Without getting technical, let's just say that in the highly desirable VHF (144 - 174 MHz) and UHF (450 - 512 MHz) bands, there are more users desiring to operate radio and paging systems than there are frequencies available.  In real estate, when you have more people wanting to move into an area than there is land available, the developers came up with a new term called sub-division.  In other words they simply crammed more people into available space with some sacrifices.

That is what the government agency responsible for administration of wireless communications decided to do with the VHF and UHF frequency bands.  They cut the space in half.  A standard channel until recently was designated at 25 kHz.  In order to get twice as many users in the same space, they cut the 25 kHz channels in half to 12.5 kHz or narrow band channels.  Great idea, except.......

The manufacturers (at least most of them) in the paging business were not ready for the change.  When your reduce bandwidth (channel spacing), there are some nasty side effects such as reduction in audio among other things.  In addition, the equipment must maintain closer tolerances in order to reject adjacent channel interference.  Most manufacturers have simply ignored the new standard as the mandated date for compliance is tentatively projected at 2013, maybe later.  That's a long way off, but there is an additional problem.

Even though the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) could not immediately mandate a change to 12.5 kHz, they continued with their plan for implementation several years ago.  The reason the FCC could not accelerate the migration to 12.5 kHz was primarily the result of intense pressure from lobbying groups.  These lobbyists were charged with maintaining the status quo of large user groups who did not want to incur the cost of conversion.  So - here is the REAL situation.......

Even though the FCC can't make manufacturers produce 12.5 kHz equipment, they can exert pressure on manufacturers and users alike by issuing new licenses for 12.5 kHz systems.  Think of it this way.  You have a 25 kHz system currently licensed.  Your license is good through 2013 and NOBODY is going to make you change to 12.5 kHz.  Well, the fact is that somebody CAN make you change to 12.5 kHz.  Here's how it works.

The FCC assigns two new 12.5 kHz users on either side of your wide band 25 kHz frequency.  Half the power transmitted by these new users is on YOUR FREQUENCY!  So, what's the impact of that?  The answer is that your system is rendered virtually inoperable until you reduce your bandwidth to 12.5 kHz.  The FCC didn't make you convert, or did they?

So the question is, where do you find 12.5 kHz pagers or better yet, pagers that will currently operate at 25 kHz but can be programmed for 12.5 kHz channel spacing when required.  At the moment, your choices are VERY limited.  That's why we teamed up with Swissphone, an European manufacturer that produces pagers capable of operating on either 25 or 12.5 kHz.  They didn't need a government mandate to build a technically superior product.  In Europe the technical standards have long been higher than the US.

Admittedly, the idea of paying a little more for quality is a difficult step to take.  We have been conditioned to sacrifice quality and performance for the sake of getting a lower price, but this is changing.  In hospital communications, many of our users have come to learn that a low initial price is not necessarily the best long term investment.  The Swissphone DE900 digital pager is easily twice as expensive as oriental consumer type pagers but in the long run it can actually cost less!

Swissphone does not try to build a pager for every need.  Instead, they have chosen to produce a pager that can meet a variety of needs without modification or replacement.  For example, the high performance crystal type DE900 and the synthesized DE920 can function either as a numeric display pager for today's needs as well as a full text message display pager for the future.  We think that makes sense.  We think you will agree after experiencing the quality, performance, and reliability of the Swissphone DE900 and DE920!

To order, visit our Swissphone web store at www.falcondirect.com/Swissphone.   If you have any questions, please email sales@falcondirect.com or give us a call at 1-800-489-2611.

Thanks for visiting with us.  We look forward to serving you!   By the way, if you are not on our mailing list, drop us an email
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The Falcon Team
At your Service!

Copyright 2007 - Falcon Direct, Inc.
This page was last updated on 02/16/2007