Is there anything I can do about a beeper I *can't* hear?

[NTB]

The group work with has a beeper that they keep so that they can recieve messages if there are any problems at work over night or during the weekend - jobs on the mainframe running behind schedule, not running at all, you get the idea. Each person on the beeper rotation gets the thing for a week, then it goes to the next person.

Anyway, I just started here a little while ago, and this weekend was my first time with the beeper. Durring daytime hours everything is fine, but once bedtime rolls around, it's a different story; I thought this might happen, but I figured I'd give it a shot anyway. Didn't work. The other guys at work all complain about how loud this thing is, but without my hearing aid in (I'm completely deaf in one ear and partially so in the other), I can't hear it, even when it's sitting just a foot or two from my head :Q Went off several times last night and I never heard it - didn't find out about it until I actually got up this morning, several hours after it had gone off. Fortunately, I got lucky - the beeps were from mainframe jobs that were running behind schedule. Annoying, but nothing to worry about.

I have changed the alert tone on the beeper for this evening, to see if that will help, and I have searched high and low for a volume control so I could try turning it up, but I don't see one. Any other suggestions? If I have to go into work tomorrow and tell them that I can't hear it, they aren't going to be happy. There's nothing anybody can do about it, but they're still not going to be happy about it.

Nathan

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Put it by/under your pillow on something hard, and set it to vibrate.

- M4H

 

[Savij]

Originally posted by: NTB
The group work with has a beeper that they keep so that they can recieve messages if there are any problems at work over night or during the weekend - jobs on the mainframe running behind schedule, not running at all, you get the idea. Each person on the beeper rotation gets the thing for a week, then it goes to the next person.

Anyway, I just started here a little while ago, and this weekend was my first time with the beeper. Durring daytime hours everything is fine, but once bedtime rolls around, it's a different story; I thought this might happen, but I figured I'd give it a shot anyway. Didn't work. The other guys at work all complain about how loud this thing is, but without my hearing aid in (I'm completely deaf in one ear and partially so in the other), I can't hear it, even when it's sitting just a foot or two from my head :Q Went off several times last night and I never heard it - didn't find out about it until I actually got up this morning, several hours after it had gone off. Fortunately, I got lucky - the beeps were from mainframe jobs that were running behind schedule. Annoying, but nothing to worry about.

I have changed the alert tone on the beeper for this evening, to see if that will help, and I have searched high and low for a volume control so I could try turning it up, but I don't see one. Any other suggestions? If I have to go into work tomorrow and tell them that I can't hear it, they aren't going to be happy. There's nothing anybody can do about it, but they're still not going to be happy about it.

Nathan

Rig a strobe light to turn on/off with a pull switch (or whatever those old light switches that had a chain for the on/off switch is called). Attach the on/off switch to the end of the line. Put beeper in vibrate mode and place on the edge of a table so it falls off when it vibrates and turns the strobe light on.

 

[Rubycon]

Assemble it next to a coupler that activates a relay and you can connect ANYTHING to the relay.

For example if you're a heavy sleeper you can have the relay turn on a loud shop vacuum. If you really sleep heavily you can take an electric drill and lock down a piece of vinyl tubing a few feet long in the chuck, pull the trigger and lock it ON full speed and place the drill under your blanket. It will give you a whipping that can wake the dead. :laugh:

 

[SmoochyTX]

Can you wear your hearing aid 24 hours?

 

[Savij]

Originally posted by: MS Dawn
Assemble it next to a coupler that activates a relay and you can connect ANYTHING to the relay.

For example if you're a heavy sleeper you can have the relay turn on a loud shop vacuum. If you really sleep heavily you can take an electric drill and lock down a piece of vinyl tubing a few feet long in the chuck, pull the trigger and lock it ON full speed and place the drill under your blanket. It will give you a whipping that can wake the dead. :laugh:

I like the drill idea!

 

[arcas]

Beepers and cellphones normally use a tiny motor with an offset weight when in vibrate mode. You can attach wires to the motor's + and - terminals. Drill a small hole in the beeper's housing and run the wires to the outside. Add a connector to the wires...something simple, even an RCA jack would work. Assemble a relay that powers a light or maybe a 95db piezo buzzer. Now when you're at home with your hearing aid removed, switch the beeper to vibrate mode and connect your relay via the RCA plugs. This way you'll retain normal vibrate capability for when you're in meetings.

 

[dopcombo]

I hope you don't live in an apartment.

How do you wake up to go to work in the morning then? Is your alarm loud enough?
If so, maybe you can use some sort of relay as described above to cause your alarm to ring.

Alternatively, isn't there some way you can attach the beeper to your forearm, like with those running bands? THen when it vibrates, maybe you'll wake up.

 

[Kreon]

can he make alterations to teh beeper if it's a company one??

I'd go for setting it on vibrate (if it has it) and puttin it under you pillow, or hold it in your hand while you sleep (like someone else mentioned..)

 

[NTB]

Originally posted by: Kreon
can he make alterations to teh beeper if it's a company one??

I'd go for setting it on vibrate (if it has it) and puttin it under you pillow, or hold it in your hand while you sleep (like someone else mentioned..)

I'm going to set it on vibrate and clip it onto my shorts before I go to bed. I usually sleep on my stomach or my back, so it *shouldn't* get in the way. If it does, I guess I'll have to figure something else out.

Nate

 

[akshatp]

How does anyone in your group get ANY sleep? I wouldnt want to have to wake up everytime a MF job is behind schedule. Doesnt your company have a 24 hour staffed NOC or something?

 

[akshatp]

Originally posted by: NTB

Originally posted by: Kreon
can he make alterations to teh beeper if it's a company one??

I'd go for setting it on vibrate (if it has it) and puttin it under you pillow, or hold it in your hand while you sleep (like someone else mentioned..)

I'm going to set it on vibrate and clip it onto my shorts before I go to bed. I usually sleep on my stomach or my back, so it *shouldn't* get in the way. If it does, I guess I'll have to figure something else out.

Nate

This might not be such a bad idea... Could get a nice little thrill in your sleep

 

[NTB]

Originally posted by: SmoochyTX
Can you wear your hearing aid 24 hours?

nope. That's sort of like asking somebody to sleep with their glasses on. Not terribly comfortable and doesn't work very well: If I sleep with it turned on, I get feedback - beeps & whistles - if I turn my head. If I leave it in and turn it off, it becomes a glorified earplug. Actually makes my hearing worse.

Nathan

 

[NTB]

Originally posted by: akshatp

Originally posted by: NTB

Originally posted by: Kreon
can he make alterations to teh beeper if it's a company one??

I'd go for setting it on vibrate (if it has it) and puttin it under you pillow, or hold it in your hand while you sleep (like someone else mentioned..)

I'm going to set it on vibrate and clip it onto my shorts before I go to bed. I usually sleep on my stomach or my back, so it *shouldn't* get in the way. If it does, I guess I'll have to figure something else out.

Nate

This might not be such a bad idea... Could get a nice little thrill in your sleep

Might be interesting for some of the female members of the company, I guess

Nate

 

[NTB]

Originally posted by: akshatp
How does anyone in your group get ANY sleep? I wouldnt want to have to wake up everytime a MF job is behind schedule. Doesnt your company have a 24 hour staffed NOC or something?

They do, but this is wally world we're talking about. There's no way one team could keep track of *everything* that has to happen over the course of the night or weekend. And the beeps don't go out immediately if the job is running behind. I'm not exactly sure what the window is, but I know there is one.

Nate

 

[Rastus]

Originally posted by: akshatp
How does anyone in your group get ANY sleep? I wouldnt want to have to wake up everytime a MF job is behind schedule. Doesnt your company have a 24 hour staffed NOC or something?

In my company, it's the NOC that is dialing the pager.

 

[NTB]

Originally posted by: Rastus

Originally posted by: akshatp
How does anyone in your group get ANY sleep? I wouldnt want to have to wake up everytime a MF job is behind schedule. Doesnt your company have a 24 hour staffed NOC or something?

In my company, it's the NOC that is dialing the pager.

lol Ours isn't quite that bad. The computer is set up to send out the beeps itself. Most of the time when we get a beep though, the most we do amounts to calling the overnight team and asking them wtf is going on

Nate

 

[doze]

Why not just ask the company to buy a new beeper, they are not very expensive. If they refuse then play the handicapped card.

 

[Squisher]

Although it'd probably be cheaper to attach the vibrating pager to your nards with a rubberband

 

[NTB]

Originally posted by: doze
Why not just ask the company to buy a new beeper, they are not very expensive. If they refuse then play the handicapped card.

Personally, I'd rather just get out of beeper duty

Seriously though, I might have to do that. I don't think that volume is the only problem, though. The ear that I can hear from is some what limited in the frequencies that it can pick up; I just got lucky in that what it *can* pick up happens to correspond to the range of most human voices. my hearingaid helps, to some extent, compensate for the higher and lower ranges where my hearing isn't so good. Women's voices are sometimes dificult though, and the higher the pitch of a sound gets, the worse the problem becomes. Most of the tones this particular beeper has are fairly high-pitched, which may explain why I couldn't hear it.

Nathan

 

[NTB]

Originally posted by: Squisher
Although it'd probably be cheaper to attach the vibrating pager to your nards with a rubberband

lol

Nate

 

[akshatp]

Originally posted by: Rastus

Originally posted by: akshatp
How does anyone in your group get ANY sleep? I wouldnt want to have to wake up everytime a MF job is behind schedule. Doesnt your company have a 24 hour staffed NOC or something?

In my company, it's the NOC that is dialing the pager.

Same here.. I work in the NOC, therefore i do the paging