Home > News > Pilot of new EAS pagers

Pilot of new EAS pagers

Posted by Jason Leigh CFA Member

Wednesday, 19 September 2012

Two thousand CFA members have received the new EAS Alpha Legend pager as part of a pilot to fine tune its effectiveness before roll out in 2013.

SES, MFB and Ambulance Victoria will also take part in the pilot, which will run for eight weeks. The aim is to test the pagers in the field, in particular the software in the pager that has been configured to make it suitable for use on the EAS network.

The Alpha Legend will replace our current Infostream X3 pager, which required a major refurbishment to ensure ongoing support.

The new pagers are being rolled out as part of the $40 million EAS Network Upgrade Project to improve the capacity and performance of Victoria’s pager network, particularly during peak times. The Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission supported this project in its recommendations.

The pager is more sensitive, allows for more consistent coverage across the state and will reduce the number of black spots. There will be a noticeable improvement in areas of fringe coverage.

It also offers a significant improvement in battery life − up to eight weeks use from a single AA alkaline battery.

While the screen is slightly smaller and requires more scrolling, the text will remain the same size and be displayed on a fully backlit LED screen which will be easier to read.

The new holster protects the screen from damage and has been tested to be robust for emergency services use.

Locations for pilot testing were nominated by the regions and participants will be wearing two pagers throughout the trial.

The Alpha Legend has been adopted by emergency services all over the world.

In addition to the introduction of a new, more sensitive pager, there will be improvements to increase the capacity and performance of the network, including:

a second channel on the EAS network to be used by Ambulance Victoria
a range of process improvements and enhancements to software to improve traffic flow.

The pagers will be replaced during 2013, and the entire network is scheduled to be upgraded by December 2014.

A detailed Q&A is available on CFA Online.

The following 144 brigades will be receiving a new pager as part of the pilot:

District 2: Bendigo, Castlemaine, Eaglehawk, Kangaroo Flat, Kyneton, Gisborne.

District 4: Casterton, Dunrobin & Nangeela, Nelson, Portland, Wando Bridge.

District 5: Allansford, Branxholme, Broadwater, Burn Brae, Byaduk, Cavendish, Coleraine, Dunkeld, Hamilton, Hawkesdale, Koroit, Linlithgow, Melville Forest, Mirranatwa, Mooralla, Mortlake, Nullawarre, Penshurst, Peterborough, Pigeon Ponds, Port Fairy, St Helens, Tarrington, Toolong, Victoria Valley, Warrayure-Moutajup, Warrnambool, Winslow, Woolsthorpe, Wootong Vale, Framlingham, Nth Hamilton, Yambuk, Yulecart.

District 6: Colac, Camperdown.

District 7: Belmont, Corio, Geelong City, Geelong West, Grovedale, Lara, Torquay.

District 8: Berwick, Carrum Downs, Cockatoo, Cranbourne, Dalyston, Dromana, Dandenong, Edithvale, Frankston, Hallam, Hampton Park, Hastings, Hillcrest, Kernot, Kilcunda, Langwarrin, Mornington, Mount Martha, Nar Nar Goon, Narre Warren, Pakenham, Patterson River, Philip Island, Rosebud, Rye, San Remo, Somerville, Springvale, Wonthaggi.

District 9: Drouin, Dumbalk, Hallston, Inverloch, Moe, Warragul.

District 10: Churchill, Morwell, Sale, Traralgon.

District 11: Bairnsdale, Bemm River, Cann Valley, Lakes Entrance, Mallacoota, Marlo, Newmerella, Orbost, Wairewa.

District 12: Kilmore, Seymour, Wallan.

District 13: Bayswater,Boronia, Ferntree Gully, Healesville, Lilydale, Montrose, Mooroolbark, Rowville, Scoresby, Warrandyte.

District 14: Bulla, Caroline Springs, Craigieburn, Diamond Creek, Doreen, Eltham, Epping, Greenvale, Hoppers Crossing, Melton, Mernda, North Research, Plenty, Point Cook, South Morang, Sunbury, Truganina, Warrandyte, Werribee, Whittlesea, Wyndham Vale.

District 15: Ballan, Ballarat City, Ballarat, Bacchus Marsh, Buninyong, Cape Clear, Creswick, Daylesford, Haddon, Linton, Miners Rest, Sebastopol, Smythsdale, Wallunduc, Wendouree.

District 16: Ararat, Stawell.

District 17: Apsley, Douglas, Dimboola, Horsham, Harrow, Miga Lake.

District 20: Echuca, Kyabram.

District 22: Cobram, Euroa, Mooroopna, Shepparton, Tatura and Yarrawonga.

District 23: Benalla, Wangaratta.

District 24: Beechworth, Cohuna, Corryong, Dederang, Falls Creek, Harrietville, Myrtleford, Rochester, Rutherglen, Tallangatta, Wodonga, Wondonga West.

Location:

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Last modified on Tuesday, 25 September 2012 10:58

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...
written by Timothy Hughes, September 19, 2012

I notice that District 18 hasn't been included in the trial period. Is this a typo or is this fair dinkum?

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written by Dwight Goodman, September 20, 2012

8 hours...not in my brigade it won't

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written by Jason Leigh, September 20, 2012

Hi Timothy,

I’ve forwarded your question to Acting Manager CAD Operations Tony Bearzatto, who has provided the following response:

All districts were invited to participate in the pilot program and provide names of brigades and members accordingly.

District 18 was unable to participate due to the timing of the pilot – I advise you to direct any enquiries to your Operations Manager.

Thanks,

Tony.

-1

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written by Chris Gallagher, September 20, 2012

Can i get EAS by SMS instead of being issued one of these old pagers.

I have had a look at them & its my belief that its a massive, massive - huge step backwards in usability compared to the X3..

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written by Jason Leigh, September 20, 2012

Hi Chris,

Let me know if you have any specific issues or questions about the useability and I'll work to follow up an answer.

There's a fair bit of information about the new pagers here: https://cfaonline.cfa.vic.gov.au/mycfa/Show?pageId=easPaging

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written by Kevin LHuillier, September 20, 2012

Would have been great if the pagers could have been branded with CFA on the pager and cover....and if lost details , return to ! ..great advertising space

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written by Kevin LHuillier, September 20, 2012

Is there any chance that the pagers could be branded CFA ? if the pager and case were recognisable , if lost they could be easily returned .

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written by Andrew Gallagher, September 20, 2012

I havent had access to a pager so comments are only based on training material available in cfaonline.

It all looks pretty straight foward & positive.

Only 1 major concern is the lines of text - cutting text capacity by 50% (8 lines of normal down to 4 lines) would appear to be a BIG step backward. Based on the screen shots the inteface and 'readability' looks compromised. Happy to say 'jury' is out until I see one but it is where I'd be focussing my usability / suitability tests

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written by Chris Gallagher, September 20, 2012

The screen is to small

The menu navigation and layout is joke compared to X3

The menu doesn't stay on long enough, by the time you figure out if your in the right place it turns off and you need to start over.

The sound icon contradicts its self (ie) the speaker with the line though it means the sound is ON and just the speaker means its on VIBRATE. that's backwards

And we all ready have same members with eyesight problem using the largest font on the X3, are magnifying glasses being issued for those members that wont be able to read messages even on the "zoom" setting.

One of the big selling points when we got rid of these old pager's for the X3's was the larger screen, the screen size on these is just crap for Emergency Service use.

The X3 is a one hand one finger/thumb operation try doing that on these while doing a complete set-up of the pager (time/date - alert tones & navigating the menu) without once using your other hand...

Iv'e been the Comms Officer of my brigade for 9yrs and I am seriously considering giving it up so I don't have to deal with these pagers.

I'm going to request SMS Paging over being issued one of these I will just have live with the delay from sms..

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written by Robert Byrne, September 25, 2012

What is the benefit of sending this to 2,500 people before debugging the software? Wouldn't it have been better to get together a small group of about a dozen users and get their opinion first, then fix the easy stuff before sending them out? What a bad PR blunder.

There does not seem to be any way to feed back information on this "Pilot". This forum is the closest I could find.

Menu navigation is poor. You press red to select things, and green to reject them??? Except messages, when you press green to accept them.

When selecting a tone, the menu navigation is very confusing, sometimes altering text in the middle of the screen, and at other times altering a number in the header line. I have to have a separate document to figure out what the numbers mean.

The doco says the time will be set from the network several times per day. I've had for two days now, and the time is still wrong. Pager messages are stamped with the wrong time because the pager time is wrong.

This pager has no indication of who it is issued to. What happens after two or three get left in the tanker console? The instructions say not to mark them or put sticky labels on them.

The light is better than the Xstream. At least it comes on on its own.

I've not had any emergency messages yet, so more to come.

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written by Chris Gallagher, September 25, 2012

^^^^^^^ Wheres the Like button when you need it smilies/grin.gif

^^^^^^^

They stopped replying to messages left here because all comments were negative towards this so called equipment upgrade.

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written by Luke Chrzanowski, September 26, 2012

I've heard that you need to scroll through the entire message before the alert tone stops?!? I sincerely hope this is not the case. It's hard enough to find the button at 3am while waking up the entire house, without having to "scroll" through an entire message before the alert tone stops.

It's pretty clear that we've gone back to the older style pager to save on battery costs. Whilst I don't disagree with this, Robert Byrne raises some very valid points which should have been address before this pager system was/is rolled out.

Luke Chrzanowski - R7

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written by Jeremy Egan, September 26, 2012

I am wondering if the new Alpha Legend is a special ruggedized model. If not there is a concern regarding its specified operating temperature. From the manufacturers website http://www.unication.com/alpha_legend_plus.html"Operating Temperature is between 5 to 40 C". Does this mean they may not work on days like black Saturday, what about in cold and extreme heat situations, do we need to remove pager before entering these environments.

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written by Chris Gallagher, September 26, 2012

~~I've heard that you need to scroll through the entire message before the alert tone stops?!?~~

@ Luke

The Alert will stop with the first button press.. but if the message is not read completely to the pagers satisfaction it will beep at you every 3 minutes.

Which i defiantly dont see being a problem for those people driving who cant take the time to glare at the tiny screen and push the buttons it the right combination.

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written by Cameron Mackay, September 26, 2012

These are tested hardware, and used the world over. They are not going to go away that's for sure. I am sure, however, that the agencies will be interested in getting the software right. My observations thus far are:

1) No auto time sync. This may be an issue for BA Control Points who have used pagers in the past to time entry/whistle times for BA operators as everyone has a common time source.

2) You can no longer see the name of the person assigned to the pager. Unless the pagers are physically marked in some way it will be impossible to tell who's pager it is.

3) For us Comms Officers it's often good to be able to see the assigned capcodes to help troubleshoot pager faults. It's not possible with these.

4) I agree with the beeping...to have to read to the very end of each message is unnecessary and is already creating negative feedback from the people I have talked with.

5) I am not convinced the pagers will stay secure in the holsters over time as they start to loosen up. Time will tell.

6) The manual states that the pagers should not be exposed to extreme heat (fires) or moister (fires/floods). That needs clarification.

Otherwise ok. :-)

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written by Cameron Mackay, September 26, 2012

Oh no, just discovered they don't have a "delete all" messages function! That's bad for us SES people who often get 100-200 jobs at once!

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written by Jordan Brett Cook, September 27, 2012

Okay I have a question on the infostream X3 there is a facility to hold a bungee support cord in the event that it come out of it holster that bungee cord will support the page and not allow it to come in contact with the ground however I have noticed that the new pages are rolling out and they don't have that my concern is that not having the bungee support cord will result in more pages being returned to communications because they have come out of the holster accidentally

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written by Tony Bearzatto, September 28, 2012

Greetings readers,
It is good to see the interest being taken in the new pagers and some very relevant questions have arisen from your observations. There are some common themes so I will respond in one to the multiple questions.

EAS paging is the primary alerting mechanism for operational response and CFA will continue to operate with this system. It is the only system that provides priority access to the network for emergency calls. SMS does not provide the same level of access and consequently delays can occur when emergency calls are cued on a public network.

CFA Logo on pager. The pager replacement program is multi agency including CFA, AV, MFB and SES. When pagers are returned for repair or maintenance they may be reissued to another agency and hence a permanent branding would not be feasible. However we will be investigating whether a software change can be made to the pagers to dispaly CFA on the screen on start-up.
We will also be investigating the option of including the owners name on the pager.

In recognising that the screen size is smaller the font sizes on the Alpha pager are the same as the large and small font size on the X3 pager.

Pager selection and the Pilot Program. Before the pilot program was conducted a smaller number of different pagers were placed in the field and as a result of the feedback the Unication Alpha Legend pager was selected The reason for CFA having 2000 pagers around the state for the Pilot was to provide greater assurance that the software was suitable in a large range of environments. Hence the reason for 144 brigades being selected to provide valuable feedback.The feedback from members involved in the pilot program is critical to the ultimate performance of the pager. There efforts are greatly appreciated. Feedback on the pager, whether it be performance related or other issues such as Alarm not stopping until message is fully read, setting the time, lighting times, menu navigation, etc should be directed to the EAS Helpdesk as per the instructions distributed with the pager. There will also be an Online Survey available shortly and details of this will be sent out on the "Free capcode4" that you should activate as per instructions.

The new Alpha pager is more ruggedised that the X3 pager and has been tested in harsh environments and has had no problems in passing these tests.

The auto time sync via GPS is a function of the pager and if it not working this should be reported to the EAS Help desk.

Pager security in the holsters has been recognised for a long time regardless of which pager we have been using. Hence the reason that all pagers will be supplied with a bungy cord.

The pagers do have a delete all function but at the moment they will only delete read messages. If messages have not been read they will not be deleted.

I hope I have answered most queries and we will continue to monitor this forum and provide regular updates.

Regards

Tony Bearzatto
Manager CAD Operations

-3

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written by Russell Edwards, October 05, 2012

These things are a massive step backwards. The interface is very clunky and fiddly. It feels like you're trying to program the timer on a 1983-vintage VCR. And the screen is reminiscent of a microfiche film. Maybe they should be issued with a photographer's loupe or a magnifying glass.

And I'm only 35 years old ... guess what the oldies think about these things.

I don't bother trying to read mine when I'm trying to get out the door- I just click to shut it up then read the old pager. When the old pager is taken back I will probably do the same thing and rely on the printout at the station to find out what we're going to.

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written by Russell Edwards, October 05, 2012

I realise my whinge above is not very specific so here goes

* The screen is not "slightly" smaller.

* Physically I measure approx 40x12 mm of alphanumeric display area vs 48x22 mm for the X3. So the screen area is less than half that of the X3.

* The gap in text capacity is even greater because the new pager uses a fixed-width font whereas the X3 does not. A direct comparison, I am looking at the X3 with an emergency message in Medium font, and the same message on the new pager in a very small font. Both have 4 lines of text but the portion of text which fills the screen on the new pager only comes to 3 and a half lines on the X3. I have more than 30 more characters visible on the X3, in a much bigger font, plus a scroll bar and the message date, time and channel. If I put the X3 on Small, the text is approx the same size as the new pager but nearly all messages will then fit on the screen in their entirety with no scrolling needed. Compare this to having to click down arrow 6 times to see the whole message on the new pager.

* The new pager lets you scroll past the end of one message and on to the next/previous message. Very rarely would this be what you actually want to do. To make matters worse there is no persistent display of the message date/time/channel or scroll bar, so there is no indication that this has occurred until the time stamp at the end of the message has been reached. This is a cause of much confusion in the heat of the moment. Generally we need to be able to quickly find the address of the job, often while doing multiple other jobs at the same time. Annoyances like this are definitely not welcome.

* The settings interface is unintuitive. I have never needed to look at a manual for the X3 because it all just makes sense. With the new pager I hit a button that is color coded with a red symbol (is this the record button on a tape recorder?) and it tells me "EMERGENCY ESCAPE" (say what??) and then provides me with a menu in the form of a string of unintelligible hieroglyphics, each an in glorious 8x8 pixel monochrome. Not useful!

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written by Russell Edwards, October 05, 2012

oops, can't edit my post above.

It should read: the text which fills the screen on the new pager only occupies two and a half lines on the old pager, with a much larger font on the old pager.

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written by Len Wyhoon, October 13, 2012

Tony, can we get access to the comparisons of all the pagers trialled. I have spoken to a number of people involved in the initial trial and not one has said that they prefered the selected pager.

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written by Ian Challis, October 17, 2012

How can we test them when we haven't yet recieved them? smilies/grin.gif

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written by Tony Bearzatto, October 17, 2012

To Ian Challis,
All the pagers (2000) for the Pilot Program have been delivered to Districts for distribution to Brigades and the nominated members over the past 4 weeks. There has been extensive feedback from members during this period and this has identified a number of features of the pagers that we will be looking to change. The most significant of these being the continual beeping of the pager until the whole messgae has been read. This feedback has been consistent across CFA, SES and Ambulance Victoria. At the same time there are some hardware features such as screen size that we will not be able to change.
The software functionality of the pager has proven successful so far with minimal occurrences of messages not received of corrupted in comparison to the existing pagers

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written by Russell Edwards, October 18, 2012

"At the same time there are some hardware features such as screen size that we will not be able to change. "

Why's that?

If something doesn't meet operational needs, surely it must be fixed.

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written by Brendan King, October 18, 2012

Tony,

How can the CFA, along with the other services, sit back and hear feedback like that above, and just say we have to put up with it, and come back to the members and say there is nothing that can be done. Surely yourselves and SES and AV management can go to the contractor and advise them that these pagers are not fit for the purpose and they need to think again. I have had mine for a few weeks now and I have never been more tempted to throw one at the wall than when using this one!

I must encourage those that are reading this and have not reported to the help desk when the crappy things don't go off, or have corrupted messages to start reporting them as I keep hearing that there are a lot of corrupted messages across the state, yet it is being reported back that there is very little corruption. When I called to advise of the times I got corrupted messages I was told by the operator that they didn't want to know every time, despite the instruction sheet coming out and stating that that was what was to happen.

And I have just had a look at mine as you have said free code 4 in your above reply, but I was sure it was meant to be free code 1. When I finally got in there I have just found that it has removed itself from the dynamic group, and I know that I had it on the right one, and that it saved it cos I received 3 messages on the dynamic cap code a couple of weeks ago!! I will be reporting that to.

Shall we talk about the you beaut last for so much longer battery!! In the time I have had it I have put two batteries in it, compared to the one I have had to change for the X3. 8 weeks my bum!!!

The screen size is an absolute unfunny joke! Even SA's level smaller pagers have a bigger screen than these ones! My eyes are pretty good but.......... And having it on the biggest font, and having to scroll through a thousand pages to get to the end of the messages is no longer novel!!!

I am one that can usually pick up the workings of my electronic accoutrements fairly quickly, but the menu in this stupid thing is just silly.

The message needs to go back to the contractor that they probably shouldn't buy to many more of these as I know there will be a few down this way that won't come out of the box and a lot of people will be hanging onto the X3! Sometimes the cheapest is not always he best!!!!!!!!!!

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written by Cameron Mackay, October 18, 2012

I'd like to thank Tony for being willing and available to comment on this public forum...thanks Tony, at least we know our comments are being heard. That said, we need to be mindful of how we communicate here as I know in our brigade we have been warned not to say inappropriate things.

Reading back through the thread it appears to me that almost all of the issues are software issues that I trust will be addressed before any consideration of a wider roll-out is given.

With regards to the screen size and lack of visual alert (like the existing red blinking light on the X3) I can't see how that can be addressed without looking at different hardware. I don't know how they will deal with the blinking light, and that would have to be of consideration to people with hearing disorders who either do not use or have a malfunctioning vibration alert. I personally use that feature in the gym and in meetings at work. It also prompts me to read a message I had earlier ignored.

I am quite sure that this was the "best" pager trialed in the initial selection however I would be very interested to see how the initial hardware selection field was determined. Perhaps Tony could let us know what the driver is to replace the X3 in the first place? Why not go back to the manufacturer and make it an even better pager as it clearly hits the mark for the end users.

I was wondering this morning if the career firefighters are trialing the new pagers and what their thoughts are? I'd also be interested to know what the UFU, the VFBV and VESA members think about them?

I just replaced my battery too...no way it lasted 8 weeks, less than 4 actually.

I am an IT manager. At the end of the day the pilot is actually going very well. It has identified usability issues which is precisely what a pilot is supposed to do. My very real concern is that the pagers will be deployed regardless of the very strong feedback received from the pilot group. I don't envy the project team if that ends up being the case.

Cheers all,

...
written by Brendan King, October 18, 2012

Cameron,

Don't think there is anything inappropriate in any of the posts above.

My comments are here as I know that Tony has been on here and has been more than willing to answer, and good on him. I can understand the frustrations he must be going through as I have been continually correcting people that it was not the CFA that chose these pagers, they have been given the ball and told to run with it. Because they are just so crappy, it seems that people think CFA are the easy target and not 'blaming'(not the right word, but brain fart at the moment) the right people.

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written by Russell Edwards, October 19, 2012

Brendan, I don't see anyone "blaming" the CFA above. It's surely not our position as operational members to contact the Department of Justice directly (or whoever is responsible for the contract with EAS) and complain about the shortcomings of our pagers. That would be the job of people at CFA HQ, based on the feedback we give them.

If there's a certain level of frustration, that would be because we constantly see HQ trying to spin these things as an improvement when clearly they are not. Instead of telling us "no, you're wrong, they're great" they should be telling us "whoops, you're right, we'll go back and demand something that is fit for purpose."

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written by Brendan King, October 19, 2012

Russell. I didn't specify where this has been occurring. There are quite a few outlets out there where others get together and discuss such things as the pagers and other matters.

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written by Andrew Bath, October 21, 2012

I would like to add my comments on the 2 big selling points of these 'new' pagers -
1. Better battery life... even before testing these I noted that the new ones have AAs where the current ones havbe AAAs. Naturally you would expect better battery life from a bigger battery! In reality during my testing so far there is little or no difference in battery life. The batteries provided with the 'new' pagers are Duracell Procells which are not available in stores... I'd suspect that they are not cheap so the battery saving line may not be entirely accurate.
2. Better Sensitivity... this may be the case but I have not had any missed calls during my testing.

As for the other comments above, I can wholeheartedly agree that the dramatic drop in screen size is going to be the biggest failing. This will be followed closely by the over-intricate menu system.

Re. the font size, yes you can make it larger which does make it easier to read but there are two problems with this. Larger font means more button pushing to read your messages. And secondly, to find the ZOOM IN menu item it is assumed that you can actually read the menu in the first place. If you need to increase the message font size then you are unlikely to be able to read the menu to get there because it remains in the small font regardless of any other setting.

And don't get me started on build quality!

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written by Ian Challis, October 22, 2012

Tony Bearzatto I am in one of the brigades listed and know nothing of these new pagers,only what I have read here smilies/sad.gif

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written by Wayne Charlton, October 25, 2012

Ian - I am not sure if it is the same for all brigades, however in our case not all members within the brigade are trialling the new pager. For us, career staff plus about 6-8 vols have the new pagers - so you might need to check with your BMT or Comms Officer.

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written by Wayne Charlton, October 25, 2012

For what it is worth, my general comments on the pagers to date:

Reception
Generally very good (although this is in outer-metro Melbourne). Have only had one or two garbled messages over the last 4 weeks, one of which was garbled on X3 also. This is with receiving around 6-7 pages a day.

Menu
Having used the previous Orange/Motorola pagers pre-X3 I had a bit of an idea about how the menu system worked. That said, I generally concur with above comments - clunky interface, and a not very intuitive menu system. No indication in the folders which the most recent call is (unlike with the scroll bar on the X3). My personal view is that they have tried to put an X3-like system into a pager that doesn’t suit it. Whilst the older Orange/Motorola’s didn’t have the 3-folder structure, I found them far easier to use than the current layout. To fix this will require some serious firmware reprogramming.

Screen
Backlighting works very well. As a screen, it is clear and bright, but yes is smaller.

Battery Life
Certainly not 8 weeks - about 3.5 weeks for me, but this is about 1.5 weeks longer than my X3. However a comparison between a AAA and AA battery isn’t technically fair - given the same load the AA should last longer. My general research has indicated that Duracell Procell batteries are technically identical to standard Duracell batteries, just with a different branding for commercial bulk sales (i.e. Procell isn’t sold retail).

General Issues
Whilst holster provides good protection to the pager, pager is somewhat fiddly to remove.

Dynamic Capcode seems to reset itself from time to time back to default - so not sure if I have missed trial messages (in fact haven’t received any).

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written by Len Wyhoon, October 26, 2012

I guess the question needs to be asked, after all the feedback being recieved,what does CFA plan to do regarding the quality and reliability of these units? Including the alleged battery life of around 2 months but in reality,, less than the current X3 at around 2 to 3 weeks?

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written by Keith Purchase, October 29, 2012

Why is this feed back on Blogs where one has to search for the article to read the comments and not in a members or public forum where it hits the top of the list of recent posts is added.
Is the hierarchy involved trying to hide something.

If the new Pager is forced upon us with all its suggested short comings I will seriously consider opting to not accepting one one even going back to mobile phone SMS in preference.
Gone are the days of the KISS principle ... Keep It Simple .etc.

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written by Jason Leigh, October 30, 2012

Hi all,

Tony Bearzatto is on annual leave for the next two weeks and will no doubt respond to your feedback/enquiries when he returns.

Keith Purchase - I know that Tony has been keeping across the forums but as there have been similiar comments between the two he has continued responding to the enquiries in this article to keep it all together. I left a link in the forum thread to let people know about this article and interaction.

Jason

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written by Richard Evans, November 11, 2012

Why was this only a reliability trial and not useability trail because the Alpha Legend is not very user friendly?
Even though the font may be the same size as the X3, it is still much harder to read the smaller screen. One reason is because you have to scroll through ever message where the X3 can display most emergency messages fully or at least the important initial required information.
The menu is not user friendly, full stop! Opps here is the full stop (.). I added it in the between () so you didn’t miss it.
I cannot understand how the Alpha Legend was selected over the X3 (or other pagers) in another selection trial. As CFA originally issued the Alpha Legend before the X3 EAS pager was released and the X3 was considered an improvement. Back then, when CFA issued the X3 it was considered better for various reasons and most of the things have been mentioned in the above posts, so…. Why are we going back to something that has already been superseded?
I am not against changing pagers but I am against going backwards. This trial is a backwards step for members using the Alpha Legend pager compared to the X3.
I have not heard of any survey except what has mentioned on the above posts. I guess you can’t get the wrong answer if you don’t ask!!!

Richard.

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written by Samuel Ainslie, November 17, 2012

^ 100% agree with Richard,
although I must admit, I too am confused that the CFA has trialed the software without running a reasonable trial of the hardware, seems to me that those in charge of finances have decided on the product and comms have been left to deal with the software side of things.

100% of people I have spoken to about these pagers have the same opinion. The software is not where the biggest issues are (having said that, there are problems that CAN be fixed), however there is no two ways about it, everyone agrees that the hardware is shockingly bad.
The biggest issue with the hardware is the screen size. There is a problem here. Why can't we fix it? If I recall correctly, there has already been a purchase of a large number of these pagers so by the looks of things, we're just going to have to suck it up. Huzzar for moving backwards!
While I'm at it, is it ironic that my pager did not receive the "end of trial" message on FreeCapcode4? I found it slightly humerous... smilies/shocked.gif

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