Tone without talking?

[Mdragon77]

I probably could have posted this in the newbie section, but figured I'd try locally first.

I have a GRE PSR-500 and primarily monitor Richland County SD in Columbia. Why is it when something serious is going on, I often hear a tone followed by nothing, even though the scanner is locked in on a frequency? Is this some kind of lockout?

 

[Lew]

RCSD -- Tone

Hi,

My son worked for RCSD fo 4 yrs as a Deputy. The tone sounds before a prioity message and is a signal to everyone on that channel to stay off the channel unless it pertains to the priority situation. The dispatcher sometiimes calls a "10-3" on the channel also.

Lew in Lexington, SC

 

[brian]

That's called a channel marker. As Lew correctly said, it indicates to other officers on that channel that the channel is "held" for a high-risk operation and not to transmit unless it is an emergency. There was another thread on this same topic not so long ago in the SC forum.

 

[Mdragon77]

So does the tone occur based on some time interval? It appeared as if there was a transmission but I couldn't hear the traffic, but now I'm thinking the tone repeats and there is just intermittent traffic.

 

[Caesar]

the tone repeats basically every 5 seconds but it is a short beep so if your radio is in scan by the time it locks on the beep has probably already ended hence the silence you hear. next time try pause, you still my miss it as the scanner keeps monitoring the CC but you have a better chance to hear the tone.

 

[trunktracker71]

yes it is on a time delay it goes off every so often to keep the channel open until the emergency is over on that particular channel

 

[Mdragon77]

That explains it then. Thanks for the info!