Subject: Modem Software to Alert Pagers-SUMMARY (Long)
To: info-hams@ucsd.edu
ORIGINAL POSTING:
>Our local Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) group needs some software that could notify all our pager-carrying members when an emergency happens.
>Many of our members carry pagers for their jobs, and most of these are digital pagers. We need an application that would go down a list of pager phone numbers, dialing each, waiting until the phone is answered, then sending the TouchTones (r) for "14694". This number would be recognized by our members as meaning 146.94 MHz, the local ARES repeater frequency.
>Has anyone seen an app (for PC or Mac) that can do this? Thank you.
Here are some of the responses, with a surprise at the end.
*****
MULTI-PLATFORM SOFTWARE:
Hi there. KL7RH here..
I am the state ombudsman for Alaska and I use digital pagers at work to
keep tabs on staff and such. We are using the Motorola Advisors. Love them!
I have also been using some software called NOTIFY! It is made by
Ex Machina
45 E 89th Street #39A
Ny Ny 10128.
It is great stuff. It will allow group messaging as well as very long alpha
numeric messages to be sent Basically you set up a "phone book" that lets
you define individuals even on multiple systems. You can then make groups
of those individuals. They do have a forum on CompuServe and an 800 # but
unfortunately I don't have either at the moment.
If you contact them tell them I sent you. They have been good to me as far
as support.
*****
Regarding your quest for software to alert digital pagers for your local
ARES group: for the Macintosh, there is a rather nice program called
'Notify!' published by:
Ex Machina, Inc.
45 East 89th Street, Suite 39-A
New York, NY 10128-0309
Phone: 718-965-0309
Fax: 718-832-5465
They can also be reached on America Online, if I remember correctly.
The program can be set up with various groups to be alerted with various
messages, and can handle several different pager formats, including alpha-
numeric.
Hope this helps...
*****
I think "Notify" for the Mac could do this. Notify may have changed hands,
but here is the info I have:
Notify
ExMachina, Inc.
New York, NY.
212-831-3142
*****
There are several packages that do this. Notify! from
Ex Machina knows pager protocols and can work through
the pager companies paging computer or call each of them
directly as a normal call. It can handle both numeric
pagers and alphanumeric ones. They have a version for
both the Mac and for Windows.
Ex Machina is at 45 East 89th St #39A,
New York, NY 10128
There is also a company called Information Radio Technology
in Cleveland at 800-228-8998. Bob Grohol also markets
several paging solutions there including one called
AlphaPage.
*****
PC SOFTWARE:
You can get a program called pager10.zip that might do the trick. It is
located on the OUBBS at 405-3256128.
*****
You can use Procomm a pc program that has dialing directories. It will
sequentially dial numbers from the list, going to the next if there is no
modem carrier received. A pager number of 555+1234,,,,14694 is entered. the
modem dials 555+1234 waits two seconds per comma then dials 14694 since no
modem tone is present the modem hangs up and dials the next number in the
dialing directory.
I use procom for windows and have setup macros to do similar call-outs.
*****
ANY PLATFORM:
Miles:
I _think_ I've got an idea that should work. I'm using Microphone II Pro on
my Macintosh computer, but I think the technique should work with any
communications software that supports scripting. The key to making it work
is the Hayes Command set dial modifier ";". The semicolon "is placed at the
end of the Dial command, causing the modem to dial the numbers entered,
then immediately return to the command mode without disconnecting."
Basically, what this means is with a semicolon at the end of the line, the
modem does not wait for another modem to pick up before allowing another
command to be entered. I played with this using my voice mail, which uses
touchtones to login and enter the pass word. I was able to enter my
extension, password, and logout right from my keyboard. The command
sequence also requires the use of the # and * keys, so I also verified that
these characters were sent, at least using my setup.
Here's what I think your sequence of events might look like:
atdt 5551234; dial the pager number and
stay in the command mode
OK command accepted by the
modem
Might need some type of
test to insure the other
end of the phone line is
a) not busy and b) picked
up
atdt 14694; Touchtone characters to
be sent to the pager
OK command accepted by the
modem
ath Hang up the phone
OK Command accepted by the
modem
atdt 5552345; dial the next pager
number and stay in the
command mode...
Anyway, I think you get the general idea. I don't have a pager to try this
out on, but I think you should be able to get something working. One nice
thing about Microphone II is it's "watch me" scripting capability. You turn
"watch me" on and manually run through what you want the script to do.
After you are done, turn off "watch me" and your script is complete. You
can then script edit function to do any fine tuning, like adding additional
commands for additional pagers etc.
*****
I think you could probably do something like this
send atdt <someone on the list>; semicolon is important modem response >
<CR><LF>OK<CR><LF>
now the hard part is how do you whether the paging service has answered?
look for busy or assume pager service picks up and is ready to receive
input after 10 seconds
send atdt <whatever>
send ath
We will be adding some sort of pager support and the idea of allowing
someone to send out a given code to a list of pagers hadn't been
considered, but it sounds like a good idea. I'll look into it.
***** *****
THE BOTTOM LINE:
At our ARES meeting last night, I learned how to do this at no cost and
little hassle.
One of our ARES members had called the largest pager company in town. They
said that they would set up a call group in their computer, so that all our
members' pagers on their system would be notified simultaneously. _No
charge_.
The member will be checking with the other (very few) pager companies in
