Paging systems question

[dragon_slayer79]

Hello,

Today I decided to some custom searches for some new freq. in my area and came across a setting that I've known to be in the scanner but have never really been able to locate an answer for. I've checked google, wiki, the forums etc without any luck finding the answer I'm looking for.

My question is in regards to paging systems... I guess first of all, What are they? When I hear paging I think of the old beepers people used to use or something like you'd find in a hospital for doctors getting paged to the ER or something. Is this what they are referring to when they say Paging? My scanner has the option of locking it out or allowing the scanner to pick things up in the common areas of paging. I guess not understanding what it is or isn't makes me wonder if it is just data tones or hospital type paging is there any reason why anyone would ever WANT to listen to this?

If anyone knows of any websites or can offer some free education on the matter it would be greatly appreciated! I never know if I should leave it on or shut it off.

Thanks for your time.

 

[CrabbyMilton]

Perhaps you cold be a bit more specific in reagrds to the actual frequency ranges you are searching. I think I know what you are talking about though isnce old pagers could pop up in the 152mhz and 454mhz range. There was some funny stuff on those. Alot of companies use lower power systems so unless you would be close by, it wouldn't do much good same with hard wired systems. Then again, most people have cell phones now anyway.

 

[hfxChris]

That setting in your scanner would be referring to locking out data pagers, like you said the little beepers people carry. They make a very annoying noise, so setting your scanner to ignore common pager frequencies can be a good idea if you're getting tired of hearing them.

The other type of pager is a voice pager, commonly used by fire departments and some paramedics, for dispatching them to a fire. Instead of looking at the pager and seeing a short text message or phone number, it has a speaker so they can hear the dispatcher call them out. Unlike the data pagers above, the pager lockout function on your scanner shouldn't affect these.

 

[K9WG]

There are still a lot of pagers being used although most (if not all) are text pages. Don't really see numeric pagers all that much.

There is a sound card based program that will decode the pager channels.

 

[dragon_slayer79]

Thanks for all the replies, I'm not really sure what the frequency range is I don't find any specified info on that in the manual. The scanner that I have is the BCT15X, if that helps any. I'm not sure I have pagers in my area or not. I hear a lot of, what I classify as "data" tones, but have absolutely no clue how to tell what I'm actually hearing. I hear things that range from really annoying buzzing, things like dialing a phone but extremely fast, to ghostly sounding stuff to what sounds similar to what a dial-up modem sounds like and what seems to be morse code to name some. Is there a program that can be used to decode these to see what they are or if it's of any interest in the first place? I mean if a lot of it is just radio data for logging into and out of a system or whatever then that isn't anything to get excited about.

As you can see I really have absolutely no clue what I'm talking about here so please forgive my ignorance. I'll do my best to offer specifics as I can. I often wonder how anyone learns about all this stuff unless they have been working in the field or something.

 

[RoninJoliet]

You do have to be careful in the UHF 470 area locking out the paging as here in ILL we have alot of public safety in that area and all of a sudden i was NOT receiving it and had to go into that menu and turn it back on.....

 

[davidgcet]

as far as wanting to listen to it, i do as part of my job. we have a few VHF POCSAG paging systems still on the air and i monitor them constantly. been doing so since about 1994, now i don't even hear them when they are up but notice quickly iif they go silent and don't come back in a minute.

are you listening to 900mhz paging? if so it is likely flex that you are hearing. the data rate changes to higher baud rates when the system is loaded, slower baud rates for more reliability when loading is light. there is some flex on 450mhz, though most of those are not commercial systems. even fewer were on VHF, i only saw one and that was in Central America back in the 90's! we never went to flex on our system, so my experience with it was very limited.

BTW, even though you can easily find decoder software out there you should keep in mind that the interception of a commercial paging system transmission is treated as severely as intercepting cell calls. if you want to do it, keep quiet about it and don't post things you read. and there is some VERY interesting reading too! i can say this, doctors and nurses do meet up in on call rooms at nearly every hospital!

 

[dragon_slayer79]

as far as wanting to listen to it, i do as part of my job. we have a few VHF POCSAG paging systems still on the air and i monitor them constantly. been doing so since about 1994, now i don't even hear them when they are up but notice quickly iif they go silent and don't come back in a minute.

are you listening to 900mhz paging? if so it is likely flex that you are hearing. the data rate changes to higher baud rates when the system is loaded, slower baud rates for more reliability when loading is light. there is some flex on 450mhz, though most of those are not commercial systems. even fewer were on VHF, i only saw one and that was in Central America back in the 90's! we never went to flex on our system, so my experience with it was very limited.

BTW, even though you can easily find decoder software out there you should keep in mind that the interception of a commercial paging system transmission is treated as severely as intercepting cell calls. if you want to do it, keep quiet about it and don't post things you read. and there is some VERY interesting reading too! i can say this, doctors and nurses do meet up in on call rooms at nearly every hospital!

Not picking up anything in the 900MHz area. Just today I noted some of the freq they are happening on and the majority of them are happening on 150's I've noticed it on the Iowa State Patrol freq and some other PS freqs. also some in the 450's or 460's I believe it was. The most of it that I'm getting is in the 150's though.

I wondered about the legality of decoding. Thanks for that info.

 

[poltergeisty]

I used to run a program that would decode pages and ACARS and would receive the paging of scanner services. :lol: All I wanted was ACARS. One of the perks to the program.

I don't use that program anymore.

 

[newtym8]

you can decode pagers, and the message they are sending appears on your computer screen