• To anyone looking to acquire commercial radio programming software:

    Please do not make requests for copies of radio programming software which is sold (or was sold) by the manufacturer for any monetary value. All requests will be deleted and a forum infraction issued. Making a request such as this is attempting to engage in software piracy and this forum cannot be involved or associated with this activity. The same goes for any private transaction via Private Message. Even if you attempt to engage in this activity in PM's we will still enforce the forum rules. Your PM's are not private and the administration has the right to read them if there's a hint to criminal activity.

    If you are having trouble legally obtaining software please state so. We do not want any hurt feelings when your vague post is mistaken for a free request. It is YOUR responsibility to properly word your request.

    To obtain Motorola software see the Sticky in the Motorola forum.

    The various other vendors often permit their dealers to sell the software online (i.e., Kenwood). Please use Google or some other search engine to find a dealer that sells the software. Typically each series or individual radio requires its own software package. Often the Kenwood software is less than $100 so don't be a cheapskate; just purchase it.

    For M/A Com/Harris/GE, etc: there are two software packages that program all current and past radios. One package is for conventional programming and the other for trunked programming. The trunked package is in upwards of $2,500. The conventional package is more reasonable though is still several hundred dollars. The benefit is you do not need multiple versions for each radio (unlike Motorola).

    This is a large and very visible forum. We cannot jeopardize the ability to provide the RadioReference services by allowing this activity to occur. Please respect this.

Inexpensive radio also work as a Pager ?

Status
Not open for further replies.

CaptDan

Member
Joined
Aug 11, 2013
Messages
275
Location
Ocala, Florida
Do any of these inexpensive radios also work as a pager ?

A volunteer organization was looking to buy inexpensive 2 way hand held radios - not necessarily for critical incident use but instead of buying pagers. That way - for example when there is a request for a second crew for an EMS call - as long as one volunteer goes to the station to pick up the ambulance - the other responder or two can coordinate - via radio - who is going to the station to get the ambulance and who is going to meet the ambulance at the scene of the call.

That might not be a big issue for some, but in a somewhat rural area, the Station or Squad building might be quite a distance away so being able to coordinate the response of the volunteers is a big deal. As long as there is a qualified driver - there is no need for all the responding volunteers to respond to the Squad building. Some volunteers might live and be responding from nearby the address of the call, no need for them to drive miles away to the Squad Building, just to ride back to the scene of the incident in the EMS Rig.

So just wondering if any of the inexpensive hand held radios can also work as a pager ?
 

Michael-SATX

Member
Joined
Jan 1, 2005
Messages
910
Location
San Antonio, Texas
I thought I might add that I recently picked up 3 Motorola Minitor 4 Stored Voice pagers off eBay.
These were in great condition and the seller only wanted $56 each programmed and shipped !
Since lots of depts are upgrading to Minitor 5 and the new Minitor 6 pagers that handle narrow band
frequencies, there are lots of used Minitor 2,3 & 4's on the used market as cheap as 2-way radios.:)
I also picked up 3 Motorola Amplified Charging docking stations for my Minitor 4 pagers only $25 each!
I wish I had gotten more of these little gems to pass out to all my friends in this little rural area in TX.
 

CaptDan

Member
Joined
Aug 11, 2013
Messages
275
Location
Ocala, Florida
I thought I might add that I recently picked up 3 Motorola Minitor 4 Stored Voice pagers off eBay.
These were in great condition and the seller only wanted $56 each programmed and shipped !
Since lots of depts are upgrading to Minitor 5 and the new Minitor 6 pagers that handle narrow band
frequencies, there are lots of used Minitor 2,3 & 4's on the used market as cheap as 2-way radios.:)
I also picked up 3 Motorola Amplified Charging docking stations for my Minitor 4 pagers only $25 each!
I wish I had gotten more of these little gems to pass out to all my friends in this little rural area in TX.

These units are just pagers as far as I can determine, is that correct ?

What I was looking for is an inexpensive 2 way radio that can be used as a pager. That way when there is a call for a second crew - the volunteers available to respond could radio in and only the person closest to to the squad would have to go to the squad to pick up the ambulance, the other responders could coordinate their response directly to the scene via 2 way radio.

The squad usually does not respond to a call with less than a 3 person crew. The duty crew usually stays at the squad building, when a they are committed to an assignment and a second call comes in, a general page is transmitted announcing that a second duty crew is needed. Some volunteers live close to the Squad Building while others do not, and are looking for a way to eliminate the Ambulance response being delayed as for example volunteers leave their home and drive sometimes between 2 - 15 miles to the Squad building - just to hop in the rig and drive back to a short distance from their home from which they initially started their response from.

The idea is that when someone arrives at the Squad building and starts the rig up, they could announce, as they do now that there are they waiting for a crew. With 2 way radios - squad members could call in and report that they are say 5 blocks from the call location and will meet the rig on scene.

Just an idea that is being kicked around - if there is such an inexpensive radio - they might be a better purchase - than more pagers.

So the basic question remains - are there any inexpensive hand held 2 way radios that can also operate as a voice pager ?
 

Michael-SATX

Member
Joined
Jan 1, 2005
Messages
910
Location
San Antonio, Texas
Yes, Capt Dan, these are just Motorola Minitor Pagers that only alert you to Fire Tone-Out Dispatches.
There are most definitely 2-way radios that can be programmed up for Tone-Out functionality as well as for your needs.
You may want radios this way you could also utilize them for also coordinating crews to make the scenes faster.

There will be lots of folks coming along after me with lots of recommended ideas on models of 2-ways radios 4U :)

Yes these are just pagers that I was mentioning. for me I love the compact size and playback stored voice feature !
My Pics show Pagers (3,4,5), Amplified Charger (Loud and Boosts reception) and Station Strobe kit to plug into pager dock station.
 

Attachments

  • Motorola Minitor Pagers.jpg
    Motorola Minitor Pagers.jpg
    3.4 KB · Views: 347
  • Motorola Minitor IV Charger.jpg
    Motorola Minitor IV Charger.jpg
    82.9 KB · Views: 1,103
  • Alerting Strobe accessory for amplified charger.jpg
    Alerting Strobe accessory for amplified charger.jpg
    10.2 KB · Views: 539
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top