This could be an interesting one, I got my hands on a few VHF POCSAG pagers and am interested in seeing if there is any VHF POCSAG still operating in Oregon. anyone have any ideas whats out there still. also any hams out there playing with POCSAG in oregon? i know i could build a ham station to broadcast weather but more interested in whats already out there.
VHF POCSAG in Oregon?
- Thread starter tlemke940
- Start date
The last Oregon pagers I heard were FLEX on 900MHz, mostly hospital traffic.
Are your pagers front button frequency and CAP programmable?
Are your pagers front button frequency and CAP programmable?
If you live near a large hospital then maybe there is still activity though doubtful on VHF. And decoding digital traffic is illegal in the US.
You've reminded me I have a complete Pager test station with TX/RX and tone decoding. Probably a relic now.
You've reminded me I have a complete Pager test station with TX/RX and tone decoding. Probably a relic now.
ya the hospitals in this area are not using pagers anymore at least not pocsag. they are using some 900mhz and wifi paging system. first place I looked lol. and digital traffic is ok to decode. encrypted traffic is not otherwise it would be illegal to decode P25, NXDN, DMR, ect. as they are all digital formats.
Monitoring pager traffic is illegal in the US.
Cordless phones are also illegal to monitor today.
Being digital has nothing to do with the legality of monitoring paging services or cordless phones. I think it may have something to do with these type services being accessible via the PSTN but I may be wrong on that part.
Here in St Louis, MO, the hospitals still make use of VHF POCSAG paging. I have a hospital about a mile away and it has a VHF paging antenna on top of the tallest building. A 152 MHz notch filter is a must here for many scanners!
The last I'd saw, the paging provider has switched to an encrypted format.
We also have a few 930ish MHz paging sites that will be FLEX. Some of these are also used by area hospitals the last I was told.
After doing some more research yes most paging is illegal (unless it's ham) but there are exceptions tone only is one and public safety is a highly debated one also. I didn't realize that unencrypted paging was also included i knew cordless phones and pagers that ran on the phone network were illegal. But this brings up the second part of my question is there any hams in oregon playing with pocsag.
radiotweester
Member
Legal discussion aside, Columbia County Fire Dispatch uses POCSAG as a preamble to voice calls.
Yamhill County Fire also use to be shared with POCSAG traffic. I think it was a hospital? Was driving 99W and was a bit surprised by the noise and voice calls. Nobody I know still has any Commercial VHF or UHF paging equipment still operating. As for Ham, I know of a couple of repeaters setup with 2-tone, but not POCSAG.
There are a bunch of encoder programs that can be used on Ham IF you can get the pager to tune that low.
Most of the Ham stuff is done on 439MHz.
After years of pager intermod, POCSAG on VHF might be an unwelcome sound. If they're Apollo pager hold on to them, if they're Motorola/Metrocall/USA Mobility they're a pain to find the exact software for. Not impossible, just a pain. A lot of the old POCSAG pagers are crystal units, not programmable. The FLEX pagers are what most everyone uses on 900, but with the spectrum reduction and other tech the days are limited for the open market.
Yamhill County Fire also use to be shared with POCSAG traffic. I think it was a hospital? Was driving 99W and was a bit surprised by the noise and voice calls. Nobody I know still has any Commercial VHF or UHF paging equipment still operating. As for Ham, I know of a couple of repeaters setup with 2-tone, but not POCSAG.
There are a bunch of encoder programs that can be used on Ham IF you can get the pager to tune that low.
Most of the Ham stuff is done on 439MHz.
After years of pager intermod, POCSAG on VHF might be an unwelcome sound. If they're Apollo pager hold on to them, if they're Motorola/Metrocall/USA Mobility they're a pain to find the exact software for. Not impossible, just a pain. A lot of the old POCSAG pagers are crystal units, not programmable. The FLEX pagers are what most everyone uses on 900, but with the spectrum reduction and other tech the days are limited for the open market.
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radiotweester
Member
I would advise you do a little more research on the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA)...
Anything in the future should be assumed to be for Amateur (Ham) Radio experimentation/communication. QSL mag years back had an article on Ham pager coms.
I run Pistar on a raspberry pi for a DMR and Dstar repeater. I believe Pi-star has the ability to run POCSAG with DAPNET. I don't have any experience with running POCSAG on pistar, but it may get you in the direction you're looking to go with it. Id love to see what you do with it.
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