With concern about crime, vandalism, and terrorism continuing to increase, the need for security increases, and the place most businesses and residences start is with installing a perimeter security system such as fence with a gate. When a gate is installed, a wireless intercom becomes an essential part of the system so visitors can still get in.

A wireless intercom at the gate will need to be water resistant, but it should also be vandal resistant as well. It will be exposed to the elements and to people who may want to damage it. Therefore the chosen intercom must be very durable.

If wires cannot be installed in the ground, then a wireless intercom is needed. The range these devices can transmit varies widely, but you can get intercoms that transmit as much as a mile or more.

The other factor is the appearance of the intercom. In some installations a wireless intercom with an industrial appearance is OK. In others, you may need one that is a little less unobtrusive like the one pictured here.

Whichever type of wireless intercom you choose, make sure you get one that can remotely activate the gate if you need that feature.

A new long-range wireless outdoor intercom enables you to communicate at distances that no other wireless intercom is capable of. Most wireless intercoms communicate at a range  of up to 1000 feet. With the Multi-Mile Wireless system you can reach distances measured in miles depending on how it’s used. You can adjust range by changing between the intercom’s one-watt or two-watt setting.  The one-watt setting works for shorter distances or when using battery power.

To achieve maximum range, there is an external antenna that you can mount as high as possible. The higher it’s mounted, the longer range you’ll get. The antenna comes with about three feet of cable, but you can add more to raise the antenna higher.

The long-range wireless intercom also has internal switch that can be used to activate a door or gate controller, switch on a light, sound an alarm, or for any application where remote control of an on/off switch is needed.  A radio that has the ability to send the tones to activate the switch is needed.

Video: Long Range Outdoor Wireless Intercom

When you see a wireless call box in a parking lot there is often a blue strobe light mounted on top. The purpose of the strobe light is to draw attention to the callbox when someone presses the call button on it. Then security personnel or other nearby people can see which wireless callbox called for help.

Hooking up a strobe light to the callbox is a fairly simple process. The strobe light has two pairs (4 wires) of wires coming off of it.  Two of the wires are for power. There is an  AC version that has a standard electrical plug and a DC version has just two wires for positive and negative. The other two wires are for the contact closure. These are the wires that connect to the relay on the callbox.

Then it’s a matter of programming the callbox to trigger the relay as desired.  Most instances using a strobe generally have the callbox set for “relay on when active”.  In this application, the relay is latched as long as the callbox is powered up and working.  The strobe will either stay latched until the unit times out after a period of inactivity, or it can be programmed to be turned off with an “off code” from another radio.

IntercomsOnline.com is now offering gooseneck and other pedestal mounting poles from Pedestal CEO. PedestalCEO is the nation’s leading brand of pedestal mounts for security and access control systems. These poles are normally used for mounting keypads, card readers, intercoms and other security and access control entry devices for gates and accompanying gate openers. IntercomsOnline.com uses them to mount their wireless callbox units where ever our customers need them.

Here are available pedestal sizes and their uses:

42” pedestals are the most common for pedestrian, car, and Pad Mount handicap (ADA) compliant specifications.

64” pedestals are made for small trucks.

72” pedestals are made for large (semi) trucks, buses, etc.

IntercomsOnline is offering both pad-mount and ground-mount gooseneck poles in various lengths. You can view available pedestal mounts here: Pedestal CEO Mounts for Security and Access Control Systems

Staffing a guard booth, guard shack, or gate house with security personnel can be very costly. Even if you only pay minimum wage, every hour that goes by with a person sitting in the gate house costs you $7.25. Since that person has to remain in the guard shack, they can’t be productively doing anything else either. Also, when they take mandatory breaks, then the gate is left unmanned, which causes frustration to anyone who arrives at the gate during those periods.

The solution is to close down the guard booth and replace it with a long-range wireless outdoor intercom. With it, you do not need dedicated personnel to sit at the gate. You can use handheld two-way radios or base station intercoms placed in one or several locations. With the handheld radio, monitoring personnel can be mobile so they can still be productive at doing something else while attending to visitors.

Not only can staff talk to visitors, they can also press a button on their radio to unlock the gate remotely to let visitors in. There is no need for a trip to the gate.

With these intercoms, a range of a couple of miles can be achieved in some conditions so they should work for most applications.

On a golf course property the restaurant and bar at the club house are usually significant sources of revenue. The more golfers can be moved through, the more money can be made. One way to do that is to install an intercom system on the 9th hole that communicates back to the kitchen or bar. When golfers reach the 9th hole they simply press the button to speak with someone who can take their order.  When they get to the clubhouse, their order is waiting for them

The problem with this solution has been the huge expense and mess created by trenching to run the wire. Also, the length of the wire needed is often prohibitive since most intercom systems have a maximum wire length of around 1500 feet.

The most attractive solution is to install a wireless callbox.  A wireless callbox is essentially a two-way radio in a vandal and weather resistant housing. It can communicate with multiple base station intercoms or handheld two way radios back in the kitchen, bar, or wherever you have personnel who can take orders. One of the additional benefits of wireless is that order takers can be completely mobile so they don’t have to be tied to one location.

This system also encourages players to move faster through the final 9 holes since they know they have food waiting for them. That enables you to make more revenue from green fees as well. Also since many golfers are higher income earners who consider their time to be extremely valuable, providing faster service to them means they are more likely to take advantage of this new time-saving service.

To increase revenue even more, you could add callboxes in different locations around the course to take drink orders that you then deliver to the golfers during play.  You could set callboxes on different channels so you know which one is calling in. Each channel represents a different location on the course. Since you want the golfers to keep moving, you ask them the shirt colors of everyone in their party so you can track them down, and you also tell them watch for the drink cart so they can flag it down.

Another advantage of the system is that it is capable of receiving NOAA weather alerts so you’ll automatically know when severe weather is approaching.  Since these callboxes are part of a complete long-range communication system, you could also use your handheld radio or base station intercoms to broadcast emergency messages to a Wireless PA system so you can warn golfers to take cover. You can use these callboxes for other emergency use as well.  Placing them in strategic locations around the course as a defibrillator deployment system could save someone’s life.

The callbox can be fully solar powered so there is no need for trenching at all and a solution can be installed in a few hours. The range on these callboxes is up to a mile or even more with the use of an external antenna.

This golf course 9th-hole order system is available at www.IntercomsOnline.com

At IntercomsOnline.com we quite frequently get requests from marinas who want to add an intercom system to their boat docks where the boats pull up to gas pumps for fueling.  Of course a wired intercom is usually out of the question due to the complexities of running the wire to the dock, and given the harsh environment, the wires can go bad quickly. This is why we propose a weatherproof wireless call box intercom.

A wireless call box can transmit and receive voice communication over long distances. Range is usually measured in miles, not feet so distance is seldom a limitation.  You can place a fixed base station intercom in the store, or you can have someone carrying a mobile two-way radio, or both, so someone is always available to take calls from the boat dock.

When a boater pulls up to the dock, they press the button on the callbox and they can talk to you and you to them. The instructions are printed right on the callbox so the boater knows what to do. These wireless callboxes are available in non-licensed frequencies so an FCC license is not required to operate them.

A boat dock gas pump intercom system will ensure your customers don’t have to wait around for someone to show up to help them pump gas.

Australian spectrum allocation arrangements are, at their broadest level, embodied in one statutory instrument known as the Australian Radiofrequency Spectrum Plan (ARSP). The Spectrum Plan divides the Australian radio frequency spectrum into a number of frequency bands and specifies the general purposes for which the bands may be used.

In the United States, business band radios operate in UHF frequencies of 450 – 470 MHz and VHF frequencies of 150 – 162 MHz. Both 450 – 470 MHz and 150 – 162 MHz are usable in Australia for various communications purposes which are listed in the ARSP (the Spectrum Plan). A link to the ARSP can be found at this link: http://www.acma.gov.au/webwr/radcomm/frequency_planning/spectrum_plan/aust_rf_spectrum_plan.doc.

To use these radios you would require a license to operate a radiocommunications transmitter in Australia including in the 150 MHz – 162 MHz and 450 MHz – 4 70 MHz sections of the spectrum. Under the Radiocommunications Act 1992 all radiocommunications transmitters in Australia must be licensed. There are 3 types of radiocommunications licenses in Australia, they are Class licenses, Apparatus licenses and Spectrum licenses. More information on these 3 types of licensing can be found at here: http://www.acma.gov.au/WEB/STANDARD/pc=PC_481  Radiocommunications licensing.

Parking lots are money makers to be sure, but it is imperative to provide good customer service to keep people coming back, which increases your profits from parking revenue.  One way to provide better customer service in lots where an attendant may be available within a mile or two, is to provide a method of communication the customer can use if he or she is having trouble.

Installing wireless call boxes in areas where customers may need assistance enables them to call a parking attendant when they need help. If they are having trouble with a pay station

or automatic parking attendant, having a call box next to the station ensures that they can reach someone if it isn’t working properly.

You could also use these callboxes to provide emergency services to your customers in the event they can’t start their car or there is someone suspicious lurking around the parking lot.

By providing extra services to your parking lot customers through a parking lot intercom system, you’ll ensure that they come back to your parking lot. That leads to increased parking lot revenue!

These wireless callboxesare available at www.IntercomsOnline.com.

Wireless System Eliminates Expensive Trenching And Greatly Reduces Installation Cost

A wireless security gate intercom provides long range, 2-way voice communication to a two-way radio or wireless intercom. They can be used to open gates or doors from remote locations, which means monitoring personnel do not have to be confined to a desk.  These intercoms are also called “wireless call boxes” and are essentially long-range two-way radios in a water and vandal resistant case with some added features. There are no air-time or telephone service fees with these systems.

A wireless gate intercom makes it possible to quickly implement a communication system without expensive and messy trenching. These gate opening intercoms have a range of up to a mile, or even further with use of external antennas.

These call boxes use either UHF or VHF frequencies to communicate over long range. Most of these wireless frequencies require an FCC license, but the VHF version has several unlicensed frequencies. These call boxes can be programmed to be compatible with virtually any brand of VHF or UHF business band radio.

If the gate application requires unlocking a gate or door from a remote location, then a call box with a relay that can be controlled by pressing a button on a wireless intercom or two-way radio with the 2-tone encode feature is needed. A callbox with an entry keypad is also available that enables people to enter a code at the call box to open the gate or door.

When visitors press the button on the callbox it sounds a call tone on a handheld two-way radio or wireless base station intercom. Monitoring personnel can speak to the visitor and then press a button that activates a switch output that can be used to open or close a gate, turn on a light, sound an alarm, or any application where remote control of an On/Off switch is required.

Some call boxes also have a sensor input that allows them to operate as a motion detection, tamper, or vehicle detection device. These callboxes send a warning tone when a change in the switch/sensor status is detected. One call box even has the ability to send a pre-recorded voice message when the switch status changes.

The callbox with voice messages can also play a message when someone presses its button. This could be a message that gives the caller specific instructions on what to do. These units can also send a second and different voice message alert to the monitoring central location or portable radios. This message could give the call boxes location or it could be an emergency message of some type.

If no AC power is available at the gate, these callboxes can be powered by six D-cell batteries or by a solar power system.  If AC is available, an optional AC to DC 12 volt transformer is available.

If several callboxes are in use and the location of the unit calling needs to be known, a unique numeric identifier can be transmitted to a radio that has the ability to decode this identifier. This is like having a telephone with Caller ID capability. Or if fewer than five callboxes are needed, then separate channels can be assigned for each callbox.

For wireless gate communications, a wireless intercom like the Callbox XT Outdoor Wireless Intercom offers clear wireless voice communication and remote gate unlocking, quickly, without expensive trenching and monthly air-time fees.

These products are available at www.IntercomsOnline.com.