siratrol help?

[Gabe1577]

I just got a cabinet with a siratrol box, AR timer, etc. What kind of radios do I need to control the siratrol box, or to activate my siren remotely. I know the codes are all scrambled and different. Do I need an encoder? Thanks

[Westgate Thunderbolt]

First off, is the label still attached to the decoder/receiver enclosure? This label will tell you the frequency that it is tuned to receive and the tone frequencies for each activation or cancelation.

The two-tone encoder makes things easier and more reliable, but is not required. The two-tone encoder will transmit each of the two tones at a set time length per tone. Some tones are three seconds for the first and two seconds for the second. Some are one second for first and one second for second. You can do this manually, but like previously stated not as easy or reliable as the tone encoder. If the decoder does not receive the correct tones in the correct time lengths it will not accept the acctivation or cancelation.

You will need a two-way radio to transmit to the decoder/receiver. The radio band split required can be obtained from the model of Siratrol you have. The ARCL is low band VHF (30 to 54 MHz), the ARCH is high band VHF (132 to 174 MHz) and the ARCU is UHF (450 to 512 MHz). The exact frequency required should be on the label attached to your decoder/receiver enclosure. As a legal note, you are legally required to obtain a license from the Federal Communications Commision (FCC) to transmit over any of these frequencies within those band splits. This is done so you don't disrupt other licensee transmissions that are assigned to a specific frequency.

You can obtain a two-way radio either new or used. They are all over eBay. You can select either a mobile or portable unit. I would select one with a Dual Tone Multi Frequency (DTMF) key pad. This key pad looks identical to a telephone key pad. This will give you the capability of manually entering your tones. Others have recorded the tones in the correct 3-2 or 1-1 second timing and just transmitted the recording. You can look these tones up on the web.

Hope this helps.