CB Radio Irrigation Alert System

CB Radio Irrigation Alert System IRRIGATION Miscellaneous 27-3-35 "It saves me a lot of trips to the field in the middle of the night," says Eldon Ekins, who recently called FARM SHOW to tell us about a CB radio alert system he rigged up that automatically lets him know when one of his flood irrigated fields has enough water. Ekins notes that the watering time for each field varies with stream size, soil conditions, weather, etc. He wanted to reduce the number of trips he had to make to the field while irrigating. The CB radio system consists of three components: a CB radio at home; another CB radio in the field; and a float/switch unit that activates the radio in the field. The field radio is powered by a small 12-volt battery. The radio, battery, antennae, and alarm are all housed inside a waterproof container. The battery is wired to the float/switch, which is housed inside a 2-ft. length of 4-in. dia. PVC pipe. The radio in the field is set to transmit full time and is without power until water elevates the float to the point where it completes a circuit that supplies power to the radio. Ekins made the float from a small aluminum rod with a sealed empty pop can affixed to the bottom and guided vertically by two eyelets. He drilled a 1/16-in. dia. hole in the top of the pop can so it fills with water and settles back down, shutting off the radio after a few minutes. "It works as well as I had hoped it would and eliminates the need to keep constant vigil on the field," says Ekins. "Before I came up with this system I shopped around for electronic gadgetry for the components, but I found that high tech materials would've cost $1,000 to $3,000. The total investment for my homemade version was about $250." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Delta Egg Farm, LLC, 9246 North 4000 South, Delta, Utah 84624 (ph 435 864-4991; fax 435 864-4994).

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