LESSON
10
PAGER
I.
Consider
the following questions
in the group
of four. A spokesperson will report on your discussion
to the whole group.
1. Why do you think pagers are so popular with
many people, especially young people?
2. Do you know how many paging service
companies operate in your town? Name any if you know.
3. Do you remember when first pagers came onto
the Belarusian market?
4. What distance can a pager service cover in
II.
Read the text
below and check its
comprehension.
Pager
Pager is a portable, lightweight
receiver of coded radio signals that indicates to its user that a message is
waiting or someone is trying to get in touch. When people want to page
someone—that is, contact a person via the person’s pager—they telephone a
paging service company, which then sends wireless radio signals to the pager.
These signals, in turn, alert the pager’s user by triggering a tone or a
vibration. Most pagers can also deliver brief messages on liquid crystal
displays. Because pagers do not rely on telephone wires, a page can be
transmitted from a central location and received anywhere within the range of
the transmitting tower. Pagers make their users easy to contact, even if the
user is away from a telephone. As a result, pagers help increase productivity
and improve responsiveness to emergencies and to business and personal
requests.
How a Pager Works
A page is the coded radio signal
sent from a transmitter to the pager. Pages usually begin with the dialing of a
telephone number to the user’s paging service provider, a company that
maintains the paging transmitters and radio equipment. Placing a telephone call
to the service provider enables the caller to access a computerized terminal.
The caller hears a tone or receives instructions on how to page a subscriber.
If the caller wants to leave a telephone number for the paged party to call,
the caller can enter that number. Pressing the telephone’s pound (#) or star
(*) key informs the paging terminal that the message is complete.
The paging terminal automatically
determines which pager corresponds to the telephone number dialed. It then
routes a signal to one or more radio transmitters located throughout the paging
service area. The area can vary; some services are local, while others are
networked together via satellite to cover larger regions.
Pagers monitor specific radio
frequencies used by the service providers. The transmission of the page is
encoded so that only the intended recipient of the page can receive and decode
the message. If the pager is switched on and is within range of the radio
tower, the pager will recognize the coded signal. The pager then converts the
signal to data, alerting the owner that a page has been sent with a beep, tone,
or vibration. Most pagers have liquid-crystal displays that can show the number
of the calling party, or short messages. The owner of the pager can telephone
the paging party, or call the paging company to retrieve other messages.
History
The use of radio signals to perform
one-way notifications began in the 1920s and 1930s. During the same period,
mobile radio systems were being developed for police dispatch and public safety
services. These early systems
broadcast messages to all receivers on the band, and they could not be used to
contact a specific party.
Paging later developed from a
one-to-many dispatch service into a system for reaching a single address that
corresponded to one pager. Pagers in the 1960s and 1970s were simple devices
that used a tone or vibration to alert the subscriber to call a single
predetermined number to get the message. Communications satellites are commonly
used to route pager connections throughout the
Innovations in computer
technology have improved pagers, making them smaller, more affordable, and
loaded with new features. Modern pagers have screens that can display numbers
or short messages, and they can store those messages for future referral. Pager
users can subscribe to special services that broadcast information such as
stock market quotations and up-to-the minute sports scores. The next generation
of pagers will include the ability to acknowledge reception of a page and
respond with a short, predetermined message.
Comprehension Check
Up
1. How can you contact a person via his or her pager? 2. What is it a page? 3. How big is the paging service area? 4. Why is the
transmission of the page encoded? 5. What can you see on the pager’s
liquid-crystal dis-play? 6. When did the first
notifications using radio signals start? 7. What is the difference between
pagers nowadays and those used in 1960s and 1970s? 8. What must be done to
maintain paging communication in case of a satel-lite failure? 9. What are most recent innovations of modern pagers?
III.
Choose the best answer.
1. The word page
refers to …
a) a boy servant; b) one side of a leaf; c)
surface; d) an electronic message sent to a pager
2. The word message means…
a) advice given to someone; b) a communication containing some
information; c) a story; d) a present
3. The best explanation of the expression to alert
the pager’s user might be …
a) to worry the pager’s user; b) to draw
attention of the pager’s user; c) to inform about danger; d) to wake up
4. To deliver a message implies that one
should…
a) transmit a piece of information to smb.’s
pager; b) send a letter to smb.; c) dial smb.’s number; d) speak to smb. on the
phone
5. The word emergency
means …
a)
accident; b)
sudden occasion requiring immediate action; c) evolution; d) crisis
6. To dial
a telephone number refers to…
a) the action of
phoning; b) the situation when one forgets a phone number; c) the process when
one fixes a telephone apparatus; d) the process of using a public telephone
7. The verb to enable means …
a) to make smth. quickly; b) to make
unavailable; c) to fail; d) to make possible
8. The verb to determine
refers to …
a) to put an end to; b) to free; c) to decide
or to settle; d) to turn aside
9. The best explanation of the intended recipient might be…
a) Required receiver; b) wanted criminal; c)
planned destination; d) requested object
10. The word one-way implies …
a) simple; b) cheap; c) easy; d) moving or
allowing movement in one direction only
11. The expression paged party refers to …
a) a person who sends a page; b) a person to
whom a page is transmitted; c) a political party mentioned in a paged message;
d) a party of the king’s pages
12. The expression calling party means …
a) a person calling; b) a person who gets a
call; c) a person crying; d) a political party crying
13. The dispatch
service deals with …
a) journalism; b) unloading of goods; c) speedy
delivery of pizza; d) sending off or away of any goods
14. The word affordable means …
a) cheap; b) heavy; c) to
be within one’s financial means; d) light.
IV.
Use the
right verb from those given below.
to vary, to encode, to access,
to route, to subscribe, to broadcast,
to store, to acknowledge, to
maintain, to restore, to recognize, to convert, to retrieve.
1. Communication
satellites … pager connections across larger regions. 2. The next generation of
pagers will be able …reception of a page and send back a short message. 3.
Modern pagers can display messages and … them for future referrals. 4. The
paging service provider… the paging transmitters and radio equipment. 5. By
dialing the paging service provider the caller … a computerized terminal. 6.
The pager … the coded signal and … the signal to data informing the paged party
that a page has been sent with a beep, or a tone, or a vibration. 7. The
transmission of the page is usually … so that the intended recipient can decode
the message. 8. The paging service area can …, some services are local, others
are networked via satellites. 9. The owner of the pager can telephone the
paging party, or call the paging company … other messages. 10. In the 1920s and
1930s mobile radio systems … messages to all receivers on the band.
V.
Are the following
statements True or False?
1. Pager is a portable,
lightweight transmitter of coded radio signals. 2. When we wan to contact a
person via his or her pager, we send him or her an e-mail. 3. Most pagers can
deliver numbers and brief messages of the calling party on liquid-crystal
displays. 4. Pagers monitor specific radio frequencies used by their service
providers. 5. Nowadays pagers are small, cheap and are loaded with new
features.
VI. Divide the text into paragraphs.
VII.
Express the main idea of each paragraph in one
sentence.
VIII.
Summarize the text and be ready to retell it.
IX. Speak on pros
and
cons of pager communication.