System Control

The system capcode provides system control of the pager for those areas that are not governed by the programming capcode. Since every pager in a system has the same system capcode, system control messages sent on the system capcode will affect every pager in a system.

System control messages are accepted any time the pager is on. There is no programming window with system control messages as there is with messages sent to the programming capcode.

If any pager receives a system control message that it does not understand or implement, the message is ignored and will not be displayed. Group paging and table paging both use the system capcode. However, they are not control messages, so they are discussed in their own sections.

System control commands sent to the system capcode can not be encrypted.

Anti Theft

The Anti Theft functionality of the pagers alerts pager users when they go out of range of the transmitter. If Anti Theft is enabled on a pager, the pager will go into Anti Theft alert when a non-programming has not been received for 33 seconds. It is recommended that transmitters transmit Anti Theft enable messages every 15 seconds, so that 2 antitheft pages must be missed in order to activate the antitheft alert.

Anti Theft Enable

When powered on or reset, a pager is not in Anti Theft mode. There are two different messages which enable Anti Theft mode, as well as resetting the 33 second Anti Theft timer on pagers which are already in Anti Theft mode. The difference between the two messages is how the pager will perform an Anti Theft alert.

To enable Anti Theft on a pager such that it will beep when it goes out of range, the following message is sent to the system capcode:

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[0]

To enable Anti Theft on a pager such that it will vibrate when it goes out of range, the following message is sent to the system capcode:

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[5]

Anti Theft Disable

To disable Anti Theft on all pagers currently in Anti Theft mode, send the following message to the system capcode:

C

[1]

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Note

Pulling the battery or resetting rechargeable pagers will also disable Anti Theft mode.

Antitheft message programming first appeared in alphapager firmware version 1.6.
By default, the pager will display the message "Out of Range" (or the translated equivalent) when it goes into Anti Theft alert mode. This message can be changed by sending the following message to the system capcode:

C

[A...]

where:
... is the message display for the Anti Theft alert.

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Note

• The Anti Theft message may be up to 63 characters long. If the message is less than 63 characters, no padding is required. If the Anti Theft message is longer than 63 characters, it is truncated to 63 characters.
• The pager will automatically line break the Anti Theft message. Explicit line breaks may be indicated with newline sequences. The pager will only show the first screen of the antiAnti Theft theft message, it will not scroll to additional screens.
• To restore the default message, place the right bracket immediately following the A.
• The Anti Theft message is sent to the system capcode, rather than the programming capcode, in order to better support EasyCare. Since the Anti Theft message could be configured on the transmitter after arriving at the install site, LRS may not know the proper Anti Theft message.
• By allowing the Anti Theft message to be programmed at any time on the system capcode, this is not an issue. For this reason, it is suggested that transmitters send the Anti Theft message several times a day.

Example

The following example programs the Anti Theft message to "Return to Tanner’s Brewery":

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[AReturn to Tanner’s Brewery]

Button Disable

Both the 4-line alphapager and the SP5 allow their buttons to be disabled. Both pagers allow two levels of button disabling. One level causes the pager to ignore any button press, while the other level only limits access to some menu items. The button disable status is remembered across resets and battery changes.

Although the alphacoaster also supports the button disable commands, there are no buttons on the alphacoaster so these commands have no observable effect.

Button Disable

The following message sent to the system capcode will completely disable a pager’s buttons:

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Date and Time 34

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Note

As of alphapager firmware version 1.10, the button disabled command is interpreted the same as the limited menu command.

Limited Menus

The following message sent to the system capcode will cause the pager to enter the other level of button disabling, limited menu mode:

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[2]

In limited menu mode, the buttons may be pressed, but certain menu items can not are disabled. The 4-line pager will display Option disabled when a disabled menu option is chosen. The SP5 will display Disabled when a disabled menu option is chosen.

The following menu options are disabled on the 4-line alphapager in limited menu mode:

• Delete All
• View Tables
• Clear Tables
• Set Alert Mode
• Set Time/Date
• Auto On/Off
• Set Keytone
• Power Off

The following menu option is disabled on the SP5 in limited menu mode:

• Vibe

Button Enable

To enable full functionality of the alphapager buttons and menus, send the following message to the system capcode:

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[4]

Date and Time

The date and time may be set by sending specially formatted messages to the system capcode. For the SP5, this is the only way to set the date and time. Furthermore, the SP5 loses its date and time every time it is reset in the charger. For this reason, it is recommended that transmitters send the time and date every few minutes.

Setting the Date

The message sent to the system capcode to set the pager’s date has the following form:

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[Dddmmyyyy]

where:

• dd is the day of the month (1-31), 2 decimal digits, left padded with 0s as necessary
• mm is the month (1-12), 2 decimal digits, left padded with 0s as necessary
• yyyy is the year, 4 decimal digits

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Note

The format of the date set message does not depend on the current date display format.

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Warning

Prior to alphapager firmware 1.15, the validity of the date was not properly checked. Sending an invalid date, such as February 31, will cause undesirable behavior on these firmwares. If auto on/off is enabled, it can also cause them to lock up. For this reason, transmitters should take care to not transmit invalid dates. Starting with 1.15, the validity of the date is checked, and invalid dates are ignored.

Date Examples

The following example sets the date to January 20, 2009:

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[D20012009]

The following example sets the date to December 3, 2005:

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[D03122005]

Setting the Time

Two different message formats can be sent to the system capcode to set the time of day.

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[Thhmm] 
[Thhmmss]

where:

• hh is the number of hours past midnight (0-23), left padded with 0s if necessary
• mm is the number of minutes past the hour (0-59), left padded with 0s if necessary
• ss is the number seconds after the minute (0-59), left padded with 0s if necessary

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Note

The format of the time set message does not depend on the current time display format.

Time Examples

The following example sets the time to 7:08 am (07:08):

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[T0708]

The following example sets the time to 5:15:09 pm (17:15:09):

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[T171509]

Date / Time Localization

Normally, the alphapager will default to the correct date and time display format based on the pager’s language. However, the date and time display formats can be set by sending a message of the following form to the system capcode:

C

[Fxy]

where:

• x is the selected time format
• y is the selected date format

The following formats are supported:

Type	Numeric Parameter	Description
Time	1	Time is of the form h:mm ap. Hour is the 12-hour hour (1-12), without a leading 0. Minutes has a leading 0 if necessary. am is used to indicate times before noon, pm is used to indicate times after noon.
Time	2	Time is of the form hh:mm. Hour is the 24-hour hour (0-23). Both hour and minutes have leading 0s if necessary.
Date	1	Date is of the form MM/DD/YYYY. Month and day have leading 0s if necessary.
Date	2	Date is of the form DD/MM/YYYY. Month and day have leading 0s if necessary.

Localization Examples

The following example sets time and date format 1:

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[F11]

The following example sets time and date format 2:

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[F22]

The following example sets the time format to 2 and the date format to 1:

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[F21]

Auto On/Off

The 4-line alphapagers auto on/off facility can be configured at any time by sending a message to the system capcode. The format of the message is the same as when the auto on/off feature is configured through the programming capcode.

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Note

Over the air programming of the auto on/off feature through the system capcode first appeared in alphapager firmware version 1.15.