2-tone QCII Decoding Software

whitesox4life · #1 (**permalink**) 10-19-2009, 02:40 AM

I have searched these forums and Google for free software that will decode and log paging tones. I am trying to compile a list of paging tones for my county and surrounding counties (fd / ems) but am tired of having to record 12 hours and maybe catch a tone that I do not already have, then use a QCII chart and try to determine the tone, then plug it in to a radio with selective call and try to confirm the tones. If someone has suggestions, please let me know. Any help would be appreciated.

Eng74 · #2 (**permalink**) 10-19-2009, 10:19 PM

Just drop the money for a 346XT. It will do the decode and you get a new toy.

Jay911 · #3 (**permalink**) 10-19-2009, 10:31 PM

What he's looking for is a better way to figure out those tones, if I read his message right. So having a 346 will not help in that regard, unless it decodes them (and tells the user what values it's decoding).

Whitesox4life, what I did was use a program like ScanRec to record the earphone output of my scanner into a wav/mp3 on my computer. ScanRec can be set to only record when there's audio coming through the system, so you don't have hours of dead air in the recording. Then, load the file into a freeware sound program such as Audacity. There, you can have the program tell you what frequency/value a given tone is, by putting the cursor over that period in the timeline. After that, I do a little bit of confirmation with the QCII tables at some place like Batlabs, just to make sure that I have the right values (a sound program could be off by as much as 5%), and then there you go.

wayne_h · #4 (**permalink**) 10-19-2009, 11:58 PM

I haven't seen a program, for free, that does it well and works reliably. I feel Jay's advice is the best at the moment.

N9JIG · #5 (**permalink**) 10-21-2009, 01:43 PM

I go along with Jay and Wayne. I have decoded thousands of tone sets and have tried several methods. Before the XT series of scanners were available I used Adobe Audition to decode tones from recorded samples, and ScanRec to record them.

Now that I have a 346XT, BC15X, 996XT and 396XT the radio does it for me live. Works great, and usually within a Hz.of the actual on ones I know the actual.

ka3jjz · #6 (**permalink**) 10-21-2009, 02:44 PM

Why not use Audacity to do the job? It's free, and we have a document in our Fire tone out wiki that describes how to do it...73 Mike

N9JIG · #7 (**permalink**) 10-21-2009, 02:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ka3jjz

Why not use Audacity to do the job? It's free, and we have a document in our Fire tone out wiki that describes how to do it...73 Mike

You could, but I had downloaded the 30 day free trial of Audition and I liked it so I bought it. I haven't tried Audacity, so can't comment on how it compares with Audition.

ka3jjz · #8 (**permalink**) 10-21-2009, 05:02 PM

Just to save a little trouble; whitesox did you check the wiki to see if we already have the tones you are looking for?

Category:FTOs - The RadioReference Wiki

That's pretty much what was in the database at the time; it's indexed alphabetically by name...73 Mike

whitesox4life · #9 (**permalink**) 10-21-2009, 05:07 PM

I am the one contributing the correct tones to the Wiki...Audacity does not have a squelch set function like ScannerRecorder does...Also, Audacity uses too much space on my HDD...