I just got my first cell phone!

I detest cell phones and have avoided getting one until now. (My truck broke down out in the middle of nowhere and I could not get anyone on my CB radio.)

Anyway I bit the bullet and finally purchased a cell phone so it will be easier to call for a tow truck or whatever...

Which gets me to thinking about my alarm system I just installed for myself (I worked for an alarm business 20 years ago and finally got around to installing my own alarm system about a month ago).

I'm really stepping up in the world! (Alarm, cell phone...)

Anyway I have an Ademco Vista 10SE which is connected to a phone line, but I have not set up monitoring with anyone (yet). I don't really need an alarm system as I live in a small town with almost no crime. I do have a smoke detector on it though and fire would be my main concern. I got the alarm box at a yard sale for $5, and got it to work, so ordered a few peripherals, text keypad, and installed it.

Anyway, since I have been out of the alarm business for 20 years, what are my options with a cell phone and a Vista 10SE and not having a monitoring company?

Is there any type of optional gizmo these days which could call my cell phone and tell me what type of alarm it is (fire/intruder)?

I suppose I could program the Vista 10SE to call my cell phone and my caller ID would show my home number calling is all (would not tell me any information about type of alarm). They I could call my neighbor and ask him to see what is going on. (budget monitoring.)

Suggestions/options?

No way. It's the heart of my whole-house audio system. js

Sell him that old 8 track of yours

Doug L

alarman wrote:

I just got a Victrola Cordless too!

HA... my dad still has a Lafayette 8 Track I bought him a zillion years ago still works too...we pump it through his AV system...I love when it changes tracks...tha-thunk hmmm.

Welp, you may be able to get it to dial your cell phone, I doubt you will understand what it says though.

Make sure he gets VHS and not Betamax

VCR??? What's that......... You mean DVD right :-))

Personally, I'd hunt around for one of them new-fangled Beta units...

Are you sure you used to work in the alarm business? If so, you should know better than to ask a question like that.

Let's think this through. Your primary concern is fire. You want your system to call/page you, so you can call your neighbor.

Your house catches fire. A minute (or more) later, your pager goes off. You call your neighbor and ask him to see if your house is on fire. Assuming he answers the phone (suppose he's not home?), you ask him to check and see if your house is on fire. He goes off to check. He tells you your house is now fully involved, and suggests one of you call the fire department. In which case your discount monitoring has cost you a couple of minutes in fire department response time. Or, he tells you he doesn't see any fire, in which case you don't call the fire department. Except a few minutes later, the small fire your neighbor didn't see has become a big fire. Ten minutes later, your neighbor notices the flames going through the roof.

I'd say your $5 alarm system and no-cost monitoring was money well spent, wouldn't you?

- badenov

Newer panels have paging capabilites built-in without the need to call a monitoring center. Otherwise, your panel will continue to call you several times since it won't get a handshake/kissoff from a receiver. If you are using a Pulse format, you can answer you phone, whistle at

1400hz or 2300hz to give a handshake, wait for the account number and code to pulse throught (use a slow-pulse format so you can count the pulses of the Code to determine what type of alarm went off) then, after it sends the signal twice (assuming it's double-round instaed of checksum), whistle again at the appropriate frequency to kiss-off the panel.

I'm thinking of starting up my own monitoring center using this technology ;)

Hey Joe.

I wonder what kind of cell phone bill you'd get if you were out of the country when your alarm panel continues to call wanting to speak 4+2 with ya?!

yep yep, always something..

I'd Really suggest a Monitoring Center that could offer a reduced-rate service to simply forward all signals to your phone via SMS messages without ever requiring any operator response.

Still, there's that out-of-country/area issue, but you could have your messages sent to someone else as well while you are out of town. When you get back in town, the messages will be received on your phone (depending on how long you were out-of-service), and you'll at least know something happened while you were out. With online access you can check on things remotely from any internet device.

If you just don't want to pay someone to do what the alarm panel can't, then you may be stuck with whistling or creating your own tone-generator, and maybe even decoder.. hmmmm...

.....great, now ideas of Portable Alarm Receivers are conjuring up schematics in my head... ... remeber, you saw it here first!

And what Nomen says is VERY TRUE. You can't save your house by yourself as quickly or reliably as any Monitoring Center can. You may be out-of-reach at the wrong time, at any time.

Hey..you're gonna work you way out of a job thinking like that.

Hahahaha....good one guy. BTW, do you write for Hollywood....:))))

RHC

How about marketing a portable monitoring kit for cell phones.

The kit consists of a penny whistle, with two notes, .... handshake and kiss off frequencies. A tape cartridge with samples of 4/2 format code on it, so the user can practice listening to and counting the number of pulses after the account number, so as to determine if it's a burg or fire signal. (ie. Followed by three pulses for burg, followed by 1 pulse for fire.)

That's all anyone would need.

Sells for $19.95.

Just call 1 800 BRN DOWN

Thank you for answering my question!

To summarize the other seventeen posts, they're suggesting not to be penny-wise and pound-foolish.

$20/month for monitoring, less whatever you save on homeowner's insurance. And nobody even mentioned the possibility that you are IN the house when the fire starts but don't hear the alarm...

But you are correct; I guess nobody did answer your question.