How to search for Fire Tone-Out pairs using the 396XT
The 330T/396T/396XT scanners have the ability to sit in standby mode until a dual-tone "Fire Tone-Out" is heard on a channel. Figuring out what tones are being used on a channel has been a bit tricky until now. The 396XT has a built-in frequency counter which can be used to determine tone frequencies on any radio channel. Here's how you use that capability:
First, program the scanner to do a tone-out search. This is done by programming the target radio frequency into one of your Fire Tone-Out channels using the same steps you'd use for programming a tone-out standby channel. The only difference is you leave the A/B tone pairs set to 0, and you manually select this channel during tone-out standby mode.
To program a tone-out channel for search, do the following:
1. Menu -> Tone-out for... -> Tone-out setup
2. Select an empty tone-out channel
3. Set the frequency to the radio frequency you want to search, adjust modulation mode/attenuator/etc. as appropriate
4. Go to Set Tone, make sure tone A and tone B are both set to 0
5. Go to Set Delay Time. Choose Infinite to make the scanner hold when it receives a tone pair
6. Exit the menu
To monitor the channel for tones, do the following:
1. Menu -> Tone-out for... -> Tone-out standby
2. Here's a tricky part: The scanner will start scanning any defined tone-outs when you enter tone-out standby. To search for new tones you need to manually select the channel you created above. Rotate the command knob until the channel is displayed. The normal scan mode stops, and the display will read "Tone-out Search"
You are now monitoring the frequency you entered in step 3. When a dual-tone is heard, the scanner will unmute and the tone frequencies will be displayed on the screen. Copy the tones down, then press HOLD to resume searching for new tones.
