Batboard

Picked up a brochure for this unit at the IWCE, don't even really remember getting it...I think it was one of the ones included in the bag they gave you when you signed in. Any one have any experience with these yet (good, bad, ugly)?

http://www.tribute911pager.com/

There isn't much on the page, but you can click on "download literature" to see a brochure with specs.

Todd

The specs don't look bad, but I didn't see any mention of UL/FM approvals in the brochure.

Well lets say, they need to go back to the drawing boards...

I had a VHF unit in house for trails. As a scanner/monitor it is great with up to 8 vhf channels. Our issue was the pager would not alert over the air at all. On a bench feeding rf from the monitor ok, but thats it. In the real world I carried it for 2 weeks and it never tripped once.

JAS

Users N1GBB and Param-A-Dic both distribute these. I'm wanting to give one a try...

We were supposed to also, however I sent them back. If they figure out the issues it appears it would be a nice pager.

JAS

If you don't mind me asking, does anyone know about what these pagers will run price wise? Thanks

One of my friends have been testing this pager for the past 2 months. The problems that we are having along with the thing not always going off is that it is falsing when other tones are going off. The battery last for about 4 hours and the unit does not have saved voice storage. Besides that he says it's ok and price range was from 200 to 300 dollars. Now this same company makes a lapel mike which one of my captains is testing right now and i think it is awsome. We are using it on a HT1250. The mic is water proof at the fire show the salesman let it set in water and then started banging on the table and it worked fine so when we got our hands on it we droped in the porta pond for about 2 mins took it out blew out the speaker part and it worked fine. Also the cord is a little thicker and the mic head is bigger like a MT2000 head which a lot of my guys like.

So, other than the fact that it doesn't alert when it should, it does alert when it shouldn't, the battery doesn't last, and it doesn't do stored voice, it's OK?

</sarcasm>

The MinV is still the king. I just wish Kenwood would make a competitor.

sounds to me like the few that folks on the board have used were some of the first units off the production line.
i must say that they are kinda buggy...but then again, how many problems did the Minitor 3 have when it was first introduced.

i have had a demo for about 2 months or so and the more i use it the more i like it. great size and weight, some very nice features. it has alerted just fine with every tone pair i put in it...with one exception. it doesn't like tones much below 300Hz...not a huge deal, but should be fixed. in particular it behaves kinda strange with a 349Hz tone...it alerts fine, but the vibrate is reduced to about a split second...it seemed to be very consistant. any tone pair that had a 349Hz tone in it would kill the vibrate. otherwise it works fine.
the voice storage also works as it should...it has a max of 4 min. of recorded audio. there is no programmable parameter for how long it records though (like the minitors) it waits until there has been 15sec. of silence before it stops recording. so potentially you could end up with a full 4 minutes of radio traffic after it alerts if you don't manually stop the recording.
it has a very sensitive receiver. scan works good, has a user selectable priority via a rotary switch in the battery compartment. Only had an issue with it falsing once or twice. That was on a paging company’s freq. most of the traffic is POCSAG, but they still offer two tone paging. It alerts as it should to the two tone, but every so often it will alert when it shouldn’t. I think that was because the tones it was programmed with were very similar to the tones at the beginning of a 512 baud POCSAG string…not sure though
but i do agree that the battery life leaves a bit (lot) to be desired.
it is still the first release of a new product...theres gonna be some issues, but once they iron out the glitches i think this pager could give the M5 some decent competition

oh, and it lists for $399...introductory pricing of $375 until october. not bad if all the bugs are worked out

I requested info from them over 2 weeks ago and have heard nothing back. What gives?

did you request from the web site? thats how i originally tried to contact them and my results were the same...didn't hear from 'em.
i think i ended up e-mailing them...accually i may have called the 800 number thats on the web site: 1-800-264-6021
they have like 3 different company names. i think they answer the phone as Comtronics, so i assume thats the "name of the company". CobaltAV and Tribute911 seem to be divisions of comtronics...
CobaltAV is the line of audio accessories tha lieut25 mentioned. it looks like its just a reincarnation of Pryme's product line. they do have some pretty cool stuff though, like a speaker mic that has a built in GPS RXer. it will either beacon a location, send location info when the radio is keyed by the user, or both. they also have a bluetooth headset that can interface with an installed fire-comm system in any fire apparatus. it has a wireless range of 50' or so. that means that the pump operator, for example, hops in, puts on the head set, drive the engine to the incident and can immediately put the pump in service without the need to be near a radio or screw with a portable.
pretty cool...i have yet to get a demo of one of those though

any tone pair that had a 349Hz tone in it would kill the vibrate. otherwise it works fine.

Well mine would never trip for this tone..,,,we just shipped it back recently. I like the unit and think it had potentail, but also need a product that works. I tried over half our counties tones, and none of them would trip. Monitor and Scan great....

time will tell...

We are a cobalt dealer and are very happy with there products on that end.

JAS

I just got off the phone with a gentleman from this company. He said most of the issues have been taken care of and they are working on the last one now. There should be an email sent out to everyone that has filled out the application on their website this week, and they should be ready to go out in the next few weeks. Thanks for all your help guys.

well its good to know that they have fixed the problems. we have a lot of interest in it but the same number of concerns about it issues.

The way it was described to me, they became aware of the problems and decided not to release like Motorola did with the Minitor 3. The guy I spoke with said that all of the issues had been fixed with the exception of the tone alert sensitivity. He went on to tell me that they felt pretty confident that they had found a solution to that problem also, but needed to test more before a release.

decided not to release it...so does that mean that they havetaken them off the market, so to speak. they were released in july...have they stopped shipping them until they are fixed.
that would be good if they did...thats probably what they should do.
i just haven't heard anything from them for a while.

That may be what he meant. From what he told me, I was under the impression that they were not able to ship anything at the time.

i just spoke with the boss man at tribute911 the other day. he confirmed that they are not shipping the pagers right now. he did say that if i REALY wanted one he would ship one to me, but otherwise they will not ship until all the problems are fixed.
he also told me that most of the problems had been fixed, like the falsing and such, but the sensativity to tones is still less than desirable and is currently being addressed.

whats the latest?

i accualy spoke with him again a time or two throughout thispat week, but it was on an unrelated subject and i didn't think to ask where the pager was at. i'll shoot him an e-mail on monday and see whats up....

jeese...where did i learn to type...thispat...how about "this past week"...me fail english? thats unpossible!

Anyone know where these pagers are at release wise? Just wondering.
Thanks

I HATE when manufacturers do crap like this...place ads in magazines, give out brochures by the thousands at trade shows, etc causing you to think they are currently selling a product. Then when you contact them, it's still in development with no ETA on when it's actually available, and another line of BS everytime you ask them. They'll have to release one incredibly good, trouble-free pager for me to trust them after what they've been pulling.

Todd

Just got off the phone with them again. The guy I spoke with seemed to think that around the end of Decmeber they would be back to the factory with them. He said the decode and sensitivity is still an issue but that they think they have it down to one area or circuit. I guess only time will tell at this point.

wavetar wrote:I HATE when manufacturers do crap like this...place ads in magazines, give out brochures by the thousands at trade shows, etc causing you to think they are currently selling a product. Then when you contact them, it's still in development with no ETA on when it's actually available, and another line of BS everytime you ask them.

Todd

M-O-T-O-T-R-B-O?
heh heh
Wayne

Anyone know of status of these things? Are they orderable yet?
Thanks
Wayne

wkr518 wrote:

wavetar wrote:I HATE when manufacturers do crap like this...place ads in magazines, give out brochures by the thousands at trade shows, etc causing you to think they are currently selling a product. Then when you contact them, it's still in development with no ETA on when it's actually available, and another line of BS everytime you ask them.

Todd

M-O-T-O-T-R-B-O?
heh heh
Wayne

Yep, I hate that just the same. Our sales guys are running all over the place spouting the virtues of a MotoTRO system, when it's still 'vapourware' in my opinion. I can only hope it works well when it's released, because it'll be 'my problem' if there are issues after the sale.

Todd

pfffft, mototrbo is just around the corner

only 6-8 weeks til my demo kits arrive....

Talked to the guy from Cobalt again late last week. He told me they were expecting another 60-90 days, leaning for 60 but still 60-90 days out. Also, what is this Motorola system you guys are talking about?

ayaresr wrote:Talked to the guy from Cobalt again late last week. He told me they were expecting another 60-90 days, leaning for 60 but still 60-90 days out. Also, what is this Motorola system you guys are talking about?

New Motorola 2-slot TDMA digital platform which most future product will be based on:

http://batboard.batlabs.com/viewtopic.p ... t=mototrbo

http://www.motorola.com/governmentanden ... index.html

http://mrtmag.com/mag/radio_motorola_tu ... index.html

Run as fast as you can. These things are terrible

MACE Inc wrote:Run as fast as you can. These things are terrible

Run from which? 911Tribute pagers or MOTOTRBO?
Have not played with or tried either.
Wayne

so i though i would update this thread...i got this e-mail a little while back from the Tribute911 folks

To All:

New products can sometimes take a bit longer than expected to perfect before they are ready for market distribution. We have learned that lesson the hard way over the past year. But our diligence and your patience is paying off!

We are now shipping the Tribute 911 Pager. We will be somewhat limited on stock over the next several months, and appreciate your understanding as we attempt to fill your orders in a timely manner.

We first introduced the Tribute 911 for beta tests to some dealers and customers in 2006. From the feedback we received, we learned there were a few bugs to work out before the pager was market-ready. The results of our beta test were collected, analyzed, and passed on to our manufacturer in order to correct the problems. We placed the Tribute on hold and worked intensively with our manufacturer to re-design, re-tool and test several new beta units. We recognize that we have missed a lot of sales during the extended testing period, but we feel the end product is well worth the wait.

The issues pertinent to the first generations have now been resolved. We are now confident that the newest model Tribute 911 will please our dealers and customers with its comfortable feel, innovative functions and overall performance.

The Tribute now decodes on 2 frequencies with up to 6 codes in closed mode with audible alert, closed mode with vibrate alert and open mode. Stored voice is a standard feature. We have 10 different unique audible alerts to choose from, as well as customizable voice or music alerts. The battery life is 20+ hours using supplied 2 AAA NiMH rechargeable cells. Programmable frequencies in all models now include splinter channels (2.5 KHz steps) and the initial falsing problems have been resolved. The software now allows fixed alert and custom timing for A-B tones for multiple 2-tone formats. We have also software extended the programmable bands, so our three models cover 148-162 MHz VHF and 447-461 and 455-469 MHz UHF. Degradation from going past the specifications has been minimal, but the flexibility provided for certain customers is well worth it. Our unique scan mode allows monitoring up to 8 frequencies.

Tone sensitivity has been addressed as well. The page sensitivity now equals receive sensitivity. Our manufacturer's engineering staff ahave worked diligently on this issue plus a few more minor problems on our list. Our current production version has new hardware updates from the original beta versions of the pager, while retaining the ease and simplicity of single page programming software as well.

The new Tribute 911 pager is shipping. The package comes complete with a desk charger, nylon carry pouch and an 18 month warranty. We know that going up against the major market holders is not going to be easy, but the Tribute 911 pager has more features than any other product, and we are confident that our improved performance will make Tribute 911 a success!

Once again, we greatly appreciate your patience over these past many months, and we confident that you will be pleased with what we have accomplished. Thanks again for sticking with us!

i just got the new and improved model in the mail today...so far it seems like all the problems have been ironed out. i'll be carrying it at work this week instead of my M4 so i can see what kind of battery life there is and its over all performance.
there are a couple new features that are nice... you can pick 2 of the eight possible frequencies to be used as page channels, so when the pager is in alert mode it monitors those 2 frequencies simultaneously and will alert for either. you can also pick from 12 different alert tones as well and you can still record your own. the power on tone can also be changed to any of the available 13.
it still has the same form (case, size, weight ect...). i would like to see some rubberized "grippy" knobs and a beefier vibrate, but what are ya gonna do.
-jonathan

From the feedback I have got from a few people the New Tribute 911 pagers work well and have always alerted and they have not found any bugs as of yet

I've only had my UHF Tribute911 pager for about a week now, but I like it.
I purchased the pager and the programmer with the programming software.

Positives:
-Stored voice is not an option, it is built in. I've never had a Stored Voice pager before, and it is REALLY usefull. I wish everyone had one.
-It is programmed through the earphone jack. The programmer looks like a 9 pin RS232 plug with the headphone connector on the other end. There is a tiny circuit board inside the RS232 plug. It's much less bulky to carry around than the RIB/Cradle combo needed for a Minitor 5 or a Nova pager, and it only costs $30.
-The programming instructions say you can record an alert tone for each alert, and a tone to let you know which position the selector switch is in. I haven't tried it yet, but I'm think about recording "I've fallen and I can't get up" for Ambulance alerts. THINK RINGTONES!
-It has 8 frequencies. These freqs can be scanned with priority on the alert channel. The pager will alert while scanning.
-Receiver sensitivity. I have no way of measuring it, but it does as well or better picking up signals than a Nova alert pager on the same frequency. The nova's are (I believe) crystalled, not synthesized, since their receive freq is not user changeable.
-Runs on AAA nimh batteries. Replacements are as close as the nearest Walmart, RadioShack or whatever. Came with a spare set of batteries, and the drop in charger has a place to charge them. Runs all day on a single charge. Haven't tried longer than that yet. The first day I had it, I ran it on Alkalines while the nimh's were charging.
-Has room for 6 A/B tone pairs. More would be better, but I find this to be just enough.
-Simple enough to program. The software has one page only. No sub-pages or sub-menus. Big READ and WRITE buttons.

Less than Positives:
-No option for OnDuty/Offduty tones
-I thought that Group call (Long Tone B) was going to use up two of the 6 tone pairs (one for A/B then another for Long B). Then I figured out that I could just configure 1 slot for No Tone A, and a 3 second tone B, and it would go off for both the A/B and Long Tone B. If there are others on the system with the same Tone B, this wouldn't work unless you wanted to hear their pages as well.
-Very narrow frequency spread (8 Mhz). My UHF-H model does 458-466 the UHF-L model does 450-458. I would have liked to scan some freqs in the 453 area, but it wasn't a deal breaker. I'm waiting for the Batlabs out-of-band hack
-The belt case supplied with the pager doesn't even seem to be made for the pager, despite the logo. It seems too small for the pager, maybe it will stretch out a bit (it is a nylon case). The flap that goes over top of the pager doesn't hit the velcro because the pager sits up too high. When you try to pull it down to the velcro, it pulls down on the Stored voice button playing back all your calls. A drop-in case with an open top would seem to make more sense. See the US Alert Nova Leather case for a great example. I usually don't like clips on cases (I prefer belt loops that can't pop off your belt), but I like their clip. It's really hard to get off the belt (this is good). I hope it doesn't stretch out like clips tend to do.
-Still deciding whether I like the Reminder beep option (It can be turned off in software). When a call comes in, I reset the pager and it stops talking. But then it beeps every couple of seconds until I play back the stored voice message, that I just heard. This means everytime I get a call I have to hit the reset button, then the stored voice button twice (start/stop real quick). It seems like the reset button should take care of the reminder beep too.

Overall I'm fairly impressed.

I'm still learning the programming and features. If anyone else has one and wants to trade tips or has questions, drop me a line.
aaronp

I do not see any documentation on their website that indicates the pager is intrinsically safe. Is it truly not IS or did they leave that part off the spec sheet?

No, it's not IS.....and probably never will be rated as such. When you look at the housing construction you'll see why. There's a hole in the housing next to the battery door to allow access to a rotary switch, and no gasket around the battery door. I don't believe FM would ever give it an IS rating with that.

I'm not trying to bash this thing, but I wouldn't concider it for my department at all. My comparison and reasoning....

- 8 Channels. Who cares. It is a pager and their purpose is alerting for a call. Nobody will ever have 8 channels they NEED to hear on a pager. That is what scanners are for and making a pager do it simply takes away form it being a quality pager.

- Custom recordable alerting - Who cares. I want something that will alert me I have a call, not sing to me or talk to me.

- Field programmable? Does that mean with a computer or on the fly? If it is on the fly... again who cares. Since when were going to a call thinking "Gee, I wish I could re-program my pager's frequencies?

- Shorter battery life. I can go a few days on my Minitor V. 24 hours is nothing and is not enough.

- No mention of a warranty anywhere. This should be something big and obvious.

I'm going to pay $400 for all of this stuff I don't need, no stated warranty, shorter battery life, and not IS rated. I can get a Minitor V's with a 5yr warranty, programmed, and engraved for $467. Hmm.

nmfire10 wrote:- 8 Channels. Who cares. It is a pager and their purpose is alerting for a call. Nobody will ever have 8 channels they NEED to hear on a pager. That is what scanners are for and making a pager do it simply takes away form it being a quality pager.

Uh, ok it stays on the main channel 99 percent of the time, but when something is going on, it is nice to be able to listen to the other channels. It has priority on the main channel (or another you select) and will still alert for calls when scanning.
I'm guessing you don't like extra features on stuff.

nmfire10 wrote:- Custom recordable alerting - Who cares. I want something that will alert me I have a call, not sing to me or talk to me.

You can leave the default alerts set at BeepBeepBeepBeep or Beeeeeeeeeeeeeep or BeeBoopBeeBoop (like a Min V) if you don't like having a pager that says "I've fallen and I can't get up!" I find this funny, but I have a sick sense of humor.

nmfire10 wrote:- Field programmable? Does that mean with a computer or on the fly? If it is on the fly... again who cares. Since when were going to a call thinking "Gee, I wish I could re-program my pager's frequencies?

Not sure where anyone said they were programmable on the fly. They need to be plugged into a computer to be reprogrammed. The programming software is quite easy to use. One screen. No multiple sub menus (Like General, F1, F2, Model Options, Function switches). The "hardware" looks like a simple 9 pin serial cable (it isn't). It fits in my pocket with room for other stuff.

nmfire10 wrote:-
- Shorter battery life. I can go a few days on my Minitor V. 24 hours is nothing and is not enough.

I've run mine for 24 hours straight, lots of alerts, and the battery low indicator was not going off. I have no idea how long it really lasts. The charger charges it back up in about 2 hours. Call me crazy, but I like to get a little sleep after 24 hours straight, and this is a great time to charge my pager. The charger sits on my nightstand and gets used every night. If I were to stray away from my charger for more than 24 hours, I could pop into the nearest 7/11 and grab a set of AAA akalines to keep me going for a couple of more days. Somehow I've haven't needed this yet.

nmfire10 wrote:- No mention of a warranty anywhere. This should be something big and obvious..

Standard 18 month warranty. Extended warranty available. I think you'll find that is the longest standard warranty of any pager.

nmfire10 wrote:I'm going to pay $400 for all of this stuff I don't need, no stated warranty, shorter battery life, and not IS rated. I can get a Minitor V's with a 5yr warranty, programmed, and engraved for $467. Hmm.

Well, I didn't NEED all the extras, I wanted a pager that would go off for the calls. It is doing a remarkable job of going off for all the calls just like it is supposed to. But if I wrote a review that said "It goes off for calls, and it's really loud", what would have been the point?
I also wanted to be able to program the pager myself. This means I need the programming software and the hardware to do the programming. With the Tribute911 pager, I got ALL THAT for just over $400. The programming hardware was about $30 of that. I'm only buying 1. Maybe if you buy a couple hundred, you can justify the cost for the Software and the Cradle that Motorola charges, but I didn't want to pay over a grand for all that stuff (including the pager).
That price even included Stored Voice, which was a feature I didn't think I needed, but now can't figure how I ever lived without! People on our system are constantly asking the dispatcher to "repeat the address". Stored voice would solve that problem.

If you spend a lot of time in explosive atmospheres than you probably need the Motorola pagers. They are the only ones I've seen that are IS. That includes the Apollos and the Nova's. The Tribute911 is rated IP54 for "driving rain". This I see as more of a threat to the pager than an explosive atmosphere. (I think the Minitor V is also IP54, but most of the others ARE NOT)

I wrote my original review because it was very hard to find any info on the net about these pagers. I had a lot of questions that were unanswered. I took a gamble and bought the pager sight-unseen, with MY MONEY, not my department's. I've been pleasantly surprised with the results ever since. So I figured I'd share.
I have no other affiliation with the company other than a satisfied customer.
Not trying to pick any fights or flame wars here. If you are happy with Motorola, stick with Motorola.

I can tell you many times when I've appreciated the battery lasting a lot longer than 24 hours. If I don't go back to my house, the pager doesn't get charged.

How much would this thing cost if it wasn't for all the cell-phone like junk that nobody actually needs? How much would it cost without all that junk and maybe 2 or 3 channels at most. Probably a lot less than $400. I bet it would be smaller too. Maybe use less battery power. I agree it would be funny to have the whole room echo "Help, I've fallen I need to abuse the EMS system again" as the pagers go off. But that isn't what pagers are for.