Dreaming about how to upgrade your fire pagers to narrow band? Think of the world's most popular fire pager! Now, think about price and features you would like. As a fire and rescue volunteer first responder, we would think that you would need at least two channels - one for dispatch and one for use on the fireground. Scan would be nice as well.
Obviously, you need good clear audio and selectable audible or vibrate alert. That's a given! Good battery life, light weight and compact size is an absolute requirement. Low operational cost is on our wish list. Reliability is on the top of the list along with good operating range, rugged MIL-SPEC construction and water resistance are required as well.
If we are looking at a new pager, it should be comparable to the pager that we have used over the years. We know we have to upgrade to a pager with narrow band capability, but we don't want to change functionality or even the alerting sounds. And one final item - we would like to be able to record and playback messages since alert calls are known to come in at the absolute most inopportune times, like when we are asleep, in church, in a restaurant, or a few other places and situations that are well known to us all.
Now, what's all that going to cost you? Our search on the Internet reveals that the best advertised price is $407 with free shipping and a one year warranty. You have a choice or purchasing a programmer (average price $249) or having the pager programmed for $10 additional. Adding a five year warranty will cost you another $78. Want to add a 5 watt transmitter? Just add $92.
