Swissphone Fire Pagers

[Robert 3006 0]

Any one use swissphone fire pagers in New York State. looking for a dealer in orange County or close by and info if they are better then the Old reliable motorola minator. Thanks for any info

[Fireman488 57]

Robert,

A few years ago, I met Sam Wolfe at the Fire Expo in Baltimore. I told him of our frustrations with the Motorola Minitor V. He guaranteed that we would be very pleased with the Swissphone.

He shipped a programed demo for us to try and the rest is history. We use them exclusively and are very satisfied with them. We still have a few Minitor V's that we use as spares.

The Swissphone is much smaller and much more reliable, with very few problems. Programming equipment is also available to purchase; another feature that we like.

The only downside, which may have been addressed, is that they are not available in low band, only VHF and UHF.

I highly recommend this pager and Sam Wolfe, a former volunteer Fire Chief, who is very customer friendly and provides excellent service.

Sam's contact information is listed below.

If you need further information, P/M with your phone number.

Syd Henry

Elmsford Fire Dept.

Sam Wolfe

President

Wolfe Communications

877-347-3747 toll free

214-789-5686 mobile

877-366-7599 fax

sales@wolfecomm.com

www.wolfecomm.com

[SRS131EMTFF 471]

Just curious what you frustrations with the Minitor series was?

My complaints of the Minitor are size, inability to change the programing/difficulty reprograming, frequency of breakage and cutting in and out during transmissions (although that may be a tower/geography issue).

Although a large plus is the ubiquity of programmers and technicians.

Edited April 23, 2011 by bvfdjc316

[Danger 160]

My complaints of the Minitor are size, inability to change the programing/difficulty reprograming, frequency of breakage and cutting in and out during transmissions (although that may be a tower/geography issue).

Although a large plus is the ubiquity of programmers and technicians.

It's a little bulky, but the Mini 5 is remarkably easy to program with free software and a $10 cable from ebay. I can't set the time on my microwave but I was able to reprogram a M5 with four completely different settings for two different FDs in under 60 seconds my first time trying.

[JunebugKFD257 48]

It's a little bulky, but the Mini 5 is remarkably easy to program with free software and a $10 cable from ebay. I can't set the time on my microwave but I was able to reprogram a M5 with four completely different settings for two different FDs in under 60 seconds my first time trying.

10.00 programming cable? Where did you see that?

[Fireman488 57]

Just curious what you frustrations with the Minitor series was?

My complaints of the Minitor are size, inability to change the programing/difficulty reprograming, frequency of breakage and cutting in and out during transmissions (although that may be a tower/geography issue).

Although a large plus is the ubiquity of programmers and technicians.

We couldn't keep them in service. They were always in the radio shop being repaired. A few years ago Motorola even took out a full page ad in Firehouse Magazine or Fire Engineering or both, I don't recall, apologizing for the problems with the Minitor V.

Possibly those problems have been rectified, but we are very pleased with the Swissphone and will not return to Motorola.

[rutola413 5]

My problem with the Minitor V is the charging. When I first got mine when i joined, it was old, but charged fine. Now, It does not charge on the dock. Simple resolve, I have a spare battery so I just take the bying battery out, and put the new one in. But still. . .

[Robert 3006 0]

thank you for info

[dwcfireman 656]

Best pager ever: Minitor II. I've had two of them over the years. Both dropped in several puddles, the toilet once (clean water), one dropped off a roof, had it run over by a car, and even went for a ride on the front bumper of my hometown's quint. They never died, never broke, and dried out fairly quickly. I just hope the Swissphones are just as durable.

[FFBlaser 24]

I have had the last three minitor models.... Minitor three and two were the best... I know the mountain search and rescue guys use the swissphone ( not sure which model ) and they like it. I still use my minitor 2 and I have had for a few years now and it works great.!

[Mark Z 18]

Best pager ever: Minitor II. I've had two of them over the years. Both dropped in several puddles, the toilet once (clean water), one dropped off a roof, had it run over by a car, and even went for a ride on the front bumper of my hometown's quint. They never died, never broke, and dried out fairly quickly. I just hope the Swissphones are just as durable.

I AGREE!

[BMeehan282 8]

I've had a VHF-Hi Swissphone pager for over a year now and I'll give you my opinion on it.

On the positive side:

Small size

Can be programmed with up to 50 channels.

Excellent for use as a small scanner to monitor multiple channels

great audio

multiple options, vibe, silent, etc.

recorder

On the negative side

Menu driven controls with only two buttons - far too complicated for most casual users

Falsely alerts very often. (not sure why it does this, the alert tone just sounds for no apparent reason)

No where near as durable as Motorola stuff. Belt clip is fragile, breaks off easily, you can replace it in seconds with a new one, best bet is to keep pager in a belt case.

Overall it's a pretty cool little device, especially handy to the user who has some experience/skill with radio equipment. It is not suitable for volunteers who arent technically savvy, or working where the thing will take any kind of a beating..

bernie

[grumpyff 1,159]

When your pager falsely alerts, is it near your cellphone? For some reason my Minitor II will do the same thing if it is on my belt, directly next to my cell. I also agree on the quality of the Minitor II, but lets face it at some point they will stop working, and at this point it difficult/impossible to repair. Weak point was also the belt clip.

[BMeehan282 8]

When your pager falsely alerts, is it near your cellphone? For some reason my Minitor II will do the same thing if it is on my belt, directly next to my cell. I also agree on the quality of the Minitor II, but lets face it at some point they will stop working, and at this point it difficult/impossible to repair. Weak point was also the belt clip.

Nothing to do with the cellphone, just alerts randomly for no reason. I've had the minitors alert many times from the cellphones..

If you want really durable pagers, buy some used Minitor II's on ebay and recrystal them...

Personally I really like the Swissphone, but it's not heavy duty enough for the vast majority of volunteer firefighters.

Bernie