SA Firefighter

Quote from: Wholey on October 21, 2013, 08:41:12 AM
Are CFS and SES pagers very different?

The pagers are slightly different in use but do the same job on the same network; noting the programming software and interface jig are are completely different.   
I have programmed the SES Alpha Elite pagers many times but have not had a chance to play with the CFS Apollo Gold pagers. (need a couple of damaged CFS ones to open up and use as jigs to find out their operation.)

Oldone.

With the SES pagers you can program a custom 16 tone sequence as one option which could be a sequence as per "tone 7" in the CFS pagers when you know the frequency of each tone step.  Using this option you can customise a pager's tones to suit hearing impaired members.

I assume the CFS pagers would have the same options in the software.

Oldone.

OldOne, I would love to know more, how can I contact you?

try me using  oldone5083 at gmail.com

I use old damaged pagers for all sorts of applications including as a data receiver for PDW and control command decoder to reset remote equipment. 

I still need help to trying to find a programming interface for the old Samsung pagers as they used the parallel port of OLD computers for programming and I have a bag full of them in the junk box to experiment with.   

OldOne.

Quote from: CFS_Firey on April 19, 2013, 02:05:44 PM

Quote from: Wholey on April 19, 2013, 01:28:13 PM
Ok. Is this the only way to do it?

What about this

I *believe* manual programming like that is disabled on the CFS pagers.  Have you tried it?

It is normally locked out, the same as "over the air" reprogramming is locked out.    it is Easy to glue up a plastic jig to hold the pager to sit upon the programming pins and use a USB to TTL RS232 interface as the electronics.   I have one set up for the SES pagers, all home made.   The programming data lines are standards RS232 signals but using TTL 5 volts max. levels. 

Plus SES were dual responded to the "animal rescue"

Quote from: Bagyassfirey on January 28, 2012, 09:00:39 PM
Why don't get the SCC organized a little earlier when forecast of bad weather? Seems the majority of jobs are paged out before the SCC even opens! Of course this is only the case in these short weather events!

Not a bad ratio  SCC = 7    MFS - SES tasks = 84 for the day. With a couple more Sunday morning.  :wink:

OldOne.

Quote
Hey OldOne,
We have been supplied with Alpha Elite.

Hi Shane,

Very good robust pager,  they have a few limitations compared to the Samsung but not to bad for the end user if all the options are set up correctly during programming.  I have not found a programming manual for the Windows version but the DOS manual covers all the commands anyway but there is the F1 help options in the Windows version.

They are very easy to interface and program, all the information is on the web (not like the Samsung units).  On the web there are a couple of windows programming versions and they will happily run on a Win7 laptop.   With the Windows version you can save files, ie make a master template and just change the capcode per pager without re-entering all the details thereby speeding up the process.

The original versions were DOS based and there were problems with comms port access under windows.  (still looking for a copy of the Samsung software so I can test a home made programming jig.)

Cheers
OldOne.

Quote from: straps on January 18, 2012, 05:38:42 PM
Am about to commence testing and hopefully roll out GRN paging for St John Ambulance SA...

Was hoping that someone could advise of what the email address looks like for sending pager messages via a mail program (i.e outlook etc)
and
We are also waiting for Motorola to provide the password for the website to page via the web / online - Is anyone happy to PM me with the password..

Also, we have purchased the serial cable and housing to do our own programming to the pagers, but no user guide, anyone have any instructions on how to code pagers etc.. (Still chasing up SAGRN / Motorola).

Cheers
Shane

quick question,  what model of pager will St John be using.  SES are now halfway through migrating to the Alpha Elite pagers from the original Samsung units as they are becoming very unreliable due to age.

Your programming software and instructions will depend on model you are using.   I am in the process of hardware converting a programmer to a self contained USB interface as the new laptops do not have a RS232 ports plus I want to get away from a mains power pack and use USB power so the whole package is field portable.

OldOne

Quote from: Alex on December 02, 2011, 12:01:18 PM

Quote from: FlameTrees on December 02, 2011, 09:13:09 AM
Just noticed it appears SES has a separate system to MFS/CFS, their incident numbers appear to be on their own (ie at 1040, SES Inc 0002 just dispatched for a building impact, yet the MFS dispatch is on 0023 for the same job.....)

They get a 'ses event' we get a 'fire event'......

Even more confusing, when SES get a RCR call then they get an MFS/CFS Inc No.  but when SES roll with MFS in metro area each get a different Inc No.for the same task plus now SES do not get told which or if a MFS appliance is responded to the same job.

All very confusing with possible duplicate numbers appearing if SES get busy with storm tasks and if CFS gives assistance with storm jobs and get allocated a different number it would make it very hard to compare and cross check work done.

OldOne.

Can you please refresh me on the format for sending a page via email. pagerid@??????
[/quote]

At this stage (before lunch lest) the email addr was still working with  ####@page.link.com.au
but for how long if the domain name is closed off ?

I believe Safecom is developing a Temp site for web access.  hopefully will hear more soon.

Oldone.

Hi All,

it looks like Link's SAFIRE pager login web site is off line last night and still down this morning.  using the Linkq web site is also not responding  but email is still working at this stage.

OldOne

Remember the ongoing costs is in US dollars so any change in exchange rates and you could be looking at up to $1000 per year if the dollar goes below 90c in the future.

Then multiply that by 100+ brigades and you could have a 100K a year budget costing.  With that sort of money you could contract a custom package run locally with no real ongoing running cost in a year at most two.

For an offshore remote access system with an unknown monthly/yearly running costs due to the dollar exchange I think it would never be approved for wide scale local usage.   Also it would never interface with SACAD etc.

Interesting setup,  the only problem at this stage, from the web site,  is that the server is setup in the USA and all data must travel to/from the US including the phone call ACK's.    If overseas internet lines are down or congested you are OFF LINE in real time with your system.

The other day I sat in on a presentation of WebEOC,  at totally web based emergency operational software package that is used by a number of interstate agencies and throughout the USA including the military and is one that is being looked at for SA emergency agencies use.    The System would be a totally local server setup with all input/output data being web based you can even access it with your smart phones or Ipads.

OldOne.

You can look at a short term members in two ways....

What WE can get out of them directly,  train then for 6 months and get 3 to 4 years of as a operational members with usually the last year of low response to callouts.

Secondly what we can do to educate the community about self help,  again train then for 6 months and then get about 1 to 2 years of VERY active operational response from them.   When then join MFS or SAPOL they all say then will stay with SES in their spare time but with long shifts and family commitments most end up resigning.   BUT they left the service with good memories and will act as positive ambassadors in the future.

I have no problems with a couple of short term members in the unit who as using SES to get community involvement experience for their future job prospects.  Where else can then get that sort of "training" experience.

Oldone

Quote from: Ferret on August 16, 2011, 06:21:00 PM
Maybe he was just using SES as a stepping stone to the MFS??

Yep same as some CFS members upgrade.  So far locally we now have one join the MFS and 4 members join SAPOL, they all make excellent SES ambassadors to their new services and have new skills and knowledge they take with them and hopefully transfer some to the others in their intakes.

It's a win, win for all, SES gets dedicated operators for a number of years and their skills are never lost to the Emergency Services.

Oldone.

Well there will be at least one SES member in the squad. One of my members has received his call up papers and returned his SES crew kit last night.
He said he was one of 18 for this intake out of about 2000 starters so he is a VERY happy chap.

Cheers,

Oldone

Quote from: Bagyassfirey on June 30, 2011, 10:10:05 PM

Quote from: Alex on June 30, 2011, 09:38:58 PM
Dunno mate, been waiting a long time for several courses myself and never get offered them. Also unfortunately i am not in one of these brigades or groups that sends out messages offering course positions.

Perhaps too many of the wrong kind of courses are being run.

what in Particular are u waiting on Alex??

Well all the courses are listed on the CFS WEB site   http://www.cfs.sa.gov.au/site/training/courses.jsp    take your pick and submit your nominations as SES members are also nominating to help fill some courses.   I have just completed the first of the AIIMS courses at CFS STC last week.

OldOne.

Quote from: bajdas on January 23, 2011, 05:54:35 PM
Paging dispatch is not part of the database. It is individually typed pager message.

that's is the one big problem between the SCC computers and operators,  even the date/time, Inc No header is not in a standard format from SCC which make it very messy importing data from the paging system.  At least the MFS header format is constant for response pages and can be used to extract information.  When SCC come on line you can totally forget any logical format in pager messages that is useful for any electronic use and all must be hand processed.

Oldone

Just remember the pager data not only goes to different model pagers,  but also to data terminals, in car displays, auto logging systems and even door opening controllers.  Some decoding systems use the comma (,) as a data base delimiter or new line char in the displays.

SACAD will probably have a different format again as there are no standards between agencies, even the SES SCC computers are set up with random formats as each computers seems to be running different software version !

OldOne

Quote from: Fire000 on January 09, 2011, 08:27:22 PM

Hi All,
Does anyone have info on recommended (readily available) digital capable scanners to use with the SA GRN?

Since Uniden has stopped importing scanners to Australia the only supply of Uniden Trunk Tracker scanners is by importing them, either yourself or via a local agent with added handling fees.   With the high Au dollar the 996xt or the 396xt scanners are easily available via Ebay or direct from some USA suppliers with delivery 7 to 10 days to your front door.

Re programming,  there are many profiles around, depending on your local needs that can be uploaded to the scanner, most people customise their profiles to suit local requirements either biased to CFS, SES SAAS MFS or other agencies to their needs.

The best bet is to get a number of sample profiles and then modify one to your needs.  I run highly customised SES profiles with some MFS talkgroups included.

Cheers,
Oldone

Quote from: Darius on December 08, 2010, 10:07:32 AM
I would suggest one page every 10 secs is 360 per hour, which is easily achievable. I would hope one page per second (3600/hr) is achievable (the bitrate is 1600 so 200 chars/sec theoretically should be).

Look at the total pager picture,it's not the sending capability that's the problem it's processing the jobs at the receiving end.  You can cue up many messages to the paging service via computer but how do you handle 30 to 100 messages on a pager when the new pagers only handle 19 messages at a time or the Samsung about 75 messages at a time with out loosing the first ones.  The only other option is pager decoders interfaced with computers at every headquarters or SACAD if you are on line 24/7

The paging system was never designed as a bulk message sending to a single pager capcode, it is designed for the distribution of many messages to many pager capcodes.

Oldone

Quote from: 6739264 on December 08, 2010, 09:28:43 AM
There has to be a better way to do things, and I don't think that SACAD is going to be the answer.

SACAD is not going to be the answer when you get hundreds of jobs an hour.  We had lightning last night with power bumps and ADSL spikes resetting the modem causing internet dropouts a number of times (not due to our end on a UPS) so there would be no way of accessing SACAD live when the internet is down. 

With paging, how do you sort, track and process hundreds of jobs, hand copy of the pager screen or cut and past from a pager decoder(site) on to a local computer, all very slow, have tried it !!

At least with hard copy either fax or computer printout you can sort and track very quickly even when you loose your computer network due to lighting all around you.

Operating a large Ops centre with hundreds of jobs in a VERY short time span is not easy and no one system will work,  there needs to be a mix of technology and old style white boards and paper.

OldOne

It's interesting that all these comments are based on what people see on the paging service,  I will running the Northern Suburbs operation centre where we cleared and processed tasks from Enfield to all the way past Gawler. 

All tasks from about 2pm were received via FAX and sent out via FAX to other units and CFS operations running at One Tree Hill who then tasked their strike teams.  By late afternoon we cleared dozens of tasks VIA FAX to CFS who were covering the areas from Elizabeth north to past Gawler and I know they were also receiving other jobs direct from MFS, local public and SES State Ops most also via Fax or phone calls.

Do not base your task operations info on the paging system as its too slow to handle hundreds of jobs per hour plus hard copy is needed to sort and collate priorities groups and then handed to crews when returning for breaks.

Cheers,
OldOne
 

Quote from: mengcfs on October 22, 2010, 10:04:45 AM
Big shout out for anyone who can program Samsung SFA-170 pagers, your help would be muchly appreciated. :-P

The problem is getting the programming software, I have been hunting for 5 years with no luck as its not a commonly used pager, the hardware interface is easy to do. 

The new CFS and SES pagers are no real problem, the software is out there and the hardware can be got from the USA.

Yes UHFCB Ch 26 is used by road constructions companies for delivery trucks and grader movements and is very active around the outer areas of Adelaide between 0630 and about 1600 weekdays.