Beep.....Beep.....Beep

[kq6ea]

Hi, everybody

Forgive me if this has been asked and answered. I searched the threads, but couldn't find anything useful.

During scans, my BCD996XT will stay 'stuck' on a channel, and all I hear is a soft "beep....beep.....beep".

I know this is not a radio malfunction, and IIRC it's what the radio system I'm stuck on does if there's a "open mic" somewhere. I've heard the dispatcher come on-channel numerous times with a request for everybody to check for an open mic.

I think it's funny because if your mic is stuck, how are you going to hear the dispatcher?

Is there any way to make the radio start scanning again, or am I doomed to keep hitting the "Scan" button when this happens?

Thanks!

Jim

 

[davidmc36]

Are you sure it's not the beeps that an EDACS system makes when your scanner is just scanning in conventional mode? Or I also sometimes hear them anyway even when trunking, the scanner "forgets" to move back to the Control Channel.

 

[gtaman]

Hi, everybody

Forgive me if this has been asked and answered. I searched the threads, but couldn't find anything useful.

During scans, my BCD996XT will stay 'stuck' on a channel, and all I hear is a soft "beep....beep.....beep".

I know this is not a radio malfunction, and IIRC it's what the radio system I'm stuck on does if there's a "open mic" somewhere. I've heard the dispatcher come on-channel numerous times with a request for everybody to check for an open mic.

I think it's funny because if your mic is stuck, how are you going to hear the dispatcher?

Is there any way to make the radio start scanning again, or am I doomed to keep hitting the "Scan" button when this happens?

Thanks!

Jim

How clear is your control channel? If its week then you will hear the EDACS scan defeat tone. That's what it sounds like.

 

[JoeyC]

Sounds like you are listening to LASO. If that's the case, you have no choice but to hit scan during the busy tones - or just deal with it.

 

[kayi4cle]

Why not use the Temporary Lockout function and then after awhile turn the radio off and back on to clear the lockout?

 

[kq6ea]

I don't think it's a question of having a weak signal. All of the systems this happens on show "5 bars" on the S-meter, and come roaring in.

How would I check the strength of just the control channel?

 

[kq6ea]

Sounds like you are listening to LASO. If that's the case, you have no choice but to hit scan during the busy tones - or just deal with it.

It's more that just LASO.

Guess I'll just either get used to hitting the resume, or go back to using my 796D, which didn't seem to do it.

 

[bama9999]

I think it's funny because if your mic is stuck, how are you going to hear the dispatcher?

I hear them requesting that a lot on the different systems that I listen to. I've also wondered just how they were supposed to hear the person telling them to check for an open mic. The weird thing is, and I know it has to just be a coincidence, but a lot of the times as soon as they say for everyone to check their microphones, it will stop, like they heard the dispatcher. :-/

 

[davidmc36]

On a Moto II system that I listen to all the time I quite often hear the dispatcher talking during a dynamic incident when all of a sudden one of the officer units cuts her right off. It seems there is something automatic programmed into the system that gives them priority on the TG. So it should be possible to give the dispatcher a manual "switch" to override an open mic radio and tell somebody to get their fat butt off the mic button?

Anything is possible with the right programming, no? If dispatch uses the manual "switch" it takes over the TG and any radio transmitting gets "booted off" so it could open squelch to hear the dispatcher? Would it require two RF sections so one radio could be listening to the CC while transmitting?

Or is it just fluke that somebody who does hear is next to the person with their mic keyed?

 

[Jay911]

If it's slow, quiet beeps, it's probably what's known as a Channel Marker. That's intended to lock open the channel and get peoples' attention (radio users, not scanner users) to inform them that a major incident is on the go. I suppose a dispatcher who hasn't heard it before could mistake it for an open mic.

If it's rapid beeps with a more "intruding" tone, it's an attention-getter used to alert people to an important broadcast, such as "hey idiots, check your mics".

Neither of these would be heard on one radio (the 996XT) and not the other (the 796D). If they are in use, they'll be heard, period.

 

[DaveNF2G]

I agree with Jay911. There is an alternative explanation as well. Some systems have a "blocking tone" that keeps the repeater active while a mobile is transmitting, but does not pass the audio from the mobile over the repeater output.

 

[Jimru]

To the OP; can you record a snippet and post it for us? I am not sure how you do that, but others have at various times in this forum.

 

[slicerwizard]

So it should be possible to give the dispatcher a manual "switch" to override an open mic radio and tell somebody to get their fat butt off the mic button?

No.

Anything is possible with the right programming, no?

No.

If dispatch uses the manual "switch" it takes over the TG and any radio transmitting gets "booted off" so it could open squelch to hear the dispatcher?

Since you're talking about a Type II Motorola system, no.

 

[wtp]

beep....beep

all of these answers and no one has asked about fail soft???

 

[kq6ea]

Beep, beep, beep

To the OP; can you record a snippet and post it for us? I am not sure how you do that, but others have at various times in this forum.

I just dug out a little Olympus DVR, so next time I have the scanner on, I'll give it a try.

Jim

 

[JoeyC]

all of these answers and no one has asked about fail soft???

He hasn't told us what channels/frequencies/systems he is hearing these beeps on.

 

[kq6ea]

When I make the recording of the beeps, I'll note what channels it occurs on. I'll have to look in my Butel files to see what frequency/system is mapped to that channel, so this might take me a few days.....

Jim

 

[ilgrant]

I'm with wtp. Could be failsoft it is indeed a Motorola Type II trunked system.

Beep...5 seconds...beep

 

[kq6ea]

I'm not familiar with the "fail soft", but when this happens it's on multiple channels. I'll hit the 'scan' button, and it will stop on other channels with the identical beep....beep...beep.

 

[Jay911]

Failsoft is when a trunking system loses its master controller. Typically ONE frequency in the system locks up in constant transmit with all users of the trunk system operating on that channel all at once. I know it's possible to have multiple frequencies used for failsoft, but it's rare.

I still think you're looking at Channel Marker, or, another thought just occurred to me: Some conventional repeaters are configurable to put a beeping sound on the channel when it operates on battery power. The one I operate on my firehall will do one beep, then about 2 second pause, then two beeps. This doesn't lock the channel open, though, for obvious reasons. It only beeps when someone transmits, to alert the users that it's using up battery.