Iowa State Patrol CTCSS Tones?

[stummej]

Are they even used? Usually when I'm scanning the 12-mile radios the tone displays on the scanner but with Iowa ISP and LEA channels I get nothing.

[Radioman96p71]

They sure do! If this next picture loads it should tell you everything you need to know.

-Adam

[stummej]

well see the reason i ask is... well heres a few lines form bctools log

Number First Hit Last Hit Hits Frequency Modulation Tone System Group Channel
13 2/20/2009 5:42 2/20/2009 13:06 83 155.565 FM None State of Iowa Hwy Patrol Disp ISP 3D
17 2/20/2009 7:50 2/20/2009 8:46 2 155.565 FM None State of Iowa Hwy Patrol Disp ISP 3A

and this is with the tones programmed in and the scanner stationary in cedar falls

[w8jjr]

Originally Posted by stummej

well see the reason i ask is... well heres a few lines form bctools log
and this is with the tones programmed in and the scanner stationary in cedar falls

Try setting tones to ctcss and search and see what happens.
Did you set tones in bctools and not send them to radio?

[egrams]

I'm wondering if those hits are from the CW ID that is present on those channels. When the CW id's there is not tone associated with it. I know for fact that the Cedar Falls area uses PL when there is voice on it and that the map shown above is correct.

[stummej]

I figured it out, on the BCD996T your channel must be set as analog in order to use CTCSS tones But now it IS picking put the tones .... I do have one question tho, when a state trooper transmits on a remote repeater does it always come back to the base, according to the map I was getting 3C in laud and clear from cf, i guess it could be the nice day too.

[Radioman96p71]

Originally Posted by stummej

I figured it out, on the BCD996T your channel must be set as analog in order to use CTCSS tones But now it IS picking put the tones .... I do have one question tho, when a state trooper transmits on a remote repeater does it always come back to the base, according to the map I was getting 3C in laud and clear from cf, i guess it could be the nice day too.

I am interested in this too. To me it would make sense that input on one site would be output district-wide. At the same time i wonder if thats what Car-Car is for and the repeater system is only Car-Base. If i program in 1B into my scanner in Polk co, i will only hear traffic around the metro. Have to track down my buddy that deals with ISP comms and see if he can shed some light.

[LID109]

You're right 96P71

The input and the output are the same for each repeater. If you want to hear only Cedar Falls State, you need to program 155.565 with 146.2 occasionly when the band condtions are right you'd hear any other repater with the same frequency and tone, like albia....

If you'd rather hear ALL the radio traffic in your DPSAREA, leave the ctcss open.

The DPS mobiles are programed with NO CTCSS on the receive side (repeater side) of thier channels...becuase one troop in NW Iowa area 3 may be on Gunder and another on Holy Cross...same frequency, different tones...but the two can talk "wide area" this way. They could still HEAR the other repeater but couldn't reach it transmitting.

The CWID is transmitted on the repeater OUTPUT with NO ctcss, so if you don't like hearing morse code, enable the ctcss.

There are only two times I would want to monitor the specific repeater input AND input ctcss. 1. to deteramin when a trooper is close by (granted these are 100 watt radios) and 2. when a troop asks for a 10-150 (disable repeater) you can hear the one-way conversation between the troop and the dispatcher....if you're close enough...see note #1.

[Radioman96p71]

Sup 109, long time no talk! We are both on the same page I see, its quite the neat system. I wonder why they chose to set the output of District 2 to the input of District 3? Maybe they ran out of available channels? I would think that there would be some kind of interference there. Especially, as you said, they are 100W radios both high up. When i want to monitor the ISP, I will program in 3 banks of channels (Zones on my Spectra to be exact) with 4 channels each. All the same frequency, but with tones A-D on them. Its overkill but then i can avoid the CWID and intermod when driving.

KCØGIK

[LID109]

well that's easy to explain....

That card is a typo. A few years ago DPS Comm (or somone) printed up and circulated a new repeater card with that typo on it.

The input to DPS area 3 repeater is 154.665

And how you programed your spectra is how I programed my Orion
1A,1B,1C,1D, 2A,2B, and coiceidently how the state has thier programed too, just with no ctcss on the receive. I see why they HAVE to do it that way but I can't stand all the noise so I lock it up.