Cheap Pager?

[Circa]

I wanted to get a uniden scanner with the fire tone out feature, but the radio Shack scanners are cheaper and better for my needs.

I looked into the pagers that are actually used (like the minitor) but they require new crystals to be programmed to our frequency and a used and abused one is expensive.

Is there a cheap and easily programmable pager available?

Or are there any other options that would alert when our tones go out?

Sent from my Android using Tapatalk.

 

[buddrousa]

The motorola minitor 3, 4, or 5 used pagers $150. plus now the motorola minitor pager programmer and software will cost you a lot more than you paid for the pager. You might get a kenwood radio shop to sell you a handheld or mobile radio in receive only setup with 2 tone paging but you are still looking at $300 to $500

 

[phillydjdan]

There are Minitor IIIs and IVs on eBay for roughly $50 and some sellers will program em for free.

 

[ofd8001]

I'm thinking that Minitor 4s and Minitor 5s are all programmable (receive frequency and alert tone frequencies). So no crystals would be needed.

 

[ScannerSK]

I used an LM567 chip in conjunction with a 555 timer chip on an old scanner to trip the audio for 1-minute any time a specific tone is received.

If one of the tones in the set of tones is specific to your department or you do not mind receiving pages for a few departments this is a cheap way to go if you are electronically inclined.

Shawn

 

[wkm]

The programing software is free from motorola.

 

[sfd119]

I just picked up a VHF Minitor 4 on eBay for $50, free shipping, and free programming. Works great. That is what I would recommend.

The motorola minitor 3, 4, or 5 used pagers $150. plus now the motorola minitor pager programmer and software will cost you a lot more than you paid for the pager. You might get a kenwood radio shop to sell you a handheld or mobile radio in receive only setup with 2 tone paging but you are still looking at $300 to $500

Incorrect. Minitor programming software is free and you can build a programmer pretty cheap as well.

 

[buddrousa]

Well we had to buy our Motorola Software when We bought our programming cradle. Thanks for the update Dan I have not looked at one in a while that is a source I use from time to time for repair parts or replacement pagers.

 

[DJ11DLN]

Well we had to buy our Motorola Software when We bought our programming cradle. Thanks for the update Dan I have not looked at one in a while that is a source I use from time to time for repair parts or replacement pagers.

The Minitor IV is the best of the lot, IMHO, programmable and still uses AAA batteries. It is not NFM though so if you wind up with one of the interlaced channels nearby it will cause an issue. But they were tough radios and didn't suffer from the high failure rate and general deafness we experienced with the V's. I know the software is floating around now and plans for a programming cradle as well so that one would be a good bet. But they charged us for the software when we got ours too.

 

[phillydjdan]

I didn't have to purchase my software, but I just recently acquired mine, so they may have changed the rules after you got yours. My Minitor III is great, takes 2 AAA batteries. Because I followed the instructions on this site and made my charging cradle into a programming cradle, I simply charge my batteries in a standard battery charger. Making the cradle was pretty easy, but I wouldn't recommend doing so if you are not technically inclined. As I said, there are sellers out there that will program these for free, so you wouldn't even have to worry about any of that.

 

[buddrousa]

Good point Dan that was not the case 15 years ago when when I had to do 40 plus pagers.

 

[madrabbitt]

I believe the current software (6) is a free download, but previous versions (3-5) is still a paid distribution. I could be wrong on 5 though.

 

[SteveC0625]

I believe the current software (6) is a free download, but previous versions (3-5) is still a paid distribution. I could be wrong on 5 though.

Let's not perpetuate incorrect info. All the PPS's for all Minitors are legitimately available at no charge. Motorola no longer cares about the III/IV version. The V PPS is relegated to their Discontinued section but easily found on the net. There was no charge for it when it was current. The VI PPS is widely available on dealer websites and on Motorola's, too.

If someone is charging for any PPS, it's a rip-off.

 

[Thunderknight]

Since I was only doing a one-time program, I programmed my Minitor by using a Radio Shack scanner programming cable (for the level converter), and a jack with jumper wires held against the programming pins on the pager. Took some contorting to hold it in place, but it worked