Motorola Minitor IV Programming

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dimab

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Not sure where else to put this, please move me to appropriate forum.

Can a Minitor IV be reprogrammed to change the tone sound from long to the short beeps?
And what is required for that?

A little background info:
Went from a Minitor II with 2 tones, tone 1: with long solid beep, tone 2: short multiple beeps. Now using a Minitor IV and only using the 1 long solid beep. Can the pager be reprogrammed/setup so it will utilize the short beeps instead?

Should I just go hit the batboards for this? I Just don't want some crazy technical answer from them, not yet anyway.
 

ofd8001

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There are several choices for alert tones, including the short beeps. They are set by using programming software. It's fairly easy to use.

What is needed is the actual software, plus a programming "saddle" in which the pager is placed, and a radio interface box (called "RIB").

You can check on batlabs for how to make the RIB, or it can be ordered from Motorola as well as the other things needed.

The other alternative is to have a Motorola dealer/repair shop to program what you want.
 

dimab

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ofd8001 said:
There are several choices for alert tones, including the short beeps. They are set by using programming software. It's fairly easy to use.

What is needed is the actual software, plus a programming "saddle" in which the pager is placed, and a radio interface box (called "RIB").

You can check on batlabs for how to make the RIB, or it can be ordered from Motorola as well as the other things needed.

The other alternative is to have a Motorola dealer/repair shop to program what you want.
thanks

do you know anyone who would be willing to donate their services for one pager reprogram?
 

N4UYV_Al

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A couple of years ago, our fire department bought alot of new minitor 3's (use ta have the 2's) those on the ambulance use the series of short beeped programmed one's for EMS & those on the fire department have the one's with the long straight beep....some of us (me included) have both but mine is the only 1 programmed with both different beeps, the others just short beep for both fire & EMS..The problem is that our Motorola techs dont know how ta program the rest of the 'dual tone' pagers ta do what mine does.....So everyone in the department wants ta 'steal' my pager.....lol
Are we gettin' snowed by Motorola?? Sounds like they're just too busy ta bother doin it...So Dimab, we feel your pain....lol
 

ofd8001

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What you guys ought to consider is purchasing the equipment and software needed to program your pagers the way you want them. All you'd need to do is see how yours is configured, and then just copy those settings.

There are several departments around here that do their own pager programming.
 

RDCat

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up here in Basalt we program our own pagers and radios
oco's have there own tones -ambi has there own tones
and ''all call'' is long tone
 

aaknitt

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The Minitor III and IV can be programmed for short beeps ONLY if the alerting tone sent by the dispatcher is a two tone page. If the alerting tone sent over the air is a single long tone, then you're stuck with the long beeeeeep. I had the same question because my fire department is toned out with a single long tone, and I wanted to have the pager give me the short beeps instead of the long beeeeeep. Unfortunately in my case it can't be done. You can build your own programming interface pretty cheaply, but the software is only available from Motorola and it's kind of pricey. Check www.batlabs.com for more info.

Andy
 

als365

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I'm assuming that you're a fire/EMS worker if you ahve a minitor pager, maybe volunteer? I have a minitor II and III, one for fire tones, and one for ambulance tones. We program all of our pagers. Ask your captain or someone who may have access to programming software.
 

aaknitt

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Austin,

If your fire and ambulance are dispatched out on the same frequency you can put both sets of tones in one pager and not have to carry two pagers. With some programming tricks you can even make the Minitor III give you a different kind of alert for each call (beep beep beep versus beeeeeeeeeep).

Andy
 

als365

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Well i don't pack both my pagers. If i'm working on the ambulance then i pack my ambulance pager. If i'm not on ambulance, i pack my fire pager since it's VFD. I really only pack my pager when i'm going somewhere where i don't want to hear the chatter, like church or out to dinner, or when i'm sleeping, etc. I usually just carry my radio and hear the straight tones. The minitor III has 4 "channels", A, B, C, and D. Can i set A to detect ambulance and fire tones or do i have to set ambulance tones on A and fire tones on B?
 

ofd8001

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"The Minitor III has 4 "channels", A, B, C, and D. Can i set A to detect ambulance and fire tones or do i have to set ambulance tones on A and fire tones on B?"

That isn't quite right. The Minitor III can receive two (2) frequencies (presuming it was ordered with the two frequency option). The A,B,C and D positions are switch positions only. What these four positions do is set by the programming software and there are several options. Listen to open receive, listen on tone control, alert by beeping, alert by vibrating are some of those. However, you can have your pager alert on up to four different tone groups, as long as they are all on the same frequency.

Only the Minitor 5 will "scan in tone control" two different frequencies in the tone control mode such as tone group A/frequency 1 and tone group B/frequency 2.
 

als365

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I used the word "channels" for lack of a better word. That's why i used the qotes. I don't think i'm understanding the answer to your question so i'll give you an example. Our page out frequency for ambulance and fire is 155.055. Our fire tone is a short low, and a long high. Our ambulance tone is a short high and a long low. Can i have the pager alert for either tone on the same switch position, or do i have to have the fire tone alert on A and the ambulance tone alert on B?
 

Voyager

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als365 said:
I used the word "channels" for lack of a better word. That's why i used the qotes. I don't think i'm understanding the answer to your question so i'll give you an example. Our page out frequency for ambulance and fire is 155.055. Our fire tone is a short low, and a long high. Our ambulance tone is a short high and a long low. Can i have the pager alert for either tone on the same switch position, or do i have to have the fire tone alert on A and the ambulance tone alert on B?

If it's on the same frequency, a Minitor III, IV, or V can be programmed to alert on either tone set in any position (A, B, C, or D)

Joe M.
 

ofd8001

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"Ok, but can it alert on both sets of tones on the same switch setting if they're on the same fequency?"

Short answer: Yep.

Longer answer and explanation: You can have the programming set so that when the ambulance tones go off the pager "beeps" one way and for the fire tone, it beeps another.

Your pager could even do two more tone sets on the 155.055 channel. I've got one Minitor III in my department vehicle with the stored voice function so I can play back the address if I need to. I also have an old Minitor III in my basement just to listen to down there. Then I have a Minitor IV that I usually carry. All three are programmed the same way.

In Jefferson County Kentucky, there are 18 fire departments. Each department has its own set of tones, and in some cases there is a separate tone group for each department's station for selective dispatching, plus a chief's tone. We have one tone group that opens up every firefighter's pager in the county, regardless of what department (real handy for weather alerting). There's also an "all chiefs" tone which all fire chiefs have.

So my pagers are set up this way: they open up on our department's chief officers tone group, the county all call tone group and the county fire chiefs tone group.
 
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