Do I need to bother with CTCSS tones?

[dmg1969]

I just got the BC125AT and have a question. I have never used CTCSS. The county I reside in (Perry County, PA) runs primarily VHF-low for PD, Fire and EMS. The database shows no tones on any of their frequencies.

I also scan a neighboring county (Cumberland County, PA) which runs OpenSky but still patches their Fire and EMS dispatch channels through their old frequencies. Those two frequencies DO show as having tones. Do I need to program those into my new scanner? I am currently scanning them and receive them just fine. The only reason I ask is because their Fire dispatch channel frequency (46.06) is the same as my county's Fire channel 2. I guess what I am asking is this. IF I program the tones into what I have labeled as Perry County Fire 2, I would only hear the Cumberland County radio traffic, correct? So I should leave it alone. The EMS dispatch is not shared with anything else I listen to, so programming the tone for that frequency would be a moot point. Am I on point?

Dave

[awattam]

I personally would create 2 seperate channels, each with the CTCSS tone and a different alpha tag. I have the same problem when scanning frequencies for my local shopping mall where some stores have the same frequencies but different tones. I like to know which I am listening to. It makes no difference to the way the scanner operates IMO.

[ken734a]

Yes you are right on with programming the tones for listening to one agency instead of trying to listen to both agencies at the same time. Hope this helps in getting the information that you asking for.

[gmclam]

Simple answer: you do not need to program tones.

Longer version: CT, DC & NAC tones provide a means to aid in identification and/or filtering. Let's say one city to the east uses a frequency for their police dept while a city to the west uses the same frequency for their animal control. If each uses a different tone, you can program in the tone for the police so you don't hear animal control.

Or there are two uses for the same frequency which could be in the same county or totally different agencies. If you program the frequency twice, each with its own tone, then you can make the text display who you are hearing.

I listen to a lot of stuff on low band VHF which is innundated with (atmospheric) noise. To make the scanner only stop when someone is talking that I want to hear, I program the CT or DC value for each. If the tone is not present, the scanner doesn't stop and open its squelch.

Programming a tone is a means of "filtering" so the squelch only opens if the tone is present. I program most of what I monitor to "search" so that I can see the tone value. Over time I've memorized the tones and it has become visual reassurance that I am hearing who I think I am.

[Bob3655]

Hi--Put the scanner into CTCSS/DCS tone search and you should find out what the CTCSS is. Maybe(I doubt it) they are CSQ.
Keep warm my friend.

Bob

[dmg1969]

Thanks all. It sounds like I have it programmed the best way for me. If I did program the tone, I would not hear MY home county's Fire 2...only the neighboring county's Fire 1 and I want to hear both.

Dave

[hosehead88]

Originally Posted by Bob3655

Hi--Put the scanner into CTCSS/DCS tone search and you should find out what the CTCSS is. Maybe(I doubt it) they are CSQ.
Keep warm my friend.

Bob

Perry is definitely CSQ.

[pinballwiz86]

So why do some users put a PL tone in when they are the only users of that frequency in this county or any other county? They think it adds security? lol.

[W8RMH]

Originally Posted by pinballwiz86

So why do some users put a PL tone in when they are the only users of that frequency in this county or any other county? They think it adds security? lol.

It helps eliminate RF interference and distant signals caused by skip. It has nothing to do with security.

[pinballwiz86]

Originally Posted by W8RMH

It helps eliminate RF interference and distant signals caused by skip. It has nothing to do with security.

I see. Thank you.

[szron]

Definitely I would find the codes and program them.

I wasn't using them for my VHF system and I used to get a lot of static. Now with the codes it's perfect.

[W8RMH]

Originally Posted by szron

Definitely I would find the codes and program them.

I wasn't using them for my VHF system and I used to get a lot of static. Now with the codes it's perfect.

What codes are you referring to?

[szron]

CTCSS tones....

Not codes... I dunno why I wrote codes

[dmg1969]

If there were tones for the Perry frequencies, I would put them in. I still had like 3 instances on the way to work this morning where the scanner locked onto one of the low band frequencies with static. It is attached to the mag mount Radio Shack antenna and powered with the DC USB cable. When the statis was happening, I reached down and pulled the power cable and let it run on battery and it made no difference.

It's not nearly as bad as it was with the BC355N. I think, like W8RMH said, I am picking up either a distant signal or skip. Some of the more rural counties in this area of PA still use VHF low for PD and Fire. At least hapf of the 20+ miles of highway I drive to work is going through mountains. The closer I get to work, the problem dissipates.

Dave

[Chauffeur6]

Originally Posted by dmg1969

I still had like 3 instances on the way to work this morning where the scanner locked onto one of the low band frequencies with static.

When the statis was happening, I reached down and pulled the power cable and let it run on battery and it made no difference.

I think, like W8RMH said, I am picking up either a distant signal or skip.

Low band is inherently noisy, and is very prone to RFI from no shortage of electronic devices. Everything from computers to traffic lights to vehicle electronics to CFL bulbs can wreak havoc with low band signals. There is very little you can do to cure it, especially if you're monitoring agencies that don't use PL/DPL on low band. Even with a PL/DPL the scanner can still hang up a bit on those frequencies, and it will slow the scan speed down as it finds a carrier and tries to decode a tone.

[popnokick]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 6_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/536.26 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/6.0 Mobile/10A523 Safari/8536.25)

dmg1969- I can't recall if in your other thread about this noise whether it goes away when you turn off ignition(?). If it does, start checking components in the dashboard. Some time ago another RR poster discovered RF hash noise was coming from electronic display clock in dash.

[dmg1969]

With the BC355N, the noise went away both when I unplugged the antenna or pulled over and turned the ignition off.

I couldn't do that test this morning because of the weather (snowy and icy). I will watch it for a bit and see. I'm not overly concerned with it because there are so many variables. From RF interference to some type of electrical interference from something in my car to some people saying that mag mount antennas that don't ground to the vehicle. If I can safely pull over when it is happening on the way home, I will. Thanks!

Dave

[VO1GXG]

When i worked in the two way radio industry i found it a must to have the proper pl tones especially on multi user freqs like 151.115 and on RCC repeaters. that being said i always programming the multi user freqs without a tone just in case.

[dmg1969]

I actually did a much simpler test on the way home and tried upping the squelch when I got static on one of my low band frequencies. Surprisingly, it worked. When I had the BC355N in my vehicle, squelch had no effect whatsoever. So, with the BC125AT, I know that the static I am picking up is almost certainly a distant transmission from another county. None of those low band frequencies have tones. Any frequencies with tones, I am programming them. On the plus side, I programmed in some VHF PD frequencies in the 155.xxx from a neighboring county and it sounded like they were sitting right outside of my house. And that's just with the rubber ducky antenna! This scanner is awesome.

Dave