Fire Station Tones

[de19805]

I noticed under "Files" in the NCC Database, there is a file for "Fire Station Tones"

Listed below is an example of (1) station in the database.
Can someone explain what everything below means???
If I was to program my scanner to "decode" the tones, which tones would I want to enter, all four?
Is one for Fire, one for ambulance???
And...if that's not enough...Is this for the dispatch frequency 453.3000 MHz?

Elsmere Fire Company No. 1 16 950 454.6 950 307.8 950 366 950 335.6

Thanks in advance...

[de19805]

I think I figured it out...
It's broken down like this:

Elsmere Fire Company No. 1 16 950 454.6 950 307.8 950 366 950 335.6

(Elsmere Fire Company No 1) is obviously the Station Name
(16) is the Fire Station number
The 1st set of numbers: (950 454.6) are the (2) tones for: Fire Calls
The 2nd set of numbers: (950 307.8) are the (2) tones for: Ambulance Calls
The 3rd set of numbers: (950 336) are the (2) tones for: Home Monitor (I don't know what this means)
The 4th set of numbers: (950 335.6) are the (2) tones for: Verify (No clue what that means either)

Monitoring Frequency is: 453.3000 MHz

Does anyone know what "Home Monitor" and "Verify" tones do?
The "Fire" and "Ambulance" are self explanatory...

Thanks in advance.

[RKG]

I don't know anything about the tone-out procedures of the particular department you are referring to, and "Verify" triggers no thoughts.

However, many departments issue radios (or pagers) to those personnel who have call-back obligations in the event of a multiple alarm or other augmented response event. In lieu of burdening Fire Alarm with the necessity of making a slew of phone calls (while they are in the process of coordinating mutual aide, PD and BLS response, and 100 other things also triggered by the event), if the call-back people have tone-controlled radios or pagers, Fire Alarm can simply press one button (which sends out the appropriate tones, opening up the pagers or radios), followed by a single announcement. This could well be what "Home Monitor" refers to.

[hai_akeeba]

The verify tones allowed fire board to remotely activate the transmitter at the fire station to verify that the siren was blowing. Some had an internal activation that could be heard over the radio. Mill Creek had a bell that sounded like a train pulling into the station. Talleyville had a siren in the rear radio equipment room that sounded like a police car hitting a short burst for a traffic stop. To the best of my knowledge, these are no longer in operation.

[wb3j]

Originally Posted by hai_akeeba

The verify tones allowed fire board to remotely activate the transmitter at the fire station to verify that the siren was blowing. Some had an internal activation that could be heard over the radio. Mill Creek had a bell that sounded like a train pulling into the station. Talleyville had a siren in the rear radio equipment room that sounded like a police car hitting a short burst for a traffic stop. To the best of my knowledge, these are no longer in operation.

The verify system has been long gone, but the info above is correct. The tones would activate a microphone and key a transmitter so that the siren,if activated, would be transmitted over the air to confirm it was sounding. I miss that feature...

[DELCOLHFC]

Originally Posted by wb3j

The verify system has been long gone, but the info above is correct. The tones would activate a microphone and key a transmitter so that the siren,if activated, would be transmitted over the air to confirm it was sounding. I miss that feature...

I thought Mill Creek's gong was soooo cool!

[wb3j]

Originally Posted by DELCOLHFC

I thought Mill Creek's gong was soooo cool!

Claymont's was the best. Fireboard would transmit two tones (Plectron tones) then station 13 would
transmit their own tones....also two-tone sequential, but they were Instalert tones. Really neat sounding. Then FB would confirm the siren activation.

Jim