A pager is an electronic device used to contact people via a Paging (telecommunications) network. It pre-dates mobile phone technology, but similarly uses radio transmissions to communicate between a control/call centres and the recipient. Many of today's pagers use the FLEX on-air protocol.
Early pagers only provided an audio notification, a bleep or series of bleeps, to indicate that you had been paged. The paged party then had to telephone the control/call centre to collect the message either from an operator or an early voice mail device. Later pagers used text messages to provide the recipient with more information.
Later models included the ability to send messages in a two-way fashion and even included the ability to send email. This is known as two-way paging.
Pagers subscriptions have been on the decline since the widespread availability of mobile phones and their ability to send SMS based text messaging can duplicate the paging function. However, they retain their usefulness for distributing alerts to large numbers of users at the same time; those groups would include emergency services personnel.
Interestingly pagers are still in use today in places where mobile phones typically cannot reach users. A good example is deep within a hospital complex where cellular coverage can be problematic. In most situations hospitals will contract out or purchase and maintain the equipment needed to provide this extra RF coverage. It is critical that quality signal reach all of the hospital campus areas so that its emergency staff can respond to patient's needs.
Common paging protocols include: FLEX, ReFLEX, POCSAG, Golay and NTT. Past paging protocols include: Two-tone and 5/6-tone.
PAGER will distribute alarms via pager, mobile phone, and e-mail that will include a concise estimate of impact: red for severe, yellow for moderate, and green for little or no impact.
PAGER uses these earthquake solutions to calculate estimates of ground shaking using the methodology and software developed for ShakeMap.
Finally, PAGER generates an impact statement by considering the fragility of the exposed population and infrastructure, potential for earthquake induced landslides, and, if available, damage reports from previous nearby historic earthquakes for comparison purposes and damage projection.
Pagers remain in use to notify part-time emergency personnel, such as lifeboat men and retained fire fighters that they are required, and in this use can be thought of as a modern equivalent of maroons.
Pager subscriptions have been on the decline since the widespread availability of mobile phones and their ability to send SMS based text messages which duplicates some pager functions.
Pagers are still in use today in places where mobile phones typically cannot reach users and in places where the operation of radio transmitters contained in mobile phones is problematic or prohibited.
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