Questions about Minitor Pagers (VHF) (154 mhz)
 

I may be doing some free lancing in the near future and wanted to
ask a few questions about a Minitor 2 vs Minitor 3 radio pager
unit.

This would be operating in the 154 mhz band with 2-tone paging.

From reading various articles in the past I got the impression
the Minitor 3's were synthesized units, and were disasters
when they were 1st placed into service by Motorola. Is this
true?

Is there a Minitor 4 pager available?

Should I try and buy a new unit or clean used unit? Any information
appreciated.

Thanks.

KM

Minitor V's are out look that way





wrote in message
...
I may be doing some free lancing in the near future and wanted to
ask a few questions about a Minitor 2 vs Minitor 3 radio pager
unit.

This would be operating in the 154 mhz band with 2-tone paging.

From reading various articles in the past I got the impression
the Minitor 3's were synthesized units, and were disasters
when they were 1st placed into service by Motorola. Is this
true?

Is there a Minitor 4 pager available?

Should I try and buy a new unit or clean used unit? Any information
appreciated.

Thanks.

KM

KM
There were some concerns about sensitivity with the Minitor III's. You
might want to compare notes with users on your system.

Joe

wrote:

I may be doing some free lancing in the near future and wanted to
ask a few questions about a Minitor 2 vs Minitor 3 radio pager
unit.

This would be operating in the 154 mhz band with 2-tone paging.

From reading various articles in the past I got the impression
the Minitor 3's were synthesized units, and were disasters
when they were 1st placed into service by Motorola. Is this
true?

Is there a Minitor 4 pager available?

Should I try and buy a new unit or clean used unit? Any information
appreciated.

Thanks.

KM



--
Joe Leikhim K4SAT
"The RFI-EMI-GUY"

The Lost Deep Thoughts By: Jack Handey
Before a mad scientist goes mad, there's probably a time
when he's only partially mad. And this is the time when he's
going to throw his best parties.

on Fri, 05 Aug 2005 21:53:29 -0400, stated:

I may be doing some free lancing in the near future and wanted to
ask a few questions about a Minitor 2 vs Minitor 3 radio pager
unit.

This would be operating in the 154 mhz band with 2-tone paging.

From reading various articles in the past I got the impression
the Minitor 3's were synthesized units, and were disasters
when they were 1st placed into service by Motorola. Is this
true?

Is there a Minitor 4 pager available?

Should I try and buy a new unit or clean used unit? Any information
appreciated.

Thanks.

I've got a Minitor IV and like it - as John says, it's got more
options than the II, including vibrate mode (very useful, since
the organization I'm in is all-volunteer, and we're all on 24/7)
and it records - an amazingly useful function that I don't know
how I lived without. We're also operating in the 154 MHz band
with two-tone paging.

I had a Minitor II until about six months ago, and I will say
in its favor that it was slightly more sensitive. Out here in
the backwoods, with rolling hills and limited towers, that's
important. But the difference between that and the IV reception
is, as far as I can tell, very slight. We haven't yet gotten
any V's to try out; being that we're small potatoes, it might
be a while.


-Allison
very small town volunteer firefighter

I'm the radio and equipment officer for a 30 man Fire and Rescue department
in North Carolina, using vhf, 154.355. We average buying about half a dozen
new pagers per years to replace old/defective/lost pagers.

2's were good radios, but crystal controlled, reed controlled tones.

3's were junk, therefore not around long.

4's have also given us a lot of problems, losing programming, stop alerting,
etc. I even have the programming hardware and software for them, and still
end up having to send them back to the service point for repair.

I was just about to start looking outside the Motorola world for our next
bunch of pagers, but guess will give the 5's a try first.

wrote in message
...
I may be doing some free lancing in the near future and wanted to
ask a few questions about a Minitor 2 vs Minitor 3 radio pager
unit.

This would be operating in the 154 mhz band with 2-tone paging.

From reading various articles in the past I got the impression
the Minitor 3's were synthesized units, and were disasters
when they were 1st placed into service by Motorola. Is this
true?

Is there a Minitor 4 pager available?

Should I try and buy a new unit or clean used unit? Any information
appreciated.

Thanks.

KM

JW wrote:

I'm the radio and equipment officer for a 30 man Fire and Rescue department
in North Carolina, using vhf, 154.355. We average buying about half a dozen
new pagers per years to replace old/defective/lost pagers.

2's were good radios, but crystal controlled, reed controlled tones.

3's were junk, therefore not around long.

4's have also given us a lot of problems, losing programming, stop alerting,
etc. I even have the programming hardware and software for them, and still
end up having to send them back to the service point for repair.

I was just about to start looking outside the Motorola world for our next
bunch of pagers, but guess will give the 5's a try first.


I appreciate your evaluation and comments. I used to own a
Minitor 11 and it worked very well, and I was a hobby listener
at that time. I do remember it sounded very well, the
decoder worked good, and the battery lasted a long time.
I'm actually thinking about buying another Minitor 11
at:

http://www.pwservice.com/compare.htm

Thanks again.

KM.

On Fri, 05 Aug 2005 21:53:29 -0400, wrote:

I may be doing some free lancing in the near future and wanted to
ask a few questions about a Minitor 2 vs Minitor 3 radio pager
unit.

This would be operating in the 154 mhz band with 2-tone paging.

From reading various articles in the past I got the impression
the Minitor 3's were synthesized units, and were disasters
when they were 1st placed into service by Motorola. Is this
true?

Is there a Minitor 4 pager available?

Should I try and buy a new unit or clean used unit? Any information
appreciated.

Thanks.

KM


IIIs were crap. We had the misfortune of purchasing 30 of these
*******s when they first came out, nothing but trouble and quickly
replaced by the manufacture with remanufactured IIIs.

IIs, of which we still have many, are hard to find parts for.

We have decided to go away from pagers and start purchasing radios for
all members. We will of course program these radios (Motorola HT-1550)
to match the rank/level of each fire fighter and not all fire fighters
will have access to all channels. considering the price of a pager vs.
the price and abilities of a 2-Way, we decided in the long run, it's
more economical to go with the radios.



/CF

On Fri, 05 Aug 2005 21:12:29 -0500, John P Vassel
wrote:

We dont freelance in fire/ems, but perhaps you're not talking about what
it means to me.

I'm thinking Ken was talking about some media work or photography, not
actual firefighting.

Minitor II's used tone reeds... now sometimes difficult to get, and
prevented you from quickly changing tones.
III's are synthesized, and pretty much non-existant. IV's replaced them
quickly, never did get the real scoop, but I think it was a
manufacturing issue.

Ah - the III and the IV are effectively the same radio. The difference
is that the IV has a better mode switch and different case. Everything
else is the same. There are sensitivity issues, but many people wrote
that off to synthesizer noise. I've got a IV and it decodes below the
squelch level.

IV's are out, and now so are the V's. We use IV's, UHF tho, and havent
had a single complaint with them. They are available in a variety of
flavors, with/without stored voice, vibrate, 2 channels, etc.

I've only prepared specs for the Minitor V as in eight years all of
the others may end up working unpredictably after narrowbanding
(mandatory on VHF High band and UHF after Jan 1, 2013).

Steve

Steve & Susan wrote:

On Fri, 05 Aug 2005 21:12:29 -0500, John P Vassel
wrote:

We dont freelance in fire/ems, but perhaps you're not talking about what
it means to me.

I'm thinking Ken was talking about some media work or photography, not
actual firefighting.

Yes - video.

Minitor II's used tone reeds... now sometimes difficult to get, and
prevented you from quickly changing tones.
III's are synthesized, and pretty much non-existant. IV's replaced them
quickly, never did get the real scoop, but I think it was a
manufacturing issue.

Ah - the III and the IV are effectively the same radio. The difference
is that the IV has a better mode switch and different case. Everything
else is the same. There are sensitivity issues, but many people wrote
that off to synthesizer noise. I've got a IV and it decodes below the
squelch level.

IV's are out, and now so are the V's. We use IV's, UHF tho, and havent
had a single complaint with them. They are available in a variety of
flavors, with/without stored voice, vibrate, 2 channels, etc.

I've only prepared specs for the Minitor V as in eight years all of
the others may end up working unpredictably after narrowbanding
(mandatory on VHF High band and UHF after Jan 1, 2013).

I was told today (radio shop) that many Minitor 11's are still
in service here in my county. They have a digital trunking
system, but also simulcast on VHF (fire) for the volunteers,
for paging.

(KM)

On Mon, 08 Aug 2005 23:42:00 -0400, wrote:

I'm thinking Ken was talking about some media work or photography, not
actual firefighting.

Yes - video.

We used to call that "stringing." Used to close down a couple of bars
with some stringers in NYC like 20 years ago. Did a lot of buffing and
found this weird culture of who can get the best shot going on during
"tour 1" (midnights).

Are you taking digital video? Once upon a time I was getting ready to
buy a Cannon L1A Hi-8. Didn't do it, though. Bought a Sharp consumer
grade Hi-8, but everything went digital shortly after. I tossed a
couple of U-Matic, 1/2" and 1" reel to reel machines a while ago.

I can't get people to sit through my home or vacation videos, anyway.
The camera's been packed away for years and we only take stills for
vacations and special events now.

I was told today (radio shop) that many Minitor 11's are still
in service here in my county.

There's nothing wrong with Minitor II pagers except that Motorola has
deliberately stopped making certain parts available and are calling it
"no longer supported." If you have one in good condition it'll work
fine.

They have a digital trunking
system, but also simulcast on VHF (fire) for the volunteers,
for paging.

Well, 2013 is a deadline for narrowbanding anything below 512 MHz.
EVERY VHF system which is currently not narrowband will have to be
modified. Many alerting systems will continue to work, but with
decreased range. Some alerting systems will not due to an extremely
wide range of tones in use within the system. The Minitor V has a
programmable ability to work in narrowband mode whereas the others do
not.

Steve

Steve & Susan wrote:

On Mon, 08 Aug 2005 23:42:00 -0400, wrote:

I'm thinking Ken was talking about some media work or photography, not
actual firefighting.

Yes - video.

We used to call that "stringing." Used to close down a couple of bars
with some stringers in NYC like 20 years ago. Did a lot of buffing and
found this weird culture of who can get the best shot going on during
"tour 1" (midnights).

Are you taking digital video? Once upon a time I was getting ready to
buy a Cannon L1A Hi-8. Didn't do it, though. Bought a Sharp consumer
grade Hi-8, but everything went digital shortly after. I tossed a
couple of U-Matic, 1/2" and 1" reel to reel machines a while ago.

Yes. I just bought the Sony camcorder one week ago!

http://www.updatexp.com/sony-dcr-vx2100.html

It works well and looks great on TV. I shot a video yesterday
of an SUV "trying" to drive into someone's apartment living
room in Gaithersburg, Md. This is a costly investment but
I wanted a 3-CCD chip camera so the colors would look good.
You can buy a Mini-DV, Digital 8 or DVD camcorder for $400 to
$800 that look just fine.

I can't get people to sit through my home or vacation videos, anyway.
The camera's been packed away for years and we only take stills for
vacations and special events now.

I was told today (radio shop) that many Minitor 11's are still
in service here in my county.

There's nothing wrong with Minitor II pagers except that Motorola has
deliberately stopped making certain parts available and are calling it
"no longer supported." If you have one in good condition it'll work
fine.

They have a digital trunking
system, but also simulcast on VHF (fire) for the volunteers,
for paging.

Well, 2013 is a deadline for narrowbanding anything below 512 MHz.
EVERY VHF system which is currently not narrowband will have to be
modified. Many alerting systems will continue to work, but with
decreased range. Some alerting systems will not due to an extremely
wide range of tones in use within the system. The Minitor V has a
programmable ability to work in narrowband mode whereas the others do
not.

I may very well end up with a Minitor V.

(KM)

That was one great advantage of the 3's and 4's, the ability to drop in a
AAA battery if needed.


"John P Vassel" wrote in message
. 97.142...
wrote in :

I may very well end up with a Minitor V.

(KM)



I just ordered 3 V's, today. UHF. I'll let you know. I hear they're
slightly larger than the IV's, but that's due to a larger battery. Gone
are
the AAA cells of the IV's.

john

John P Vassel wrote:

wrote in :

I may very well end up with a Minitor V.

(KM)



I just ordered 3 V's, today. UHF. I'll let you know. I hear they're
slightly larger than the IV's, but that's due to a larger battery. Gone are
the AAA cells of the IV's.

john

My problem may be solved by buying the new Uniden BCD396T
scanner that has digital trunking (what my county uses) as well as
two-tone decoding on VHF for the fire tones. It also uses AA
batteries. Sells for around $519 ...... (KM)