Pager programming

[Adam349678]

I live in westmoreland county, pa. Im looking to get a pager for myself. Im a junior so were not issied pagers but were allowed to by our own. It would be beneficial to have it so i know whats going on in my area so i can be ready for calls and get them faster when im not at the station. What kind ot pager should i get in terms of specific frequences and hoe can i program it?

 

[druhe]

Adam,

Westmoreland County dispatches on VHF 154.0400, with that said you can find a Motorola Minitor at very reasonable prices on Ebay. As for programming ask the seller if they can program it or your local radio shop should be able to handle that, you may find someone here on the forums willing to help out

 

[Adam349678]

Adam,

Westmoreland County dispatches on VHF 154.0400, with that said you can find a Motorola Minitor at very reasonable prices on Ebay. As for programming ask the seller if they can program it or your local radio shop should be able to handle that, you may find someone here on the forums willing to help out

Does it matter what minitor i get than? And as far as it being set up to alert for my station, can the radio store do that as well if they tell them what i want?

 

[druhe]

The Minitor III's and IV's will work however they will not narrowband as result you need to turn the volume up. Minitors V's and VI's will work very well. Do a little research. As for the shop programming it, if they are provided with the proper data, you'll be golden

 

[ten13]

Why go to the time and expense of a pager?

I'm sure you have your own, possibly hand-held scanner. Just lock it on the frequency that the tones go out on (154.0400?). Granted, your radio would have its own tones like a pager, but eventually you'll get to use to recognizing your own department's tones sent out by the dispatcher.

And I'm sure that frequency isn't all that busy that some other town on it will confuse you.

The alternative is to ask some old timer in your department who hasn't been to a fire in years if you can borrow his pager !

 

[Adam349678]

The Minitor III's and IV's will work however they will not narrowband as result you need to turn the volume up. Minitors V's and VI's will work very well. Do a little research. As for the shop programming it, if they are provided with the proper data, you'll be golden

Thank you so much ! I was looking at getting the minitor VI. The place im looking at getting it from has an option for them to program it. The only other question that i have is about alerting for my department. So if i give them the frequency for westmoreland, ill get all the tones for the departments. But how can i get it set up to beep when my stations tones get hit

 

[druhe]

The programmer will need the appropriate tone information for your department. This information should be available from your departments chief or the party responsible for your communications equipment. If not call the 911 Center (on a non-emergency line) and ask for the coordinator they will have it

 

[Railbender]

Ask who programs your departments pagers. They should have the necessary info and be able to do it for you.

 

[Adam349678]

The programmer will need the appropriate tone information for your department. This information should be available from your departments chief or the party responsible for your communications equipment. If not call the 911 Center (on a non-emergency line) and ask for the coordinator they will have it

Thank you! And the last question i have is about the minitor in general. Can i just get a single channel pager or do i need the 5 channel model?

 

[W8RMH]

Check with the vendor that supplies your department's pagers. They may have a used or discontinued one they will program and sell to you cheap.

 

[druhe]

That would be entirely up to you. Westmoreland's EMS is also dispatched on VHF 155.1600 you would be able to monitor that along with Fire. I don't know it you're planning on getting into the EMS side but it is something to think about

 

[Adam349678]

That would be entirely up to you. Westmoreland's EMS is also dispatched on VHF 155.1600 you would be able to monitor that along with Fire. I don't know it you're planning on getting into the EMS side but it is something to think about

Okay. I know my departments tones that i need to program. Im just confused on those frequencies for the general dispatch and i dont wanna mess it up. One of the websites i looked at said that ems was dispatched on 155.1600 and fire is dispatched on 33.700.. and the other website was just reversed. So i already have my station tones to get alerted on. What main frequency should the pager be on for either just fire dispatch/paging or ems/fire together?

 

[druhe]

The list you are looking at is outdated, Westmoreland migrated off of 33.700 several years ago. Take a look here, this up to date:

Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania (PA) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference for Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania (PA)

www.radioreference.com

 

[n3obl]

All westmoreland co pagers are supposed to have both channels. In case one fails they can tone out on the other and vice versa.

Also what station you need tones for?

 

[Adam349678]

That would be entirely up to you. Westmoreland's EMS is also dispatched on VHF 155.1600 you would be able to monitor that along with Fire. I don't know it you're planning on getting into the EMS side but it is something to think about

On the we

The list you are looking at is outdated, Westmoreland migrated off of 33.700 several years ago. Take a look here, this up to date:

Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania (PA) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference for Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania (PA)

www.radioreference.com

Okay. The last question i have is about the tones for me to get alerted on. On a website that i looked it, it says my departments tones are 765.0/615.8 and 765.0/992.0 . Which one do i put into my programming software to get alerted on? The second set of tones is also my departments ems tones so maybe thats just on there by accident. But with the tones that i gave you, which one should i put for my pager to alert/beep on if i have to put them in two different spots?

 

[n3obl]

You need the first one. yes the second is ems but i think at one time the ems tones came over fire and tripped the siren.

There is also a 1084.0 / 389.0 but I think that's for the Aux Police.

 

[druhe]

I would set it up this way: Tone A 765.0, Tone B 615.8, Tone C 765.0, Tone D 992.0 on both channels 154.0400 & 155.1600.

 

[Adam349678]

What if i just want to get toned out for the fire departments tones? Then i just put the first set in? Because once i put the frequency for the dispatch in the pager, all of the counties tones will automatically come across, so i just have to put in my departments tones in during programming to be alerted, correct?

 

[druhe]

If you are in Silent / SelCall (alert mode) the pager will alert to the Fire tones. If its in monitor mode you will hear everything on that frequency. If you have no interest in the EMS side, then don't enter the C/D tones as I have them listed above

 

[N5XPM]

Druhe has provided good programming instructions. Also, a Minitor V two channel pager is pretty affordable and has several positions to allow you to program one position like post 17 and another like post 19. Sooner or later you will want more than one frequency. A Minitor VI allows five frequencies and even more options (such as NWS weather channels if available in your area). A Unication G3, G4 or G5 adds even more capabilities but is probably overkill (and expensive) at this time.