INEXPENSIVE AUTOMATED PAGING SYSTEM FOR USE AT REMOTE RESEARCH SITES

The use of a flow-activated automatic sampler at a remote research sit e required personnel to periodically visit the site to collect samples and reset the automatic sampler. To reduce site visits, a cellular te lephone was modified for activation by a datalogger. The purpose of th is study was to demonstrate the use and benefit of the modified teleph one. Both the power switch and the speed-dial button on the telephone were bypassed and wired to a relay driver. The datalogger was programm ed to compare values of a monitored environmental parameter with a tar get value. When the target value was reached or exceeded, the datalogg er pulsed a relay driver, activating power to the telephone. A separat e relay activated the speed dial, dialing the number of a tone-only pa ger. The use of this system has saved time and reduced travel costs by reducing the number of trips to the site, without the loss of any dat a.