Sunday, June 20, 2010

A special message for golf course administrators

Happy golfers like to play on gorgeous fairways and greens. Keeping things green is mostly made possible by sprinkler systems controlled by golf course maintenance personnel using keypad equipped 2-way radios. Our topic today is how to keep these systems operating at optimum efficiency.

We've got the ideal radio for use with both Rain Bird and Toro radio controlled sprinkler systems. It's called a TC-780. Additional information is available by clicking here, but that's not our subject for today.

Golf courses serve the function of providing pleasure for players as well as a second, lesser known function. In many cases, golf courses serve as community lightning rods with high trees, open spaces, large metal pumps, and to top it all off, 2-way radio antennas. Suffice it to say that lightning damage to repeater stations used by maintenance and operations personnel are frequently damaged by lightning. More often than not, the lightning comes in through the AC outlet or even static electricity in the air - rarely through the antenna.

There are a variety of products available to either sense the presence of approaching lightning, and electrically disconnect sensitive equipment, or "electric umbrellas" that can trick lightning into ignoring the target. They are VERY expensive. Maintaining damaged equipment can be expensive as well.

A repeater station capable of handling both voice and data communications generally sell for three to four thousand dollars. A typical repair can easily be a thousand dollars or more and the time to restore service can be days, weeks, or even months! Now, there is a better way!

As part of our XChange program, we offer your choice of purchasing a backup repeater for UNDER $1,000 or 3 hour exchange and repair of a damaged repeater. Additional information is available by emailing GolfRadio@falcondirect.com or calling us at 205.854.2611.