By Philipp Zimmermann
Firefighter John Smith’s pager emits a loud alarm and flashes its red light emitting diode (LED). Without reading the display, he immediately knows this is a major incident where his help is needed. He acknowledges the alarm with the press of one button and jumps into his truck. After a few moments, while he’s well on his way to the firehouse, the crystal-clear voice dispatch is coming through. He keeps both hands on the wheel to get there safely.
Alerting firefighters quickly and effectively is crucial for successfully mitigating an emergency. However, alerting volunteer firefighters can be a challenge. First, the recent switch from broadband to narrowband radio technology has led to a loss of paging coverage: Dispatch calls are not received anymore. Second, incumbent pagers often don’t live up to today’s expectations in terms of speed and efficiency of alerting, quality, and cost efficiency.
Connected to Your Smartphone
The s.QUAD Voice Pager combines the best of both worlds. It is a ruggedized analog pager with a radio sensitivity (2 μV/m) that allows fire departments to extend the coverage of their existing paging network significantly. The s.QUAD’s Bluetooth interface allows it to connect to your smartphone, which serves as a gateway. You receive alphanumeric messages on your pager long before the crystal-clear voice dispatch comes through.
Fast and Clear Alerts
The alphanumeric message, in conjunction with a loud alert and a vibrating alarm, notifies you whether you should immediately head to the firehouse or directly to the scene. A multicolored flashing LED visually supports the alarm, further indicating the urgency of the alert. Within seconds, you know what type of alarm it is without having to read the message: Up to seven colors of flashing light, as well as any .wav sound file, can be attributed to different profiles of alarms or urgencies. When the voice dispatch with additional information comes through, you are already well on your way.
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| (1) Photo courtesy of the Swissphone Group. |
Efficient Dispatching
The s.QUAD Voice Pager connected to the smartphone offers additional innovative features. For example, you can indicate at any time if you are available or not. This enables the dispatcher at the public safety answering point to determine if enough firefighters and other specialists are available at a given moment. When an alarm is received, you can respond on the pager with the push of a button, allowing the dispatcher additional time to call more firefighters if needed.
Extremely Robust
The s.QUAD Voice Pager is waterproof and dustproof (IP67 rated), rugged, and compact. It was designed based on computer-based drop simulations and tested in real live 6.5-foot drop tests. Swissphone expects the pager to have a life cycle of around seven years. That said, there are many Swissphone pagers still operating that are 20 years and older!
Digital- and FirstNet-Ready
Even if the s.QUAD lasts for seven years, we don’t know how alerts will be made five years from now. The s.QUAD Voice pager will provide the flexibility you will need: Swissphone offers a simple firmware update that will enable you to migrate the pager into a digital POCSAG (Post Office Code Standardisation Advisory Group) pager. At the same time, the s.QUAD app also runs on a FirstNet-ready smartphone, allowing you to extend your alerting network coverage through FirstNet hybrid paging.
PHILIPP ZIMMERMANN is the vice president of marketing for the Swissphone Group, based in Switzerland. He has an MBA in international management, is a certified public relations consultant CIPR, and is a trained pastor.
s.QUAD Voice Pager Features
- 64 addresses, 8 channels (option: multichannel)
- Multicolored alarm LED
- High-resolution display
- Connection to compatible devices via Bluetooth
- Up to 16 minutes of stored voice memory
- Reception sensitivity (<=2 μV/m)
- Alerting volume > 95 dB(A) at a distance of 12 inches
- Extremely robust (6.5-foot drop test) and waterproof (short-term submersion)
- Switching bandwidth programmable up to 10 MHz (Wide PLL)
- Standard single AA battery
- Integrated Bluetooth interface to connect with smartphones
- Integrated radio frequency identification chip
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