Motorola Minitors

[frdude1000]

Anybody know anything about them? I want to buy one off ebay, do I have it set to the county dispatch frequency? or my service's tone frequency? im confused:wacko:

 

[lightsandsirens5]

Why you want to buy one? Is one not issued to you?

Assuming it is a one freq pager it needs to be set to what you want to listen to. If you are using it as a pager (as opposed to a hyper expensive "scanner") it will have to be set to your dispatch freq with your service tone codes programmed in. Eg.

Main freq: 155.500 MHz
Tone code: (Assuming it is the standard Motorola format of 1 sec-3 sec) 1sec: 499.570 Hz. 3sec 571.430 Hz.

 

[frdude1000]

So what about minitor II? I dont think they con do specific station tones

 

[lightsandsirens5]

The min 2 uses tone reeds. Your station tones will have to be motorola stardard tones in order to find the correct reeds to set the pager off.

But again, why do you want to buy your own?

 

[trevor1189]

I manage our departments minitors and radios so I know a little bit about them. The information above is correct.

It needs to be set on your dispatch frequency and set to your departments two tone (Quick Call) tones.

All minitors will alert for calls assuming you have to correct reeds (older pagers) or the correct tones entered in the programming code (newer minitors).

If you are gonna buy one, I reccoment the minitor V. I have the least problems with these and also some of the older models have trouble with narrow banding (If this applies to your situation).

If you have a local radio shop or radioshack, they can most likely tell you the dispatch frequency and the two tone sequence to alert for your specific station(s).

 

[lightsandsirens5]

^

What he said.

Except I'd try to find the freqs and tones online first. The gal at my local radio store was about a helpful as a granite bolder when it came to this. And she was no help at all with suggesting where I might be able to find out. I finally ended up calling the SO explorer SAR team leader.

That was all before I joined the FD and the amb and I was just trying to program my scanner.

 

[MTEMTB]

I have a Minitor 3 and a 5.
I like the 3 alot better. If your rechargable batteries die on you you can just pop in a set of AA. just do not set them on the charger if they are not rechargable.

 

[18G]

Minitor II's are great pagers! They are like bricks, can take a beating, and can be gotten pretty cheap now days. The only negative to these are that they are not programmable. Meaning the receiving frequency and tone frequency need to be set by installing reeds (for tone activation) and having crystals for the receive. It is very difficult to near impossible to find one on eBay that already has your counties frequency and station tones. They can be set, but it will cost ya extra.

The newer Minitors starting from the Minitor III and up are fully programmable for both receive frequency and station tones. The pagers get programmed by software. The Minitors can have two different frequencies and multiple station tones. So if you run with different stations, you can just turn the knob to select alert for that station.

I personally like the Minitor III. There was some issues when it came out with receiving but I never experienced these problems. The III is thin and looks a lot better than the Minitor 4 and 5 which look like bricks... they are very thick.

And to the guy who keeps asking why the OP wants to buy a Minitor. Not all stations issue pagers. The volly station I was a member of did not. The relief association or company would take orders and than front the initial cost while allowing the members to make monthly payments on them.

I personally wanted to have my own just because. I have since sold both Minitor II's and my Minitor III. And they really don't cost that much when purchased used.

 

[lightsandsirens5]

And to the guy who keeps asking why the OP wants to buy a Minitor. Not all stations issue pagers. The volly station I was a member of did not. The relief association or company would take orders and than front the initial cost while allowing the members to make monthly payments on them.

I personally wanted to have my own just because. I have since sold both Minitor II's and my Minitor III. And they really don't cost that much when purchased used.

This I was not aware of. That is interesting. I would think that especially a volunteer agency would provide pagers.

Sorry to keep bugging....

 

[18G]

I totally agree with ya Lightsandsirens5... if a person is gonna volunteer their time than it would only be right that the volly agency issues pagers to their members so they know when there is a call.

Unfortunately not all volly departments see it that way.

 

[fortsmithman]

This I was not aware of. That is interesting. I would think that especially a volunteer agency would provide pagers.

Sorry to keep bugging....

I'm a member of a volly/paid on call service and we are issued pagers and portables. The volly service should be providing you with the tools you need to do the job.

 

[lightsandsirens5]

I'm a member of a volly/paid on call service and we are issued pagers and portables. The volly service should be providing you with the tools you need to do the job.

SHOULD be!!! That is just too bad they are not. The result is either volunteers who can't respond because they have no idea there is a call, or volunteers with sub-par equipment because they can't afford good stuff.

Everyone should have a good pager at the least! A good portable is pretty much 0.00000000000001 points lower than a pager. Maybe the Minitor 2 is solid, but it is waaaaaaay dated. Maybe the Minitor 3 looks the best, but it is getting pretty dated as well. Every service around here have the Minitor 4 at least, 95% of them have the minitor 5 though. It is water resistant and incredibly shock resistant. (Mine has been hosed down multiple times, fallen off the bumper of the engine on the way to a call, been in the toilet once and dropped from a ladder halfway up to a second story window onto asphalt. It is still going strong. Nothing busted yet, scratched to heck, but not busted. A 4 could not stand the water part, a three or a two could not stand any of that.

And my Kennwood portable (not sure about the model, I'll have to check) is almost as good.

Making volunteers pay for their stuff is stupid. I can kind of see it for paid folks. But for a volunteer?!?! I'm already giving my time, why should I have to give several hundreds of my own money to buy equipment that #1 should be standard issue. #2 Is required in order to even know there is a call. #3 I needed for personal safety (radio). Do they make you buy your own turnouts? No. That would be a HUGE liability issue. Why should you buy your own pager or radio?

It's not like there isn't money out there! A tiny fire district out where I am (they ran three calls last year.) got a grant for 12 new Motorola XTS 1500s and like 20 two channel Mintor 5s (We only have one fire frequency.) And there are only 14 members on the department!!!! My point is, if any distric does not need all this stuff, it is them. Money is out there just waiting to be given away. Write grants! Get money!

 

[fortsmithman]

The pager my service issues is the Minitor V and the portables are as follows

Kenwood TK270
Motorola CP200
Motorola GP300
Motorola GP350
Motorola HT1250LS+

The HT1250LS+ and he CP200 are the new issues but we have the rest still in service.

 

[lightsandsirens5]

And my Kennwood portable (not sure about the model, I'll have to check) is almost as good.

Kenwood TK 272. Not the best out there, but still pretty good.

 

[TransportJockey]

Kenwood TK 272. Not the best out there, but still pretty good.

I've used one programmed for 2m frequencies when I was helping a buddy test his rig's 2m mobile. They seemed pretty beefy. That reminds me, I need to get my ICOM programmed for 2m ops instead of the public service freqs it's got programmed into it

 

[lightsandsirens5]

I've used one programmed for 2m frequencies when I was helping a buddy test his rig's 2m mobile. They seemed pretty beefy. That reminds me, I need to get my ICOM programmed for 2m ops instead of the public service freqs it's got programmed into it

Well, to continue the tread hijack......They are great radios. And I like how small they are. (Nothing compared to the Icom IC 50s however.) They will take quite a bit of abuse. My only gripe is the battery clip. It will bust if you look at it wrong. My battery is held in by a peice of electrical tape right now.

Other than that great radio and very easy to work. All the benifits of having a knob for the channel changer, but with a backlit LCD so you know wich one you are on without having to tape a "this-channel- is-this-frequency" card to it.

 

[TransportJockey]

Well, to continue the tread hijack......They are great radios. And I like how small they are. (Nothing compared to the Icom IC 50s however.) They will take quite a bit of abuse. My only gripe is the battery clip. It will bust if you look at it wrong. My battery is held in by a peice of electrical tape right now.

Other than that great radio and very easy to work. All the benifits of having a knob for the channel changer, but with a backlit LCD so you know wich one you are on without having to tape a "this-channel- is-this-frequency" card to it.

I've got the IC-F3GS and they seem pretty comparable. I like them both