UK Fire Paging System

[jrhimaging]

Hi,

I was recommended this forum by someone so not sure if this is the right section to ask this question.

I am an on-call firefighter in the UK who gets alerted to firecalls by a pager. It is on a national system (vodapage) not something local to the fire service, and the pager is just a text pager which comes up with the words "emergency" or "standby".

I have recently moved property and found that in my new flat the pager only gets reception in the window of my bedroom. This has meant having to leave one there at all times and carry a second pager on my when I go out. The issue is that if I am in another room with music/tv on its easy to miss the sound of the pager beeping.

I am considering using a baby monitor so I can transmit the sound to other rooms, but wanted to know if you could think of anything to solve this issue other than this. We think (with our basic know how) that it must be to do with the construction of the building (there are 2 other firefighters in the same block who have the same issues) as the town has recently had a new town shopping complex built and the pagers do not work inside there either.

The only information on the pager is this:
On the front the words "NEC" above the display, and "FX" to the right with "aphanumeric pager" underneath. It has a button with "M" on it to the far left, a single button to the right of this (which is used as a back or return button) and then two buttons joined together to form the left and right buttons.

On the reverse is the following information:
A barcode with this printed above it : "NU70001417 RIC 1703044"

And then :
"153.325
NEC Corporation
Reward if found
and the telephone number"

I have tried contacting NEC but they aren't helpful as they say its Vodapage's problem. We have highlighted it with the brigade but it seems thats the least of their issues at the moment.

If anyone has any ideas as to how I could purchase/install a system to increase the audible alarm of the pager, or get it to link in with a system I can put in other rooms i'd be really grateful.

Thanks

Jon

 

[DickH]

...
If anyone has any ideas as to how I could purchase/install a system to increase the audible alarm of the pager, or get it to link in with a system I can put in other rooms i'd be really grateful.

Try a scanner. Older ones all can receive 153.325. It should be more sensitive than your pager, but even if it only works near the same window, you can run speaker wires out to another room. It should be much louder than the pager.
Old scanners are very inexpensive.

If you get one, set the antenna length to 18".

 

[jrhimaging]

Hi Dick,

Thanks for taking the time to read and reply. Could you explain to me what this does? I have a scanner (GRE PSR-255) which I use to pick up the Brigade's radio frequency which lets me know if the other appliance's are out in the area, but what is the frequency for that you have mentioned?

I have input it into the scanner, and have got it to scan between the frequency I had already and the one you suggested. Will this mean that I will pick up transmissions from both?

Sorry for all the questions but i'm a bit rubbish at this stuff.

Thanks

 

[asd]

DickH,

I think you are referring to voice paging. The OP's pager is FLEX digital, not a voice model, so listening on the frequency with a scanner is of no use to him as he'll only hear digital noise (unless of course he really wants to complicate things and hooks it up to a PC and tries decoding his messages...).

His problem is simply of hearing his pager beep from the position he has to leave it in for it to receive a signal. I'm not sure how that could be done simply. Probably easiest just to get another pager on a different system with better coverage in his area.

 

[fez_uk]

Try a scanner. Older ones all can receive 153.325. It should be more sensitive than your pager, but even if it only works near the same window, you can run speaker wires out to another room. It should be much louder than the pager.
Old scanners are very inexpensive.

If you get one, set the antenna length to 18".

Yes then all he would hear would be paging data constantly.

The easiest idea I think like you mentioned would be a baby monitor style setup so when the beep breaks the vox it will sound your end with the listening handset.

This is a longshot but you could mod it so it has a better antenna on it this should increase it's sensitivity but still may not work inside ? could be a option if you know someone technical??

Other than that nothing comes to mind as easy.