Dual Channel pagers

[neiowa]

As PSAP changes to Narrowband they will be adding an new page only channel. Currently page happens on County Fire channel. Sounds like good thing to remove traffic from County Fire.

BUT FF that have single channel pagers will not be able monitor County Fire while in route to the Station. I carry a portable so will be able to change channel so this new radio plan will not "hurt" me.

I need to decide too spend extra $ from a Fire Grant for dual channel pagers or to stick with single channel pagers. My FF have mi

If you are already operating with a page only channel, has using single channel pagers been a problem/issue (not able to monitor primary tactical channel)? Or do you get along fine with the single channel pager.

[RyanEMVFD]

What kind of pagers do you have now?

The department I'm on has those Minitor Fives. When we have the pager set on channel A, it allows us to listen to County Fire and an ambulance service just north of us. So I'm thinking if you have these or get these they might work for you.

[KB1OEV]

If you are going narrowband, you should be getting all Minitor Vs. They are the only ones in the Minitor series that will do 12.5kHz spacing. The other ones will still work, but the reception may not be as good.

Interestingly enough, a programming modification has been found which will allow you to change a 1 channel Minitor V to a 2 channel. It has been discussed on this forum already. You should really know what you are doing if you attempt it though.

http://www.firehouse.com/forums/showthread.php?t=92901 (Minitor 5 Engineer Mode)

[Eng34FF]

If you are already operating with a page only channel, has using single channel pagers been a problem/issue (not able to monitor primary tactical channel)? Or do you get along fine with the single channel pager.

I guess what you are used to seems normal, but we operate with a single freq for dispatch and change to tac channels for operations. We are on 800 MHz and only the dispatch channel is simu-cast on low-band for the pagers. Everybody marks up on the main channel, so we hear dispatch and who is getting on the air. If you want to hear the tac channels you have to get a scanner. It hasn't caused any issues that I know of.

[neiowa]

We're VHF.

Last pagers purchased were 3ea single channel Minitor V. POS as far as I'm concerned. Good thing I bought the extended warranty. All have been back on recall. and all also returned due to various failures. Likely all will fail again as soon as the extended warranty expires.

I'm pretty sure will be order Swissphone for the AFG order.

But question is. If you're operating on a net the has a pager only channel for alerting, and you have a single channel pager, do you find it to be a significant issue to not be able to monitor the primary fire channel while you're in route to the station. Or are dual channel pagers a problem area (one channel is pager and alternate channel is fire channnel)?

[Lump532]

We dumped the pagers and went with these:

TK-2312

Half the price, all the channels. A little bit bigger, but we make it work.


Lump

[tree68]

But question is. If you're operating on a net the has a pager only channel for alerting, and you have a single channel pager, do you find it to be a significant issue to not be able to monitor the primary fire channel while you're in route to the station. Or are dual channel pagers a problem area (one channel is pager and alternate channel is fire channnel)?

It's been argued that pagers hurt fire department response.

Back in the day, the siren (or horns) sounded and everyone went to the firehouse to find out what was going on.

Nowadays, everybody listens to their pager, says "it's only a car fire" and goes on with their life.

Maybe only having the pager channel will be a good thing.

I would, however, recommend a practice I hear on a regular basis across the border in Canada - departments issuing a "stand down" over the pagers when "no further response is required."

[neiowa]

Thats a good, point with pager channel only would have to page out any changes (such as cancel).

[Deliman1016]

We use the WatchDog pagers, they can do up to 5 channels and scan 2 of the channels at one time. They work great, we have over lap and have 2 tac channels and Mut aide another.
Best of all the pager is True Narrowband and is the ONLY pager BUILT IN THE USA by some engineers for Motorola that built the Minitor II's. Have a standard battery and 5 yr warranty. The loudest pager I have ever used - i save $ because I didn't need a amp.
We try radio's- battery life size and the loudness and lenth of alert didn't work for us. The WatchDog with the 5 yr warranty was cheaper than the radio's.

[Eng34FF]

Thats a good, point with pager channel only would have to page out any changes (such as cancel).

Our pager channel broadcasts the dispatch, units marking up, initial report and who has command, and cancellations.

[voyager9]

It's been argued that pagers hurt fire department response.

Back in the day, the siren (or horns) sounded and everyone went to the firehouse to find out what was going on.

Nowadays, everybody listens to their pager, says "it's only a car fire" and goes on with their life.

I think what you're saying is that the additional information provided by voice pagers (vs just a tone, or remote siren) allows members to pick and choose their calls. "Oh, it's just a wires call.." vs "I'd better go see what that is" type thing. It's a valid point but the opposite is also true, though. Members could still pick and choose their calls but it'd be based on no information.

We used to be able to get the dispatch and response channels on our pagers. This changed when we went to the digital trunking system for response. At the time we had some enterprising members who tried to bridge the two systems. Really just repeat the digital response channel on the old analog freq so that members could pick them up on the pagers. As you'd imagine this ran into some FCC issues..

[voyager9]

Our pager channel broadcasts the dispatch, units marking up, initial report and who has command, and cancellations.

They have room for all that plus tones? I know here our dispatch frequency is pretty busy. Especially when dispatching multiple stations each with their own tone.. Here they will simulcast the recall/cancellation report (without tones) and I think one other.. (fire under control, maybe?). It's pretty limited.

[LVFD301]

Best of all the pager is True Narrowband and is the ONLY pager BUILT IN THE USA by some

All but one of the posts you have put on here are ads for those pagers. Should you not come out and talk about your financial interest in them?

Surely with so much input about paging, you have some other part of firefighting to talk about?

[Eng34FF]

They have room for all that plus tones? I know here our dispatch frequency is pretty busy. Especially when dispatching multiple stations each with their own tone.. Here they will simulcast the recall/cancellation report (without tones) and I think one other.. (fire under control, maybe?). It's pretty limited.

Most of the time it's not an issue. It can get a little busy with units marking up in route, but in general, we are not busy enough that it's an issue. There are times that I have to check my pager to make sure it's still working.

[neiowa]

We use the WatchDog pagers, they can do up to 5 channels and scan 2 of the channels at one time. They work great, we have over lap and have 2 tac channels and Mut aide another.
Best of all the pager is True Narrowband and is the ONLY pager BUILT IN THE USA by some engineers for Motorola that built the Minitor II's. Have a standard battery and 5 yr warranty. The loudest pager I have ever used - i save $ because I didn't need a amp.
We try radio's- battery life size and the loudness and lenth of alert didn't work for us. The WatchDog with the 5 yr warranty was cheaper than the radio's.

I've tried the Watchdog not impressed.

Have Minitor IV (junk but AA batteries) Have Minitor V (junk with proprietary batteries).

Tried and liked Swissphone Dual channel. Just ordered Swissphone with our AFG $. Recieved last week some Minitor V from regional AFG and going find a way to trade them off for Swissphone.

[Deliman1016]

What sold you on Swissphone over WatchDog? We had a problem with scan on the swissphone, you need to have a big gap between tone when you send more then 2 tones and they couldn't promise it would tone out. We also thought it wasn't loud enough, and My guys Loved the Built in USA- That was enough for us-

I wish more would think this way rather than complain all the jobs are going over seas

Never forget!!!!

[LVFD301]

Not meaning to argue with anyone, but the manufacturers web page for the Watchdog pager makes no such claim about made in the USA. It does state that they do some manufacturing in the US, but no claims about what specific products are made here, or what percentage of their products are made here.

Seems to me if I had a product I was selling that was made in the USA I would be very specific and very pointed about it.

But the manufacturer itself is not very specific at all.

Of course, the claim made in the US is pretty much a scam anyways now a days. They say a a lot of cars are "made in the USA" but they are basically assembled here from parts and assemblies mainly from outside of the US borders.

I know it is very difficult to find a manufacturer making radios in the US anymore, Motorola, Harris, Tait, Icom, etc have all outsourced the bulk of their manufacturing overseas.

Just saying...