WatchDog Pagers

[neiowa]

At FDIC. Looks like a more likely (user friendly) potential option to Minitor V than the Swissphone pagers.

Anyone using the WatchDog pager? Any report?

http://www.usalertllc.com/

Another interesting product same booth was the PDT3000 MDT (toward bottom of page). Dispatch can sent text msg over VHF pager channel to truck mounted or station MDT.

[zonetech41]

I currently have one that we are testing, It's too early to give a full update on this new product, however I can say the Customer Service at US Alert has been AWESOME! I will follow up here in about a week after I get a better chance to really test the Watchdog.

R.M.

[ff820emt]

My fd is looking at saving some money ($39k / yr budget) and pagers is one area we are looking at. We currently have Minitor II, III, and Vs issued to our members. I have heard good things about both the Watchdog and Swissphone pagers. I know we can demo a Swissphone for 30 days. Does this company allow something like this? If so, how can I set this up for my fd?

[neiowa]

Yes I have one coming for demo. Actually had it but the goober a radio vendor didn't "read the instructions", programmed as a Minitor and didn't work. Cost me an extra 100mi trip and not for the 1st time.

Looks similar to the Minitors. Uses AAA batteries and desk charger will hold pager and an extra set of batteries. The demo we received has 3 channels. As we operate in two counties so I had monitor each County fire programmed on a channel.

Their are some Swisspagers in our area but have heard from users they are a PITA. Many neat functions but have to loop thru multiple screens to us any of then. Such as turning down the volume. IE not user friendly.

[neiowa]

My fd is looking at saving some money ($39k / yr budget) and pagers is one area we are looking at. We currently have Minitor II, III, and Vs issued to our members. I have heard good things about both the Watchdog and Swissphone pagers. I know we can demo a Swissphone for 30 days. Does this company allow something like this? If so, how can I set this up for my fd?

http://www.usalertllc.com/products.htm

call or email them for info on local retailer.

[koechler]

Yes I have one coming for demo. Actually had it but the goober a radio vendor didn't "read the instructions", programmed as a Minitor and didn't work. Cost me an extra 100mi trip and not for the 1st time.

Looks similar to the Minitors. Uses AAA batteries and desk charger will hold pager and an extra set of batteries. The demo we received has 3 channels. As we operate in two counties so I had monitor each County fire programmed on a channel.

Their are some Swisspagers in our area but have heard from users they are a PITA. Many neat functions but have to loop thru multiple screens to us any of then. Such as turning down the volume. IE not user friendly.

Hi neiowa,
Im working at Swissphone and we are currently working on a more user friendly operation concept. Would you be interested in being part of the beta test? Thanks for your help.

Michael

[islandfire03]

Check your PM box , message sent.

[sheppak]

I tried a Watchdog. Good reception. I found the menu cumbersome. Too cumbersome for my members.
Robert O'Sullivan at US Alert was very helpful.
I might try it again soon.

Stay away from Apollo VP200s. I have a lot of problems and turn around on repairs is very slow. I'd rather get Minitor Vs even though I don't like the battery. I prefer AAA's.

I'd be willing to test a Swissphone unit Koechler, if possible.

I am the RF Communications tech for a large department in Canada.
Currently servicing 950 pagers, mostly Minitor IVs.

[koechler]

I tried a Watchdog. Good reception. I found the menu cumbersome. Too cumbersome for my members.
Robert O'Sullivan at US Alert was very helpful.
I might try it again soon.

Stay away from Apollo VP200s. I have a lot of problems and turn around on repairs is very slow. I'd rather get Minitor Vs even though I don't like the battery. I prefer AAA's.

I'd be willing to test a Swissphone unit Koechler, if possible.

I am the RF Communications tech for a large department in Canada.
Currently servicing 950 pagers, mostly Minitor IVs.

Hi Sheppak,

Thats absolutely no problem. Please contact me by email: michael@swissphonena.com I can give you the contact details of our Canadian distributor.

Best,
Michael

[neiowa]

Now have a beta/demo of the new Swissphone. So far prefer it to the Minitor series. Better std warranty, case seems more durable and $100less each. And it's not Motorola (Fed up with sending Vs in and they are gone for 2 months).

Passed it along today to one of my FF for his take on it.

The price will allow us to stretch out the AFG we will be using for new pagers and handhelds.

[HuntPA]

What are our options for low band? We are on 33.9800. We have seen all of the problems listed above with all of the Minitors. We have II's, IV's, V's in service and we have had problems with them all, though nothing major. We have been looking for alternatives, but we have not been very successful in our search.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Lieu]

Currently we have no station alerting. We are dispatched over the radios on one channel and then switch over to a "dispatch" channel and proceed on the call. With five stations, it gets a little ridiculous at night.

Unfortunately, we are dispatched by a PD that covers several FDs, two ALS depts, and several PDs. In order for us to move to station alerting, all FDs and ALS's would also have to conform. This means all agencies agreeing to big bucks.

In a search for something cheaper, I looked at the USAlert and it appears that they require you to be on UHF or VHF. Is Swissphone the same or can it be operated on a trunked 800? I am also assuming Swissphone would be a much cheaper alternative to installing First In Station Alerting or Locution. Any thoughts on this?

[neiowa]

Swissphnoe pager functionally same as Minitor. A bit more compact and I think rugged and streamlined. Can get for VHF or UHF. Around $400 which is $100 less than Motorola. And has a better warranty. Eliminating the rotary knobs Minitor uses also gets ride of problems/area to break but unit is less intuitive to use. But also same $100ea and save of repairs. Going to have a discussion soon on which to buy with AFG$. I like the swissphone well enough, and the $ sell me. But I carry a radio not a pager so up to the troops.

http://swissphonena.com/products/default.html

[neiowa]

To my understanding there is no such thing as an 800mhz pager.

[LVFD301]

Motorola made the keynote on 800, available as a voice pager, with a variety of formats including two tone.

And what options are you asking for in a pager? 500 for a Minitor is very very high.

http://www.pwservice.com/pagers/fire...minitor_v.aspx

[volff1170]

Another question regarding the Swissphone pagers...
Do they give you the software to program the pagers too? Our Motorola pagers are programmed at the local distributor. Also, I'm wondering what the turn-around is for service? I'm tired of waiting for pagers to come back from Motorola!!

[LVFD301]

You can do your own programming on the Minitors, and the software isfree.

Pagers we send for repair are usually about 2 weeks including shipping.

[koechler]

Another question regarding the Swissphone pagers...
Do they give you the software to program the pagers too? Our Motorola pagers are programmed at the local distributor. Also, I'm wondering what the turn-around is for service? I'm tired of waiting for pagers to come back from Motorola!!

Hi everyone,

The turnaround of our repairs is one day. No joke. It's our No. 1 priority to repair pagers the very same day we receive them. As for the usability: We have a new firmware that makes the operation a lot simpler.

Here is a short video explaining the new operating concept:
http://www.swissphonena.com/newmmi/newmmi.html

That's the original operating concept:
http://www.swissphonena.com/user%20v...r%20video.html

Please let me know what you think of the new one.

Thanks,
Michael

[npfd801]

Bringing back the dead I suppose, but anything new on this front? We're in the process of migrating to the narrow band rules, and will need to phase out a bunch of Minitor II, III and IV (some will go narrow, some won't). For simplicity I was going to just push for more V's, but they have been troublesome, and some of the guys want to try the Watchdog. Anyone have any more experience with these since the thread started?

I like the Swissphone, but the group that trialed one didn't, and I'm not going to force it on the committee if they didn't like it. Given that time is a constraint (we're moving as a county over to narrow band I believe in April), I need to move on this soon.

Any additional feedback is appreciated.

[koechler]

Bringing back the dead I suppose, but anything new on this front? We're in the process of migrating to the narrow band rules, and will need to phase out a bunch of Minitor II, III and IV (some will go narrow, some won't). For simplicity I was going to just push for more V's, but they have been troublesome, and some of the guys want to try the Watchdog. Anyone have any more experience with these since the thread started?

I like the Swissphone, but the group that trialed one didn't, and I'm not going to force it on the committee if they didn't like it. Given that time is a constraint (we're moving as a county over to narrow band I believe in April), I need to move on this soon.

Any additional feedback is appreciated.

Hi npfd801,

Have you demoed the RE729 or the RE729 VoX? The RE729 has technically been around for some time, and was a huge hit in terms of durability, portability, size and reception sensitivity. Firefighters were not used to the way the pager operated, though – changing profiles or changing the volume required looking at the screen. We listened to feedback and the result is the all-new RE729 VoX. The feedback so far has been very promising. You can check it out here: http://www.swissphone.com/product/re...x-30-day-demo/

If you have any questions I'm happy to help.

If you are looking for alternatives:
Apollo, Watchdog, US Alert, Tribute 911 (I think they went broke). To be honest though, I would stick with the Minitor V if you dont go with us. If you want to know why, you can shoot me a PM.

Best regards,
Michael