Programming the Minitor V

[SteveC0625]

Here's a situation that I amworking on and am hoping that someone can steer me in the right direction. Our fire department and ambulance squad both operate on VHF but are dispatched on separate channels. The FD already has a full inventory of Minitor V's, and the ambulance squad is in the middle of purchasing them for its members.

For the guys who belong to both departments, we're trying to get the pagers to work equally well on either channel. The ultimate goal is that they would only have to carry one pager instead of two.

So far, I have programmed four test pagers using Normal Scan and Silent Scan on both frequencies. Our call volumes are low enough that we're not worried about missing a call on one channel because of activity on the other. It seems to be working well on three out of the four pagers.

One of our guys has trouble distinguishing the various Motorola "musical" tones so regardless of what alert I assign to Fire or EMS, he can't tell what kind of call it is. He'd like to have EMS on vibrate only and Fire on tone alert.

I've poured over the programming software until I am cross-eyed and can not figure out how to do this reliably on both Silent and Normal scan modes. Best I can figure, it is vibrate for both channels or tone for both channels (or tone & vibrate, of course.)

Any suggestions?

 

[NCFire11]

Im pretty sure you cant have Tone alert for one and Vibrate for the other. I dont think you can even have a vibrate alert on scan, either.

I have a similiar situation. I set fire calls to alert on the main alert(beep,beep,beep) and rescue on a musical alert.

 

[GTR8000]

No can do. The vibrate option is only available to assign at the function switch level, not the channel level. So it's either both or none. You can have vibrate on silent scan, but again it affects both channels.

What you might do is assign the Fire page to Standard (interrupt beeping) and the EMS page to Continuous (solid beep). That's a heck of a lot easier to tell apart than the musical tones.

 

[davidzimmerman]

i'm a volunteer with a rescue squad department my minitor-5 is programed for interrurt beeping for ems and a long solid tone for fire and sure works great no way your going to miss a call.

 

[SteveC0625]

Problem A is resolved, now on to P

Accidental double post.

 

[SteveC0625]

Problem #1 is resolved, now on to Problem #2!!

No can do. The vibrate option is only available to assign at the function switch level, not the channel level. So it's either both or none. You can have vibrate on silent scan, but again it affects both channels.

I was expecting this would be the answer as I thought I had the software pretty much figured out.

What you might do is assign the Fire page to Standard (interrupt beeping) and the EMS page to Continuous (solid beep). That's a heck of a lot easier to tell apart than the musical tones.

I just made that change to the pager after a 00:30 EMS call. I have his pager (which is 6 years old) right now for testing and he has mine which is brand new. "He" is the EMS Chief so I really want to get this sorted out for him as best possible. They just got blown out on a call which woke me up so I stayed awake to listen for another problem with his pager.

The second problem with his pager is that it fully resets after each call. I have tried programming it for Manual reset and for Revert N reset and neither seems to work. If I understand these two modes correctly, the pager should remain in Monitor mode until the reset button is pushed. Instead, if set to Manual, it goes back into Alert mode immediately after the alert tone and the SV only picks up a few seconds of open squelch. If set to Revert N, the SV for the initial dispatch works correctly, but then it goes back into Alert mode instead of remaining in Monitor mode. Obviously, programming is taking because the SV is affected when moving between Revert N and Manual.

The only other issue with the pager is that the function switch is sloppy. Move it to position D, and the white dot goes way beyond the D. Same for all the other positions. The new pager's switch is nice and tight with no slop in any position. But it seems to function correctly in each position so I am not sure that this is related to the reset issue.

Thanks to all for the responses so far.

 

[krokus]

The second problem with his pager is that it fully resets after each call. I have tried programming it for Manual reset and for Revert N reset and neither seems to work. If I understand these two modes correctly, the pager should remain in Monitor mode until the reset button is pushed. Instead, if set to Manual, it goes back into Alert mode immediately after the alert tone and the SV only picks up a few seconds of open squelch. If set to Revert N, the SV for the initial dispatch works correctly, but then it goes back into Alert mode instead of remaining in Monitor mode. Obviously, programming is taking because the SV is affected when moving between Revert N and Manual.

That sounds like there is an issue within the Minitor. Do you have another one available, to try the same programming on?

The only other issue with the pager is that the function switch is sloppy. Move it to position D, and the white dot goes way beyond the D. Same for all the other positions. The new pager's switch is nice and tight with no slop in any position. But it seems to function correctly in each position so I am not sure that this is related to the reset issue.

How does the selector line up with A,B and C? (Is it just offset, and need to be re-aligned with the letters?) I have had the selectors die on me, in the Minitor IIIs, but none (yet) in the Minitor Vs.

 

[SteveC0625]

That sounds like there is an issue within the Minitor. Do you have another one available, to try the same programming on?

Yup, got a brand spanky new one that I have been carrying for most part. When it alerts in Silent Scan, it stays open until I reset it in either Manual or Delay N mode. Manual blocks with the SV function, but it works exactly as I want it to in Delay N.

How does the selector line up with A,B and C? (Is it just offset, and need to be re-aligned with the letters?) I have had the selectors die on me, in the Minitor IIIs, but none (yet) in the Minitor Vs.

It is sloppy in both directions at any position. Set it at any letter, and there is all kinds of play in both directions before hitting the next detent.

The Chief had my new pager last night for two calls. I don't know if he heard the first call (might have been out of town for dinner), but he responded on the second one. We shall see when I talk to him tomorrow.

Thanks for the info.

 

[NCFire11]

If you set it to Manual reset, after the pager activates you must press the reset button to silence it. It will monitor the channel until that button is pressed.

What kind of pager is it with the messed up function switch? Bet it is a III.

 

[SteveC0625]

If you set it to Manual reset, after the pager activates you must press the reset button to silence it. It will monitor the channel until that button is pressed.

I thought I explained that the problem is that the pager in Monitor Mode seems to be resetting itself so that no voice traffic is heard after the initial dispatch which is the exact opposite of how it is supposed to work.

What kind of pager is it with the messed up function switch? Bet it is a III.

Uh, this entire thread is about a problem with a single Minitor V.

 

[GTR8000]

I often wonder if people even bother reading the posts in a thread before posting themselves. I guess not. :roll:

Anyways I think you need to send that unit in for some TLC. It definitely sounds like it's acting up, especially if you basically cloned the identical programming to a new unit and it works exactly as expected.

 

[SteveC0625]

I often wonder if people even bother reading the posts in a thread before posting themselves. I guess not. :roll:

Yeah, I agree. But I took the time to address his two comments anyway.

Anyways I think you need to send that unit in for some TLC. It definitely sounds like it's acting up, especially if you basically cloned the identical programming to a new unit and it works exactly as expected.

I am gonna carry this old thing for another couple of days in hopes of verifying that it isn't working properly. The boss admits he doesn't hear as well as he used to and that he had two other radios on and could not tell which one was silent and which one was open when a call came in.

The county does tone tests on Monday evenings on both Fire and EMS for all agencies. That will be the definitive test.

 

[NCFire11]

I often wonder if people even bother reading the posts in a thread before posting themselves. I guess not. :roll:

You got me!


But the pager definitely needs some /\/\ work.

 

[GTR8000]

LOL! Yeah, it definitely does need a Mexican vacation, it sounds pretty worn and torn.