Genave DeCoder

[texaschad25]

I am new at this stuff guys so bear with me. Our small town is in the process of getting a couple of 2T22's from another municipality. These sirens are not currently wired up but when they were, they had Siratrol boxes on them and they have not been in use in 5+ years. The frequency will need to be changed for decoding and so on.

I checked into this Genave RXC2000 control box as an update to this project and was wondering what kinda of feedback you guys could give me. Like I said earlier, I believe that the siratrol boxes are still on there.

Thanks,
Chad

[500AT]

The Federal Siratrol controllers are very nice, but have one significant problem. According to a radio that I know from Motorola, they can't be used in the new FCC mandated Narrowbanding project for VHF and UHF frequencies. Moreover, if your department is using narrowband technology, there are certain limitations on tone frequencies that can be used. However, I was told by Federal that replacement parts are no longer available for the Siratrol. Therefore, looking at a new controllers might be the best thing to do in the long-run.

I know some fire departments here have purchased the new Federal Controller and hooked it up to older sirens, and they have reported no problems in doing so. Likewise, you can obtain a very nice controller from Sentry Siren, which should work just fine with the 2T22 units. You would have to specify what kind of timing you would want on the fire signal if any.

[500AT]

Here is the link to the RXC-2000 Controller:

http://www.genave.com/rxc-2000_specs.htm

[texaschad25]

Thanks Ron. Would you still depend on a Siratrol Box today or are they out of date and independable? I dont know how we would test it.

Thanks,
Chad

[JasonC]

Thanks Ron. Would you still depend on a Siratrol Box today or are they out of date and independable? I dont know how we would test it.

Thanks,
Chad

They'll work, but you'll have to send them off to a Federal dealer to get them reprogrammed. If you have a small system, and don't care about the small stuff like 2-way communications to the sirens, it should work fine. But just remember, Siratrol's were produced in the 70's and 80's so that's a lot of years put onto them. When you send them off, get the dealer to give it a once over and you should be fine.

As far as any new controller goes, they will all be more than adequate. Most have the timer built into them now as well. They are a bit pricey, but you can find some cheaper units if you don't want all the "bells and whistles", and with a small siren system, you really don't need any.

[500AT]

Thanks Ron. Would you still depend on a Siratrol Box today or are they out of date and independable? I dont know how we would test it.

This would all depend on the age of the Siratrol, and the receiver on the inside. From what I have been told, this design came out in the late 1960s, as a replacement for the earlier all-tube model that weighed a ton. The first two models were for VHF-Low band, and VHF-High band. Then in the early 1970s a UHF model was produced. Moreover, the receivers were made by G.E. and Motorola, depending on who had the contract at the time.

More than likely, the Siratrol will have to retuned and recrystaled. However, if your department uses VHF-High band and these two units that you picked up are on VHF-Low band, there is no way that you can have it retuned to a higher band or vice-a-versa. Likewise, I have heard that some of the parts for these vintage radio receivers are no longer available.

Incidentally, what radio frequency is your department on?

[texaschad25]

The siratrol boxes are set up on 155.010 . The county fire system is in the process of changing from 46.100 to 154.950 ?? I think !!. The siratrols should be able to adapt to this new frequency given that the parts and crystals are availabble like you mentioned earlier. I am wondering if it would be better to to spend the $1,600 for the new decoder that has a year warranty and is fully programmable ?? Any thoughts on this ?

Chad

[JasonC]

Yea, that will work with your VHF frequency. Just let the programmer give it a thorough go over and make sure its fine. There are many Siratrols out there still preforming after many years of service. A full test via radio activation at least once a month will ensure that everything is working properly. Nelcom, aka SirenCentral.com, will program your Siratrol's for a small fee.

[texaschad25]

Yea, that will work with your VHF frequency. Just let the programmer give it a thorough go over and make sure its fine. There are many Siratrols out there still preforming after many years of service. A full test via radio activation at least once a month will ensure that everything is working properly. Nelcom, aka SirenCentral.com, will program your Siratrol's for a small fee.

I talked with Scott Nelson at SirenCentral earlier today and we had discussed this briefly but was concentrating more on the new control box rather than the Siratrol. What would be a reasonable price to get this thing checked out and have the input frequency and decoder changed? Is there somewhere in this Siratrol that would give me the tone encode number where i could check it with an encoder? And one more thing, would i have to ship this whole cabinet to him or just a small part ??

You guys are great. Thanks for the help!!

Chad

[JasonC]

Of course! They want to sell you a new $1,600 controller As far as pricing goes, I'm not to sure on but I'd say probably $40 or so. As far as shipping, you only need to ship the circuit board, you can leave the cabinet behind.