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3 tones, every 15 seconds on GMRS Moto Ch. 20

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drumz0rz

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On 9/7 I was putting away a pair of radios and out of boredom decided to monitor Moto Ch. 20 (last channel I had used) to see if I could hear anything. Sure enough, I heard a series of 3 tones, in quick succession, every 15 seconds. The signal was not picked up by the radio, only audible if I held down the monitor button on my radio.

This was on Moto Ch. 20 which covers the frequency 462.675MHz ("675"). I scanned up and down a few channels but heard nothing elsewhere.

The tones sound like DTMF tones, however the pitches do not match any of the standard tones (1-9, *, #).

Anyone have any ideas as to what this is? It's really piqued my interest.

I've uploaded a recording to SoundCloud below:
https://soundcloud.com/drumz0rz/tones-on-gmrs-ch-20

Thanks!
 
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Avery93

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To the ear, it sounds like DTMF tones "024" with a timing of around 100ms on and off. I can't seem to download that file to confirm though.

As to what it's for, no telling. It could be used as some kind of telemetry, or It could be some kind of makeshift CWIDer on someones GMRS repeater, although the 15 second interval makes no sense. More likely it could simply be someone screwing around with a repeater controller, telemetry radio, or similar.

FYI, if you are monitoring channel 20 on a FRS/GMRS radio, you are listening to 462.675 MHz. 467.675 is the input frequency for a repeater operating on 462.675.
 

ecps92

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I've seen Campus/Hospital, Large Office Complexes with Call Boxes that have been known to appear almost anywhere in the spectrum, could be one of those.

On 9/7 I was putting away a pair of radios and out of boredom decided to monitor Moto Ch. 20 (last channel I had used) to see if I could hear anything. Sure enough, I heard a series of 3 tones, in quick succession, every 15 seconds. The signal was not picked up by the radio, only audible if I held down the monitor button on my radio.

This was on Moto Ch. 20 which covers the frequency 462.675MHz ("675"). I scanned up and down a few channels but heard nothing elsewhere.

The tones sound like DTMF tones, however the pitches do not match any of the standard tones (1-9, *, #).

Anyone have any ideas as to what this is? It's really piqued my interest.

I've uploaded a recording to SoundCloud below:
https://soundcloud.com/drumz0rz/tones-on-gmrs-ch-20

Thanks!
 

BonziBuddy

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Oct 9, 2008
Messages
166
There is a post on the mygmrs forum about this. There Captain056 pointed out:

The Model 38 Max Zetron Controller will sound over the air a DTMF burst every 15 seconds when there is a continuous carrier on the input of the repeater

Confirmed in the manual on page 3-5

They believe it's more likely a malfunction of the repeater controller.
 

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quarterwave

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It's an alarm/alert from someone's repeater controller. I've heard similar on commercial repeaters.
 

ipfd320

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I Live in Bay Shore Long Island--the Freq of 462.675 is listed for Westchester React-which i haven,t Heard in Yrs. now--I Myself are Getting the Same Set of Tones here with a 3 bars out of 5 on my Radio on the Output Side (462.675)--I Switched to the Input Freq of 467.675 and i,m not Getting anything so its definately not a Repeater here on Long Island

BTW to the Original Poster--You Didnt Mention where you are from Hearing this Set of Tones (area you are in)
 

drumz0rz

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Interesting, thanks for the ideas. I was in Huntington, NY, so not too far from Bay Shore
 

KF5YDR

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I Switched to the Input Freq of 467.675 and i,m not Getting anything so its definately not a Repeater.
That just means it isn't a repeated signal. If the repeater controller is generating the tones, you wouldnt hear it on the input.
 

pricead21

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I've been hearing this too from NYC ever since I started scanning the GMRS frequencies a couple months ago.
 

SCPD

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Ive heard similar sound on ch 1 and 6 here in illinois. Found it to be a telemetry beacon on a few local water districts using FRS instead of getting a license.
 

hockeyshrink

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Jul 13, 2009
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I Live in Bay Shore Long Island--the Freq of 462.675 is listed for Westchester React-which i haven,t Heard in Yrs. now--I Myself are Getting the Same Set of Tones here with a 3 bars out of 5 on my Radio on the Output Side (462.675)--I Switched to the Input Freq of 467.675 and i,m not Getting anything so its definately not a Repeater here on Long Island

BTW to the Original Poster--You Didnt Mention where you are from Hearing this Set of Tones (area you are in)

It's not the Westchester County machine. That is still up and running and occasionally will have some users.

I am pretty sure it's Kevin Parrish's (KAG0353) machine. I travel down 95 to DC a lot, and when I am traveling home to Westchester I acquire the signal at the same point on the NJTP that I used to begin hearing Bruce, lol. It's been burping like that for months now.
 

MaxK98

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Jan 12, 2010
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It could be some kind of repeater controller generating dtmf in the input frequency w/o re-transmitting it onto the output frequency so that bubblepack users get annoyed and don't use that channel
 

Hamop54

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Jun 26, 2013
Messages
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Hear Same Tones 24/7 462.675

I've noticed these tones too. They are not just in my local area. Was wondering what they might be. Perhaps someone's repeater has them programmed as a beacon of sorts but they don't seem to serve any kind of purpose. Anyone know where they are coming from around Northern New Jersey Bergen-Passaic-Essex Counties??
 
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