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Voice Message Notification

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wa2chj

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Joined
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Messages
196
Location
Charlotte, NC Metro
I have my pager (G5/VHF) set up to alert on my department's two tone system, and record the message that follows. It alerts fine, and records the message as well as will play the messages back when I hit the MBox key and play the messages. The decoding and recording works fine on both the VHF frequencies and the Trunking system.

1. My question is this...It NEVER shows that there is a recorded message at the top of the display as is shown in most of the advertising for the pagers.
Does that have to be enabled somewhere? I've searched everywhere for an answer to this, and I can't even find anyone else complaining about this, so I must be doing something wrong. Any ideas?

2. Is there any way to BULK erase these messages rather than stepping through them one at a time and delete each?

3. As a tertiary question, on most of the Minitor series of pagers, when they have received an alert, a red LED comes on and stays on to indicate the pager has been activated. Why doesn't the G5 have a similar indicator? I've heard rumors that they are aware of this deficiency, and may do something about it, but I haven't seen anything lately. This seems like a huge omission considering the competition has been doing it for years.

TIA
Scott, EMT-P
WA2CHJ
 

k3sls

Member
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277
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FM03qu North Myrtle Beach SC
1. The Gx only shows the message indicator if the message was muted on original receipt, i.e. if you had set the group call setting to none, rather than tone or if you set receive alert mode to none from the keyboard.
2. You can bulk delete (unlocked) messages while in MBox by pressing the white diamond key, then the blue ^ (caret) key, then the blue ^ (caret) key again.
3. It does set a top LED if your alert mode was set to none. But no, functionally not the same as a Minitor.
 

wa2chj

Member
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Messages
196
Location
Charlotte, NC Metro
K3SLS,

Thank you very much for your quick reply. I already tried #2, and you were quite correct! I was afraid I was going to wear out the buttons erasing all the messages as it records three for every activation...one beep...the message...and another beep, and we are a busy department so deleting 20-30 messages a day is not unusual.

The other two, I'm disappointed in what the answer is, not what you gave as the answer, and I'm hoping Unication will do something about it to correct the situation.

From what you said, and with my pager set up the way it currently is, if I'm away from the pager when an alert comes in - which happens frequently, there is no way for me to know that there was an activation by just glancing at the pager because neither the red light will be on, nor will there be a message waiting indication as it was played when received. My only choice would be to check the recorded messages. Am I correct?

So my choices are: Leave it as is, and not have any indication, or change it so I don't hear the original activation and have a LED and message indication. This just seems wrong! It seems like they could make both the LED and Message indication functions selectable in the PPS,

This seems like a deficiency for what is essentially a Life Safety piece of equipment! I would think it would light a LED AND indicate a stored message in the display as the default with an option to revert to what it is now.

Thanks again for your quick answer, and I hope Unication sees this, takes it seriously, and evaluates it's worth.

Scott
WA2CHJ
 

Uni1

Unication Representative
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DFW Texas
Missed message alert is in the new firmware. LED and audible reminder. New firmware will be available is less than a month.
 

k3sls

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Messages
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Location
FM03qu North Myrtle Beach SC
Regarding the three messages per call...try setting the D5 timer to Delay N Reset and up the time to 30sec. You may have to experiment with the time, but that should keep the squelch open long enough to collapse into a single message.
Thanks to Unication and Uni1 for addressing the message alert issue. Nice addition!!!
 

k3sls

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BTW...I would love to see POCSAG added as a G4/5 messaging protocol. My county and municipalities dispatch in text, so I carry a G5 plus and E3 pager. Carrying a single device would be nervana!
 

wa2chj

Member
Joined
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Messages
196
Location
Charlotte, NC Metro
Regarding the three messages per call...try setting the D5 timer to Delay N Reset and up the time to 30sec. You may have to experiment with the time, but that should keep the squelch open long enough to collapse into a single message.
Thanks to Unication and Uni1 for addressing the message alert issue. Nice addition!!!

Delay N is currently set to 10 on the VHF frequency, but the problem one is a Trunking Talk Group which is set to a Sub Group Feature and Auto Reset, and Delay N is no longer a drop down option unless I'm missing something. I can see setting it longer might get rid of the trailing beep, but how will it affect the leading beep?
I'll give your suggestion a try if I can figure out how to get Delay N as an option, just trying to figure out how it works, that's why I'm asking.
Thanks,
Scott
 

k3sls

Member
Premium Subscriber
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Messages
277
Location
FM03qu North Myrtle Beach SC
Delay N is currently set to 10 on the VHF frequency, but the problem one is a Trunking Talk Group which is set to a Sub Group Feature and Auto Reset, and Delay N is no longer a drop down option unless I'm missing something. I can see setting it longer might get rid of the trailing beep, but how will it affect the leading beep?
I'll give your suggestion a try if I can figure out how to get Delay N as an option, just trying to figure out how it works, that's why I'm asking.
Thanks,
Scott
Delay timers are still available on TG Scan in the zone/channel settings. I haven't tried them, but the labels appear to be similar to the selective call settings for a conventional freq.
The leading and trailing beeps (actually, I think it's only a leading beep) are part of the playback function. The beeps indicate the start of a new recorded message. They are not being received/recorded and I don't think you can turn them off. Use the little top button on the channel knob for playback all. You'll hear a single beep between each message (actually between each carrier drop). Playback individual messages via MBox gives you a trailing beep with a different tone.
 

wa2chj

Member
Joined
May 4, 2006
Messages
196
Location
Charlotte, NC Metro
Regarding the three messages per call...try setting the D5 timer to Delay N Reset and up the time to 30sec. You may have to experiment with the time, but that should keep the squelch open long enough to collapse into a single message.
Thanks to Unication and Uni1 for addressing the message alert issue. Nice addition!!!
Thanks for the info, I'm trying this now with Delay N set to 30. Waiting for a couple activations to see if it works.
I'll post the results.
Thanks again...
Scott
EMT-P-CC
WA2CHJ
 

wa2chj

Member
Joined
May 4, 2006
Messages
196
Location
Charlotte, NC Metro
Regarding the three messages per call...try setting the D5 timer to Delay N Reset and up the time to 30sec. You may have to experiment with the time, but that should keep the squelch open long enough to collapse into a single message.
Thanks to Unication and Uni1 for addressing the message alert issue. Nice addition!!!
OK, changed to Delay N and 30 seconds. Still recording multiple beeps separately from the actual activation dispatch. The dispatch recordings, just FYI, average around 10-15 seconds, and are recorded complete.
Scott
EMT-P-CC
WA2CHJ
 

wa2chj

Member
Joined
May 4, 2006
Messages
196
Location
Charlotte, NC Metro
Missed message alert is in the new firmware. LED and audible reminder. New firmware will be available is less than a month.
Does that mean there will be a new version of the PPS and the Parameter/Descriptions and Programming info that go along with it? They've been out of synch for quite a while.

Thanks,
Scott
EMT-P-CC
WA2CHJ
 

N6ML

Member
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Sep 26, 2008
Messages
1,274
Does that mean there will be a new version of the PPS and the Parameter/Descriptions and Programming info that go along with it? They've been out of synch for quite a while.

Not sure what's out of sync, but there is (currently in beta) a new version of PPS that implements programming of the new firmware features.
 

wa2chj

Member
Joined
May 4, 2006
Messages
196
Location
Charlotte, NC Metro
Not sure what's out of sync, but there is (currently in beta) a new version of PPS that implements programming of the new firmware features.
Many of the parameters that are now in the PPS have no description of how they function and/or how they should be set and for what in the Parameter/Description section, and are also missing from the Programming Guide. That's what I meant by out of synch. Maybe that wasn't the best way to describe it.

Scott
 

N6ML

Member
Joined
Sep 26, 2008
Messages
1,274
Many of the parameters that are now in the PPS have no description of how they function and/or how they should be set and for what in the Parameter/Description section, and are also missing from the Programming Guide. That's what I meant by out of synch. Maybe that wasn't the best way to describe it.

Ah, yeah, some of the parameter descriptions aren't the best. In this case, the new options are described as below. AFAICT, there LED blink is not optional - the middle LED blinks once every ~7 seconds when there are unread messages.

● Unread Message Reminder Alert
  • Definition
    Determines whether the pager plays the alert tone continuously when there is unread message.
  • Options
    1. Uncheck
    2. Check (Default)
● Remind Interval
  • Definition
    Sets the interval between two times of the remind tone played.
  • Options
    Maximum: 3600s
    Minimum: 3s
    Increment: 1s
    Default: 180s
 

wa2chj

Member
Joined
May 4, 2006
Messages
196
Location
Charlotte, NC Metro
Ah, yeah, some of the parameter descriptions aren't the best. In this case, the new options are described as below. AFAICT, there LED blink is not optional - the middle LED blinks once every ~7 seconds when there are unread messages.

● Unread Message Reminder Alert
  • Definition
    Determines whether the pager plays the alert tone continuously when there is unread message.
  • Options
    1. Uncheck
    2. Check (Default)
● Remind Interval
  • Definition
    Sets the interval between two times of the remind tone played.
  • Options
    Maximum: 3600s
    Minimum: 3s
    Increment: 1s
    Default: 180s
Thanks for the info!
Seven seconds seems a little L O N G for the flash interval. It will seem like a lifetime when you glance at the pager to see if there are messages. Especially when the "Gold Standard" Minitor is on continuously. Seems like making the function and timing of the LED programmable would be an easy thing to do, but maybe they are running into firmware limitations.
I guess this is better than NO LED indication, so I guess we should be grateful for that.
I'd love to be one of the Beta Test people for Unication, As an RF Electronics Engineer, Flight Paramedic/Pilot/Comm Officer, and Extra Class Licensee, I think I'd have some pretty good input!

Scott
 

wa2chj

Member
Joined
May 4, 2006
Messages
196
Location
Charlotte, NC Metro
Ah, yeah, some of the parameter descriptions aren't the best. In this case, the new options are described as below. AFAICT, there LED blink is not optional - the middle LED blinks once every ~7 seconds when there are unread messages.

● Unread Message Reminder Alert
  • Definition
    Determines whether the pager plays the alert tone continuously when there is unread message.
  • Options
    1. Uncheck
    2. Check (Default)
● Remind Interval
  • Definition
    Sets the interval between two times of the remind tone played.
  • Options
    Maximum: 3600s
    Minimum: 3s
    Increment: 1s
    Default: 180s
I downloaded and installed the new firmware, but, at least on mine, the unread message LED doesn't work. I have my pager set to ON DUTY, and the LED set to ALWAYS, but after an alert, the only LED that flashes is the power on indicator. Is this because the message was already played when received? If so, what good is the ALWAYS setting? The pager DOES record the alert.
But I DO like that the power on indicator can be set to flash faster than before.

Anyone have the UNREAD MESSAGE indicator LED flash?

Scott
EMT-P-CC
WA2CHJ
 

N6ML

Member
Joined
Sep 26, 2008
Messages
1,274
I downloaded and installed the new firmware, but, at least on mine, the unread message LED doesn't work. I have my pager to ON DUTY, and the LED set to ALWAYS, but after an alert, the only LED that flashes is the power on indicator. Is this because the message was already played when received? If so, what good is the ALWAYS setting?

Are your talk group and knob position configured with voice storage enabled?

When you think you have unread messages, do you see a count in the status bar at the top of the display?
 

wa2chj

Member
Joined
May 4, 2006
Messages
196
Location
Charlotte, NC Metro
Are your talk group and knob position configured with voice storage enabled?

When you think you have unread messages, do you see a count in the status bar at the top of the display?

Yes, they are configured for voice storage, and the pager records them perfectly.
No, there have never been (on either firmware) any indications in the status bar, which someone commented was because they were played as they were received. That was one of my complaints in my original post along with the lack of an unplayed message LED.
 

N6ML

Member
Joined
Sep 26, 2008
Messages
1,274
Yes, they are configured for voice storage, and the pager records them perfectly.
No, there have never been (on either firmware) any indications in the status bar, which someone commented was because they were played as they were received. That was one of my complaints in my original post along with the lack of an unplayed message LED.

So if you open your Message Box (red button), you see the messages? Do they have an open envelope or closed envelope icon?

I wonder if it works differently depending on system type. I've only tried with P25 trunking....
 
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