Tell me about your Fire Dept. paging system?

[billybob911]

Our department is looking at replacing our entire pager system. We currently have 800Mhz radios, but our voice paging system is the Motorola Minitor II and operates at 155Mhz. We have six engine companies, a truck company and a Battalion Chief, each with a pager. We also have similar personal home pagers for off duty personnel when there is a big fire. We're looking at replacing all of it.

Does anyone have an 800mhz paging system? Does anyone have a Text only paging system for dispatch and off duty? If you have a system different than the one I discribed above, please tell me about it and your likes and dislikes. Thanks

[DeputyChiefGonzo]

Our Department uses a alpha numeric paging system. Our pagers are Motorola Advisors. They are set up in groups, individuals can also be paged.

[Lewiston2FF]

Our FD uses both types of paging systems. We use motorola Minitor IIs for voice paging, and alpha numeric as a secondary notification. Currently the alpha numeric is not utilized as much as it could be. If multiple companies are out and dispatch is busy pages dont get sent. But each station also has a paging station with groups and all page, it is set up like a computer keyboard. Pages can be sent for functions, traffic conditions, weather warnings, quiet standby call outs. Right now the officers are the only ones to have alpha numerics in my FD, but other FDs in the area are issuing them to all of the membership. Everyone gets a Minitor II.

[apatrol]

You should not rely solely on alphanumeric...commercial companies go down and you have no control over the system....800Mhz are nice but lots of Depts have problems transmitting in buildings... Do alot of testing with any system before you buy...good luck

[blancety]

We currently use an 800 mhz system for our communications, which is simulcast onto 33.96 for home notification/paging. We also use alpha pagers, but they are only as a backup and for non-emergency stuff. Commercial paging tends not to be reliable enough for every day emergency use.

[Engine11]

In my department we use motorola minitor 2's and 3's for voice paging.We also use alpha numeric for secondary notification.Only a handfull have the alpha's but more are getting them due to the fact the minitors don't always go of in commercial buildings.

[s0231198]

Our dept. uses mintor 3's as well as several types of portable radios (all motorola though, except for 2).we also carry alpha-numeric pager's, which go ff with every call, so we can keep the addresses without asking dispatch everytime we need to remember it. What is nice about the alpha numerics, is that when dispatch needs to get ahold of you for something that isn't emergency related they don't have to do it over the airwaves.

[mxz670]

Our mutual aid system recently converted from VHF Lo-Band a VHF Hi-Band frequency. With the lowband all the departments used Minitor I's or Minitor II's.I belive all the departments have converted to Minitor III's for highband. With the highband, it gives dispatch the ability to call individual groups (officers, chief officers, haz-mat etc) along with the whole department, or they can hit one tone and open the pagers for all the 35 towns in the mutual aid system. (for announcements etc.)

All of our communications (paging and 2-way communication) are on the same frequency (along with separate fireground frequencies). My department uses Kenwood portable and mobile radios, they seem to work fine, we have had no problems with them.