List of CTCSS Tones

[DODGEIT]

Does anyone know if there is a list of CTCSS tones that are used in a geographic area? EXAMPLE: If I wanted to find the CTCSS tones for a city in Florida how would I go about finding out this information? I am a member of a fire department that works in VHF High Band and I have a radio that works in this band. I was told I could use it if I could get it to work. This department is a small department and they don't have this information that they know of. The company doing there work won't give up that information for free. They would program the radio if I brought it to them. $50.00 bench fee and then whatever time it takes to program it. I told them no thanks. I can program it myself if I had the information. Any help out there would be appreciated. Unfortunatley the information is'nt available at radioreference.com

 

[scannerfreak]

Get yourself a scanner with PL/DPL decoding capabilites, or find someone who has one. PL/DPL tones are not area specific.

I can't imagine why they would not give you that info if you are a fireman. It's not a big deal. You can figure out a PL/DPL tone in seconds with a scanner.


PS- any dispatch center should know their PL/DPL tones. They need this info if they every need to contact a medical helicopter(IE: Air Care, Lifeflight etc..) so they can communicate with the ground units on your freq. Did you try asking your dispatch center?

 

[DODGEIT]

The Dispatch Center referred me to the radio company. They send all radios that operate on their frequencies to this shop for programming. As for aeromedical transports they use the medical frequencies to contact the helicopters on since all rescue units are equipped with these radios. How would a scanner find this CTCSS tone?

 

[Voyager]

Does anyone know if there is a list of CTCSS tones that are used in a geographic area? EXAMPLE: If I wanted to find the CTCSS tones for a city in Florida how would I go about finding out this information? I am a member of a fire department that works in VHF High Band and I have a radio that works in this band. I was told I could use it if I could get it to work. This department is a small department and they don't have this information that they know of. The company doing there work won't give up that information for free. They would program the radio if I brought it to them. $50.00 bench fee and then whatever time it takes to program it. I told them no thanks. I can program it myself if I had the information. Any help out there would be appreciated. Unfortunatley the information is'nt available at radioreference.com

There is no real geographical use of tones per area. Just about all tones are likely used anywhere. As was said, you could get a scanner that decodes tones. You also might want to try a web search using Google or something for a site with local frequency information on it. Since scanners now have CTCSS/CDCSS capabilities, many web sites now include this information. Don't bother with an FCC search - they don't have CTCSS/CDCSS info. You could also ask the person who gave you permission for the info. If he doesn't know, see if he can help you get it. Any good radio shop who deals in your product in your area should already have the info you need, or be able to get it and program your radio for you. There should be more than just one.

As a last resort, if it's CTCSS, there are 32 standard tones (38 standard based on the expanded list). You could program the frequency in yourself and try it. If you have 16 channels, program the same frequency in each with a different tone and try them. You should get it in 2 program sessions - 3 at the maximum. If it's CDCSS, there are over 100 possible codes. Still, it's free if you can program it yourself. Just save your original configuration so you can upload it again when you find the correct tone.

You also can try asking on a state or local based scanner email list. Try searching YahooGroups for one. I'm assuming you already asked in the state forum on RR.

Joe M.

 

[lschmidt]

CTCSS Tones In Use

67.0 Hz 94.8 Hz 131.8 Hz 171.3 Hz 203.5 Hz
69.3 Hz 97.4 Hz 136.5 Hz 173.8 Hz 206.5 Hz
71.9 Hz 100.0 Hz 141.3 Hz 177.3 Hz 210.7 Hz
74.4 Hz 103.5 Hz 146.2 Hz 179.9 Hz 218.1 Hz
77.0 Hz 107.2 Hz 151.4 Hz 183.5 Hz 225.7 Hz
79.7 Hz 110.9 Hz 156.7 Hz 186.2 Hz 229.1 Hz
82.5 Hz 114.8 Hz 159.8 Hz 189.9 Hz 233.6 Hz
85.4 Hz 118.8 Hz 162.2 Hz 192.8 Hz 241.8 Hz
88.5 Hz 123.0 Hz 165.5 Hz 196.6 Hz 250.3 Hz
91.5 Hz 127.3 Hz 167.9 Hz 199.5 Hz 254.1 Hz

 

[scannerfreak]

The Dispatch Center referred me to the radio company. They send all radios that operate on their frequencies to this shop for programming. As for aeromedical transports they use the medical frequencies to contact the helicopters on since all rescue units are equipped with these radios. How would a scanner find this CTCSS tone?

The Radio Shack scanners that are capable of decoding Tones display them in under a second. The Uniden's take a little while to "search" for the Tone. However, I do believe that some of the newer Uniden's will have instant decoding.

As far as which scanner decodes tones? Take a look at Radio Shack's and Uniden's Web site and look at the scanner description. They'll say if they decode tones or not.

Or like I said, find somone you know in your area or maybe even someone here if you tell us what city you are looking for, to find the tone with their scanner for you. I would suggest asking for help in the Florida Forum. You just might find someone close to you willing to help you.

 

[W4KRR]

If you can find/borrow a Radio Shack PRO-92 or PRO-2067 scanner, you can enter the frequency, and the scanner will display the correct PL tone almost instantly. These scanners aren't made anymore, but you may be able to find one used. That's how I find PL tones.

 

[joetnymedic]

ken,
i just sold my pro-92 and it didn't decode ctcss tones.


Joe

 

[loumaag]

ken,
i just sold my pro-92 and it didn't decode ctcss tones.

Then it must have been broken, because they sure do a bang up job of it, along with DPL codes.

 

[W4KRR]

Lou's right; the PRO-92 and 2067 do an excellent job of decoding PL and DPL tones, you just have to set the mode correctly, PL for PL tones; DL for digital PL tones; LT for LTR systems, etc.

 

[joetnymedic]

my bad pro-91