BU said above"Some repeater controllers can be set up to monitor commercial power and change the courtesy tone accordingly." It does not get any simpler than that. This
alerts anyone who listens to the repeater.

 

[noloflash]

What more do you need than what W9BU said above"Some repeater controllers can be set up to monitor commercial power and change the courtesy tone accordingly." It does not get any simpler than that. This
alerts anyone who listens to the repeater.

Unfortunatley, the Icom FR4000 doesn't have that feature.

 

[n5ims]

I agree with the repeater controller sensing the use of backup power and alerting using alternate courtesy tones or even a voice message like "Backup power in use, please limit repeater use.". That way not only you'll know, but also the random repeater user will be able to know and limit their long winded, non-emergency conversations during the times the repeater is running on backup power.

 

[fineshot1]

Unfortunatley, the Icom FR4000 doesn't have that feature.

The FR4000 is just a repeater and we are talking about repeater controllers.

A controller would have to interfaced with the FR4000 to obtain that feature along with
other features of an external controller.