Minitor VI (6) released

RFguy · Post by **RFguy** » Mon Feb 03, 2014 4:34 pm

I thought I would start a new thread as the other one was the "wish list" thread.

Motorola announced the Minitor VI today.

http://www.motorolasolutions.com/US-EN/ ... Minitor_VI

Highlights:

Band splits: 143-174 MHz, 406-430 MHz, 450-486 MHz, 476-512 MHz
UL or non-UL models available (non-UL are field serviceable)
1 or 5 channel models
8 position function switch
16 minutes of stored voice
User navigation between messages
Fast forward/rewind through a message
Lock messages
Delete all messages function (keeps saved messages)
Pulsed or steady vibrate modes
Improved battery contact
Voice announcements per position (custom messages can be used)
Charger can charge pager and spare battery at same time
About the same outside dimensions, but thinner than Min V

RFguy · Post by **RFguy** » Mon Feb 03, 2014 4:37 pm

Notes from Wiscomm:

wiscomm wrote:Pricing to be released this week.

Preorders 10 FEB
Ship 17 FEB

--
All Minitor V last order date 28 FEB
Last Minitor V shipping 31 MAR

--
Motorola will not offer a LOW BAND pager after the MIN V is done.

ASTROMODAT · Post by **ASTROMODAT** » Tue Feb 04, 2014 11:08 am

Any idea as to when the programming software will be available? Will it use a USB, or custom Motorola, programming cable? Looks very nice!

RFguy · Post by **RFguy** » Tue Feb 04, 2014 12:00 pm

It uses USB to a custom programming cradle. Software should be available by the time the pagers are shipping.

Post by **kd5wfy** » Wed Feb 05, 2014 12:06 am

It would have been nice if they would have added multiple paging formats. DTMF, MDC1200 or fleetsync along with the standard 2-tone

tdats · Post by **tdats** » Wed Feb 05, 2014 12:09 pm

On the VHF units, any idea if the pager will cover the entire bandsplit, or will it be split up again like the 5's where? I have 2 frequencies that I would like in mine, but one is 154 and one is 162, 2 different bandsplits for the 5's.

RFguy · Post by **RFguy** » Wed Feb 05, 2014 4:28 pm

One single split from 143-174 MHz. No sub-bands.

You can have one channel at 143.070 MHz and the second at 173.990 MHz if you want.

Squad5 · Post by **Squad5** » Wed Feb 05, 2014 9:30 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_d3xoeisuI

SteveC0625 · Post by **SteveC0625** » Thu Feb 06, 2014 6:00 am

Squad5 wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_d3xoeisuI

Some how, that video does not inspire me at all. Frankly, I think it stinks. /\/\ needs a new marketing plan.

Post by **pairughdocks** » Thu Feb 06, 2014 11:59 pm

Programming cradle appears to be going for under $100.00 which is not too shabby. The Programming interface LOOKS very nice, but /\/\ doesn't seem to have it listed as a download yet. PWService is also offering $85.00 on an old Min V towards a MIN VI. Not a bad deal at all... I suppose I'll jump on the bandwagon....

http://www.pwservice.us/cp/scripts/prod ... roduct=664

Squad5 · Post by **Squad5** » Fri Feb 07, 2014 11:43 am

I wonder if taking it from 1 channel to 5 will be as easy as the minitor 5 from 1 to 2.

MOTO_LR · Post by **MOTO_LR** » Sat Feb 08, 2014 9:48 am

MSRP (List) Pricing for the Minitor VI

UL Models - VHF & UHF
1-channel $531.00
5-channel $588.00

Non-UL Models - VHF & UHF
1-channel $468.00
5-channel $523.00

Omit standard charger & add amplified charger $80.00

Standard warranty is 2 years.
Option to add 1 year (3 years total) $20.00
Option to add 3 years (5 years total) $60.00

PMNN4438 Battery, UL $18.00
PMNN4451 Battery, Non-UL $16.00
RLN6526 Battery Tray (non-UL ONLY) $15.00
RLN6505 Standard Charger $39.00
RLN6506 Amplifier Charger Base $109.00
RLN6507 Antenna, VHF Amplifier Charger $109.00
RLN6S08 Antenna, UHF Amplifier Charger $109.00
RLN6509 Belt Clip $9.80
PMLN6725 Standard Nylon Carry Case $15.00
RLN6527 Programming Kit $39.00

Post by **escomm** » Sat Feb 08, 2014 10:29 am

pairughdocks wrote:Programming cradle appears to be going for under $100.00 which is not too shabby. The Programming interface LOOKS very nice, but /\/\ doesn't seem to have it listed as a download yet. PWService is also offering $85.00 on an old Min V towards a MIN VI. Not a bad deal at all... I suppose I'll jump on the bandwagon....

http://www.pwservice.us/cp/scripts/prod ... roduct=664

Yes, charging $95 for a $39 product is not shabby at all

NickH · Post by **NickH** » Sat Feb 08, 2014 8:14 pm

escomm wrote:
pairughdocks wrote:Programming cradle appears to be going for under $100.00 which is not too shabby. The Programming interface LOOKS very nice, but /\/\ doesn't seem to have it listed as a download yet. PWService is also offering $85.00 on an old Min V towards a MIN VI. Not a bad deal at all... I suppose I'll jump on the bandwagon....

http://www.pwservice.us/cp/scripts/prod ... roduct=664
Yes, charging $95 for a $39 product is not shabby at all

Hehehe, noticed that too...

Post by **dbartkowiak** » Thu Feb 13, 2014 7:35 am

Now that Motorola has abandoned low band paging, and the Minitor 5 last order date is 28 Feb (according to my local dealer), does anybody know if a quality low band pager is being manufactured by anyone else?

ASTROMODAT · Post by **ASTROMODAT** » Mon Feb 17, 2014 3:49 pm

As of Feb 17, 2014, MINITOR VI programming software is now posted on MOL for download.

SteveC0625 · Post by **SteveC0625** » Mon Feb 17, 2014 4:06 pm

ASTROMODAT wrote:As of Feb 17, 2014, MINITOR VI programming software is now posted on MOL for download.

It is also on Motorola's regular sales pages as well. (No MOL account required.) http://www.motorolasolutions.com/web/Bu ... 01.7.2.zip

Post by **rkreaves** » Tue Feb 18, 2014 12:35 pm

Can you tell me how to get to it so I can purchase it please? I have looked Motorola's sight up and down for it and have not found it yet.

tvsjr · Post by **tvsjr** » Tue Feb 18, 2014 7:32 pm

SteveC0625 wrote:
ASTROMODAT wrote:As of Feb 17, 2014, MINITOR VI programming software is now posted on MOL for download.
It is also on Motorola's regular sales pages as well. (No MOL account required.) http://www.motorolasolutions.com/web/Bu ... 01.7.2.zip

That link is for M5, v1.7.2... not M6.

Oh, and before anyone decides to go looking around... Engineering Mode isn't going to be quite as easy in M6 land.

Post by Pj » Tue Feb 18, 2014 8:06 pm

EOL has been announced for the MinV:

Sorry for the sucky cut/paste...it was from a pdf

Low Band will NOT be supported in future Pager products
MODEL CANCELLATION ROLLOUT
The model numbers listed in the following page will be canceled and no longer available
for order after February 21st 2014. The last ship date will be March 28th 2014.
Minitor V & Advisor II Wide Band ONLY

Model Description
Last Order
Date
Last Ship Date
A01KMS7238BC
A01KMS7239BC
A01KMS9238BC
A01KMS9239BC
Minitor V
Low Band Models
February 28th
2014
March 28th 2014
A03KMS7238BC
A03KMS7239BC
A03KMS9238BC
A03KMS9239BC
Minitor V
VHF Band Models
February 28th
2014
March 28th 2014
A04KMS7238BC
A04KMS7239BC
A04KMS9238BC
A04KMS9239BC
Minitor V
UHF Band Models
February 28th
2014
March 28th 2014
A03DTS5962BA
A04DTS5962BA
Adviosr II Wide Band March 14th 2014 March 28th 2014

REPLACEMENT PRODUCT
For replacement recommendations please contact your authorized Motorola Solutions
representative.
CUSTOMER CANCELLATION IMPACT
Customers who have previously purchased the Minitor V & Advisor II WB (Wide Band)
listed in the table above will now have to consider alternatives – Minitor VI will replace
the Minitor V and the Advisor II Narrow Band will replace the Advisor II Wide Band
models.
SERVICE IMPLICATIONS
Aftermarket Product support will be available for the Minitor V & Advisor II WB listed
above via commercially reasonable efforts post cancellation through the Customer
Fulfillment Centers (CFC).
CONTACT INFORMATION
For questions regarding the Minitor V & Advisor II WB cancellation contact:
Motorola Solutions Customer Fulfillment Center
In the US, call 1-800-422-4210
In Canada, call 1-800-543-3222

MOTO_LR · Post by **MOTO_LR** » Thu Feb 20, 2014 11:15 pm

dbartkowiak wrote:Now that Motorola has abandoned low band paging, and the Minitor 5 last order date is 28 Feb (according to my local dealer), does anybody know if a quality low band pager is being manufactured by anyone else?

New Low Band Minitor V pagers should be readily available for 1 or 2 years. The national distributor for Minitor V pagers announced that they will be keeping a very large inventory of the popular Low Band Minitor V models. We have a number of Low Band customers and anticipate that we will be able to supply
Minitor V pagers to them. We have bumped up our inventory for new and used Low Band Minitor V pagers for the popular 33 MHz. and 46 MHz. ranges.

There are at least 2 other manufacturers of Low Band pagers. "Quality" I'm not sure.
Apollo makes a Low Band pager that is similar to the Minitor V. Our customers have not had great success with the Apollo. We have switched a number
of customers from Apollo to Motorola.
The other Low Band pager is the Unication G1. User reports indicate the G1 to have good receive and operational qualities, but there is a major problem
with the battery run time. The pager goes dead in less than a day's use. The Unication G1 is expensive and seems to have too many bells and whistles
for the average user. The G1 has been on the market for a short period of time, so information on durability and cost & quality of repair is not available.
Unication is the company that built the Minitor III, Minitor IV, and Minitor V for Motorola. The Minitor VI is not built by Unication.

Post by **escomm** » Fri Feb 21, 2014 12:15 pm

MOTO_LR wrote:
dbartkowiak wrote:Now that Motorola has abandoned low band paging, and the Minitor 5 last order date is 28 Feb (according to my local dealer), does anybody know if a quality low band pager is being manufactured by anyone else?
New Low Band Minitor V pagers should be readily available for 1 or 2 years. The national distributor for Minitor V pagers announced that they will be keeping a very large inventory of the popular Low Band Minitor V models. We have a number of Low Band customers and anticipate that we will be able to supply
Minitor V pagers to them. We have bumped up our inventory for new and used Low Band Minitor V pagers for the popular 33 MHz. and 46 MHz. ranges.

There are at least 2 other manufacturers of Low Band pagers. "Quality" I'm not sure.
Apollo makes a Low Band pager that is similar to the Minitor V. Our customers have not had great success with the Apollo. We have switched a number
of customers from Apollo to Motorola.
The other Low Band pager is the Unication G1. User reports indicate the G1 to have good receive and operational qualities, but there is a major problem
with the battery run time. The pager goes dead in less than a day's use. The Unication G1 is expensive and seems to have too many bells and whistles
for the average user. The G1 has been on the market for a short period of time, so information on durability and cost & quality of repair is not available.
Unication is the company that built the Minitor III, Minitor IV, and Minitor V for Motorola. The Minitor VI is not built by Unication.

Great info and great post.

MOTO_LR · Post by **MOTO_LR** » Fri Feb 21, 2014 5:23 pm

Minitor VI software... If you do not have a MOL account, you can obtain the software free at: http://www.uccwireless.com/Minitor6.htm

We have been informed that there is a problem with the Minitor VI programming cradle. The programming cradle is currently on backorder.

One user is reporting that the Minitor VI software will not run on Windows XP, Service Pack 1. We have it running O.K. on XP Service Pack 2.

Bob

Dorf411 · Post by **Dorf411** » Fri Feb 21, 2014 8:45 pm

Why wouldn't a computer be updated to XP SP3? I loaded it on one of our XP machines w/SP3 and it appeared to be running okay.

wiscomm · Post by **wiscomm** » Tue Feb 25, 2014 6:04 pm

We have 10 RLN6527A Programming Kits on backorder, showing a 8 APR 2014 ship date.

Our first pagers start arriving 26 FEB 2014.

Schaumburg, I do believe we have a problem.

NickH · Post by **NickH** » Tue Mar 18, 2014 4:39 pm

Got my M6 in service yesterday, I think I am one of the only ones who got programming cradles before they went on "supply disruption" lol. Anyways, the pager is ok. It's almost identical in size to the 5, but is a tad lighter with the Li-Ion battery. Battery life seems good, I've had it on since noon time yesterday and it still says it's fully charged.

I was hoping by making the SV standard, they would have fixed the age-old stored voice issue of open squelch between alert and announcement, but alas the obnoxious squelch remains (particularly annoying in our system where dispatch stacks pages on different frequencies). The audio and sensitivity seem to be good, it's alerted for all calls over the last day.

Time will tell how it works out. I'm glad I got my demos, now if they'll ship the other 100 I ordered for customers we'll be doing well!

TomSlick · Post by **TomSlick** » Wed Mar 19, 2014 7:47 am

NickH wrote:I was hoping by making the SV standard, they would have fixed the age-old stored voice issue of open squelch between alert and announcement, but alas the obnoxious squelch remains (particularly annoying in our system where dispatch stacks pages on different frequencies).

For the life of me, I can't understand why they can't make it apply squelch while it waits for the recording timeout. I was really hoping the VI would fix this. It is incredibly annoying.

NickH · Post by **NickH** » Wed Mar 19, 2014 12:16 pm

Yup, me either. Stored Voice pagers only accounted for about 10% of our Minitor V sales, maybe now that EVERYONE is subject to it, enough people will complain. I'm already preparing my list of grievances for CPE next week...

res6cue · Post by **res6cue** » Wed Mar 19, 2014 10:44 pm

NickH wrote:I was hoping by making the SV standard, they would have fixed the age-old stored voice issue of open squelch between alert and announcement, but alas the obnoxious squelch remains (particularly annoying in our system where dispatch stacks pages on different frequencies).

Uhhh, are you sure about that? Did you try the new MUTED REVERT N Reset Option per channel?

Muted Revert N: Waits momentarily before checking for carrier drop and then reverts to Monitor mode. During the momentary wait period mutes the speaker and stored voice recording during carrier drop.

There is also a Muted Delay N for those who previously used the Delayed N reset option.

NickH · Post by **NickH** » Thu Mar 20, 2014 4:51 am

I didn't select muted delay because it appears that you have to specify a delay time where it mutes the speaker. Sometimes we have to wait for tones on another freq before the message, and sometimes we don't. I obviously wouldn't want to miss a message while the pager mutes for a few seconds, when it is a page for our department only. I can't find a better definition in the help topics, but that's how I understand it.

I supposed I could sneak into dispatch and reprogram the paging stacks to make our tones the last ones in the stack...

NickH · Post by **NickH** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 11:55 am

res6cue wrote:
NickH wrote:I was hoping by making the SV standard, they would have fixed the age-old stored voice issue of open squelch between alert and announcement, but alas the obnoxious squelch remains (particularly annoying in our system where dispatch stacks pages on different frequencies).
Uhhh, are you sure about that? Did you try the new MUTED REVERT N Reset Option per channel?

Muted Revert N: Waits momentarily before checking for carrier drop and then reverts to Monitor mode. During the momentary wait period mutes the speaker and stored voice recording during carrier drop.
There is also a Muted Delay N for those who previously used the Delayed N reset option.

Programmed the pager for muted revert and 30 sec. timer. It worked like a charm.

TomSlick · Post by **TomSlick** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 1:37 pm

Great news. Now I just need to convince the Chief to buy them.

res6cue · Post by **res6cue** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 3:32 pm

NickH wrote:Programmed the pager for muted revert and 30 sec. timer. It worked like a charm.

Post by **escomm** » Sat Mar 22, 2014 7:08 am

Okay, I have another dumb question. Why do the UL/IS pagers not have external indication they are UL/IS? Is the green dot a trademark of Factory Mutual or something? And the IS batteries don't say anything about being IS? Why no green dot on those, either? Are customers supposed to be clairvoyant or something

Looking to finding Armando at CPE and asking him these very relevant questions!!

Dorf411 · Post by **Dorf411** » Sat Mar 22, 2014 11:28 am

Perhaps my assumption is correct, that there is no difference between the IS and non-IS pagers and batteries aside from price. I did however expect the IS pagers to have the green dot though.

NickH · Post by **NickH** » Tue Mar 25, 2014 7:23 am

That is correct, well and the UL certification... Customers are choosing the non-IS version 10:1 so far. Most don't see it to be worth the extra money.

Post by **escomm** » Tue Mar 25, 2014 8:20 am

NickH wrote:That is correct, well and the UL certification... Customers are choosing the non-IS version 10:1 so far. Most don't see it to be worth the extra money.

Til they blow something up and their insurance carrier denies the claim anyway

Dorf411 · Post by **Dorf411** » Thu Mar 27, 2014 4:33 pm

Anyone else notice reduced sensitivity as compared to a Min5? I did some limited testing after programming a few 6's and felt they didn't receive as well as the 5's do. When at CPE this week, one of the friendly dealers near us said they did some extensive testing and feel they 6's are at least 3dB less sensitive.

Then when at IWCE, looking at random stuff a competitive pager maker made a similar remark and that was without me giving my opinion of reduced sensitivity. He said in their testing the Min 5 would receive at -115 and they would occasionally see some as low as -118. He then stated the Min 6's that he tested all were around -109 to -110 for RX.

Post by **escomm** » Thu Mar 27, 2014 8:41 pm

escomm wrote:Okay, I have another dumb question. Why do the UL/IS pagers not have external indication they are UL/IS? Is the green dot a trademark of Factory Mutual or something? And the IS batteries don't say anything about being IS? Why no green dot on those, either?

"We don't need a green dot"

RFguy · Post by **RFguy** » Fri Mar 28, 2014 8:04 am

One of the problems with comparing pager sensitivities is there is no antenna jack to connect to, so a test fixture is often used, but it can only be used to compare sensitivity between extact models. A test fixture can't be used to compare sensitivity between pager models as there would be a variation between is the proximity of the particular pager to the test antenna in the fixture. Pagers may look more of less sensitive, but it's an in-valid test. The test needs to be done in free space.

wkr518 · Post by **wkr518** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 4:39 am

Who is the distributor(s) for the remaining low band Minitor V pagers? Is it existing inventory till it dries up or a mfgr agreement for continued production via Unication in Asia? I have been selling lots of Unication G1 in 46mhz but have a few accounts buying used 46mhz pagers also.
Thanks

MOTO_LR · Post by **MOTO_LR** » Wed Apr 02, 2014 8:34 am

Updated Minitor VI PPS released... R01.05

Available here: http://www.motorolasolutions.com/web/Bu ... R01_05.zip

Version R01.05 fixes the following:

Version R01.05 - March 2014
- Extend out of band frequency to +/-1MHz on all models.

Version R01.05 - March 2014
- Fixed the Print and Print Preview, not working
for single channel models.

Post by **escomm** » Fri Apr 18, 2014 9:08 am

So the VHF models are all on stop ship right now, quality issue pertaining to RX sensitivity. Bad batch or bad design?

JeffFireRadio · Post by **JeffFireRadio** » Fri Apr 18, 2014 11:17 am

Just my testing observations....

I've been carrying both my legacy M5 VHF 2CH SV 151-159 and my M6 VHF 5CH IS at the same time for about the last three weeks (thanks, late programming kit) and have been assessing the M6's performance prior to all of my users wanting me to order them for their agencies. I am highly impressed with the M6, and I've been a user since Motorola's Pagecom pager (one gen. before Minitor I). The M6 is performing to the same reception standards as is my M5. At most, there could be a 2-3% reduction in range and a similar reduction in voice quality, but I'm still not convinced it's not as good as the M5. One of the nice testing features that the M6 affords is that I can temporarily program all of the regional NWS frequencies thanks to both the full band coverage of the M6 and the extra knob positions. Since these are continuous transmissions, this allows me to do some range testing from known NWS transmitter locations and compare reception to already-assessed weather radios, mobiles, portables, scanners, other pagers, etc. The M6 is doing a fantastic job of receiving NWS signals from even distant stations...on-belt, in-charger, in-building, and in-car. Of course, it's our real-world public safety paging channel reception that counts, and it's doing very well there.

If I had to find one minor (minor!) critique of the M6, it would be that it does not have the set-it-down physical stability of the M5. If you place the M6 pager on a table in the upright position, you must do so carefully, as it wobbles and has a good chance of tipping over (anyone remember Weebles?...but those didn't fall down). The bottom reminds me of the Motorola SP50 portable radio line, with its similar I-don't-want-to-remain-upright design "challenge". So far, the vibrate function hasn't knocked it over, but it has come close. It simply has to do with the shape of the base of the pager. Do your own comparison. The M5 is broad and flat which keeps it stable, whereas the M6 is thinner and rounded, with just a little help near its wider bottom-middle.

So, one thumbs up from this system manager and user on behalf of the M6. Thanks, design team.

Post by **adamdavis43040** » Sat May 03, 2014 4:13 pm

anyone know where to find a user manual for the VI, I didn't get one with mine.

Or

Can anyone tell me how to remove or erase stored pages?

SteveC0625 · Post by **SteveC0625** » Mon May 05, 2014 6:20 am

adamdavis43040 wrote:anyone know where to find a user manual for the VI, I didn't get one with mine.

Or

Can anyone tell me how to remove or erase stored pages?

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=minitor+6+user+manual

Hint: UCC Wireless is the link to click on.

Post by **adamdavis43040** » Mon May 05, 2014 2:32 pm

SteveC0625 wrote:
adamdavis43040 wrote:anyone know where to find a user manual for the VI, I didn't get one with mine.

Or

Can anyone tell me how to remove or erase stored pages?
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=minitor+6+user+manual

Hint: UCC Wireless is the link to click on.

Thanks, I appreciate it. I tried searching using google but didn't get anything I kept getting min manual

loband · Post by **loband** » Fri Jun 06, 2014 6:49 pm

I just took deleivery of a UHF M6 and it receives better than an APX. The pager breaks squelch and alerts and is very noisy where the APX is silent.

tvsjr · Post by **tvsjr** » Mon Jun 09, 2014 1:29 am

loband wrote:I just took deleivery of a UHF M6 and it receives better than an APX. The pager breaks squelch and alerts and is very noisy where the APX is silent.

Then your APX is poorly tuned. There's no way a real radio with a real antenna is going to be outperformed by a pager with a small fixed internal antenna.

loband · Post by **loband** » Mon Jun 09, 2014 4:00 am

I would tend to agree with you but the APX is well within spec. This was a real world test, in a vehicle, on the extreme fringe of the system, the APX was in scan sitting in the console cup holder, pager up on the dash board. The pager alerted then recorded white noise with barely audible speech in the back ground, APX squelch popped a few times. Call was heard over the mobile. Even with a service monitor where you can just barely hear the tones in the noise this pager will go off.