The Siren Board

I've got a 2 or 3 tone radio on the way from WSS (not DTMF). I did some research and found that the easiest way is to activate it through a 2 way radio. What type of radio do I need to get from eBay to transmit the tones to the radio reciever? What would I put in the eBay search engine to activate my siratrol wirelessly via radio? Any and all help is appreciated. The radio is a factory pre programmed radio.

Nice. Do you have a EOWS siren to put it on? Or not yet. Btw it's going to be very difficult find a EOWS siren if you need a siren also. Just saying.

Best bet is a Baofeng 2 way radio they are cheap. The only thing wrong with getting a radio like this is it is a touchy subject. First off you have to make sure the frequency it is tuned to is not the same one for any local agency around you so you do not get in trouble. Next you may need a fcc license to transmit on most frequency's you need an fcc license. If you are going to try and transmit from long distances with the antenna on you will need an Fcc license to broadcast on those frequencies. If you are just activating it from your house you can use the radio with the antenna off to broadcast the tones and you should be able to stay out of trouble that way because the radio signal should not make it too far with out an antenna, but it is still not technically legal to do with out a license. Hope you found my response helpful.

Side note you will need a way to generate the tones. The most economical way it to download audacity generate the tones you need on there hold the radio up to your computer speakers and transmit. If you are looking for a more expensive way you can purchase a Federal Signal or Whelen encoder program it to produce your tones and hook it up to your radio. Another option is to purchase a Zetron encoder those are more easy to find because most dispatch centers use them to page out Fire Departments, but again you will need to program it to your needed tones and once again hook it up to your radio.

Ok. Thanks that helps a lot. The radio I'm getting I already know the tone HZ and the frequency just can't think of it off the top of my head. Does that Zetron encoder need to have a radio and cables to connect the radio to the encoder? Also I know that motorolla radios have to be programmed too. So I kinda wanna stay away from that. What kind of radio would I search for on eBay and what radio would be the most encomonial radio? Also who would I contact to figure out what frequently to use that isn't being used in my county?

What model Zetron encoder would I look for?

I found a model 10A encoder. Would that work? Also how hard is it to program a Zetron encoder?

Ok. So I found out that the frequency that is factory pre programmed radio. I looked at the radio you suggeted and I'm kinda wanting to go toward the mobile ones with a power supply so it can have constant AC power from the wall at the encoder/radio station which is set up in my room as well as the siratrol is mounted in my room as well. So if I had to go with s handheld one is there a way to plug it into the encoder and does the radio and encoder need to be programmed by a laptop? And what type of cord do I need to connect both the encoder and radio together? The frequency I have is factory programmed to 154.37. Would a ham radio have the capability to be plugged into the Zetron encoder?
Any and all help is appreciated thanks.

My question is what are you trying to do with the Siratrol? Are you going to control a siren?

Tempest116 wrote:Nice. Do you have a EOWS siren to put it on? Or not yet. Btw it's going to be very difficult find a EOWS siren if you need a siren also. Just saying.

Siratrol's are a blue decoder radio used to activate federal signals sirens back in the older days they were used to activate an AR or AF timer then would intern start the siren. I think you are getting confused with a SiraTone controller witch you would use to generate the tones to be played over the EOWS siren head.

Next you may need a fcc license to transmit on most frequency's you need an fcc license. If you are going to try and transmit from long distances with the antenna on you will need an Fcc license to broadcast on those frequencies. If you are just activating it from your house you can use the radio with the antenna off to broadcast the tones and you should be able to stay out of trouble that way because the radio signal should not make it too far with out an antenna, but it is still not technically legal to do with out a license.

So no matter what, it's illegal to transmit on a frequency that will activate a siren? Probably shouldn't advise people on here how they "should be able to stay out of trouble" by transmitting with an antenna off.