Fire Tone Alert

[MASONROBERSONMR]

I have all of my counties fire tones. Is there any scanner or even radio that will decode the tones and set of an alert. I know about the Motorola Minitors but even the older ones for the prgrammjng cable is about $100+ on eBay. Any suggestions?

 

[troymail]

I think the low(est) end scanner (read: cheapest at this point) might be a Uniden BCT15.... of course, you could buy a more recent/more expensive digital Uniden model as well which includes fire tone out but that might be overkill if you're only using it as a pager ... in fire tone out mode, that is all it will do (you can't scan anything while in tone out mode).

 

[NYRHKY94]

The model I use for Fire Tone Search "and" Decode is the Uniden BCT15X. A great analog scanner at a decent price. What Troymail said above is true. You can not scan while the radio is in Fire Tone Out mode (it's one or the other). As an FYI, the earlier Uniden model (BCT15) does not do tone "decode". Here's the Wiki for the BCT15X:

BCT15X - The RadioReference Wiki

 

[cmjonesinc]

You say you have all your counties tones, but how many tones sets are you trying to monitor? Minitor 2's are super cheap but old and limited on tone sets (not to mention finding reeds may be tricky). Minitor V's are pretty reasonable and there are alternatives to the expensive programming base and cable. Plus Minitor V software is/was free and will handle 8 sets and 4 groups on one frequency. If you're not wanting a scanner a cheap alternative to Motorola for decoding is Vertex or a Kenwood. A vx180 can be had for less than $100 bucks, the programming cables are super cheap and the software I suspect is discontinued and free. Same with some kenwoods. Icom also had radios capable of 2 tone decode, The F21 is coming to mind. If you don't mind a scanner the BCT15X is a good radio, especially if you're just wanting tone outs and don't want to be bother with everything that goes with commercial radios. If you aren't going to be changing what tone sets you want to monitor a whole lot it would probably be cheaper to have someone program a radio for you versus buying cables and software. If you need anything programmed PM me. If I can do it, I'll do it for free if you pay return shipping.