Allegan County Radio Upgrade Project

[Jwindsor15]

As far as I know. There was a problem with pagers connecting to it but the tower wasn't a critical site in the simulcast so the pagers wouldn't go off. Instead of adding it to the simulcast or taking it off the pagers they shut down the entire tower.

 

[Gadgetmann]

It all dependings on where you are in the county how good the 800 coverage is. Areas like dorr only get 1 or 2 bars on the pagers. This causes Fire and ems departments to either get alerted and garbled voice or nothing at all. Some areas have better 800 coverage so it isn't a problem.

There is also the problem of people receiving different versions of firmware on their pagers. Some people are saying that a newer firmware is working better.

Everyone on the fire departments are used to vhf systems. These systems are better in coverage because you put the pager on your belt and you would always get toned and hear the page. The 800 system now you have to take the pagers off when you are in a car and put them in a cup holder otherwise the pagers will bonk that they are out of range. This seems to be a problem no matter where you are in the county. Battery life is also an issue. Pagers last maybe 18 hours. There is also an issue when the battery completely drains all the lights turn on and it requires you to take the battery out to reset it. That wasnt a problem on the monitor pagers but the unication ones requires a screw driver to access the battery compartment.

Ok, thanks for the info. Is this exclusive to just Allegan Co using Unications? How are they working in other counties?

 

[Jwindsor15]

I think the problem is that the mpscs was designed for msp and not fire and ems. So paging is a second thought. I can only speak for allegan county but the pagers themselves have their limitations. Short transmissions are sometimes not transmitted by the pagers. They're good for scanners but better technology is needed to make it more reliable for fire and ems.

 

[Jwindsor15]

Allegan county is the first county is west michigan to use 800 paging. Saginaw and the east side of the state it is more common. Ottawa and kent are in the early process of switching over so well see later how reliability is in other counties

 

[drdispatch]

Keep in mind too, that the Unication is the first pager certified for use on the MPSCS. IMO, the first model of anything is always part of the learning curve. The manufacturer always takes a good hard look at what is right and what is wrong, along with customer feedback, and incorporates massive improvements into the second generation as a result.

 

[Gadgetmann]

Good information, thanks.