5 Short Tones : Why?

[kudzu_kid]

Good Evening,

So the Coweta, OK Fire Dept on their channel does something I don't totally understand (but perhaps partially).

When there's a dispatch, I'll hear the dispatcher say something like: "Standby for for dispatch..." - moments later I'll hear 5 beeps, each beep about a half second long, perhaps around 1 KHz.

I presume the tones are to trigger pagers or radios? If I'm mistaken, what are they used for?

My question is: can I use those tones to my advantage in any way? Eg: program the SDS200 to switch to that channel whenever that tone is detected?

 

[Citywide173]

It's probably just an alert tone, whether or not it's programmed for five beeps or is manually activated by the operator is a question for someone with more knowledge of the system. If they are all the same tone, I doubt there would be any way to leverage it to your advantage, even with more expensive equipment.

In my system, we have three alert tones, one steady tone which precedes administrative messages or is used to get the attention of a unit that is not answering their radio, usually because of patient care, the short beep that you mentioned above-three beeps precede a multi-unit response and a hi-lo tone which precedes urgent messages, usually related to an immediate safety concern on scene where multiple units are operating.

 

[kudzu_kid]

It's probably just an alert tone, whether or not it's programmed for five beeps or is manually activated by the operator is a question for someone with more knowledge of the system. If they are all the same tone, I doubt there would be any way to leverage it to your advantage, even with more expensive equipment.

In my system, we have three alert tones, one steady tone which precedes administrative messages or is used to get the attention of a unit that is not answering their radio, usually because of patient care, the short beep that you mentioned above-three beeps precede a multi-unit response and a hi-lo tone which precedes urgent messages, usually related to an immediate safety concern on scene where multiple units are operating.

Thanks for the response @Citywide173 . I really appreciate it.

Whatever their intended use, I believe they are automagically generated - that is, the timing / spacing of each time is extremely consistent. How they're generated is probably anyone's guess (a physical console button press by dispatcher, etc ).

I might suspect (at least part of) their purpose may to add a brief but necessary time delay to lock up any scanner the firemen may be using (I don't always hear all 5 beeps but often do - especially since the dispatcher makes a very brief announcement before the tones - which precede the more detailed call).

What I do know is it's just a single frequency tone (not PL, DTMF, POCSAG, etc.). It's just 5 beeps, I'd guess right around 1,000 Hertz tone.

Just curious what the purpose might be, but I don't think there is anything too tech about it - nothing more elaborate than MAYBE a "decoding" receiver at the firehouse that triggers playing the dispatch to an internal PA system or something. I dunno. Just talking through my hat here.

Anyhey, I was curious if anyone else ever heard of a similar system.

Have a good night all!

 

[mmckenna]

Just curious what the purpose might be, but I don't think there is anything too tech about it - nothing more elaborate than MAYBE a "decoding" receiver at the firehouse that triggers playing the dispatch to an internal PA system or something. I dunno. Just talking through my hat here.

Pretty common to do that with 2 tone paging.
There is a 5 tone paging system, but it's not very common here in the USA, it's more commonly used in Europe (or was….)

Anyhey, I was curious if anyone else ever heard of a similar system.

Our console has similar alert tones like Citywide mentioned. Often used to get the attention of users for critical messages.

 

[kudzu_kid]

After re-reading my post - I realize I may not have been very clear in describing what I'm hearing. When I referenced 5 tones, what I meant was, 5 single frequency beeps.

Each beep is about a half-second long, each beep is an approximately 1,000 hertz tone.

These are single frequency tones, not dual tones - and definitely not DTMF, CTCSS, GOLAY, POCSAG, FLEX, etc. just simple ~1KHz audible beeps. In about the time it takes an average person to say "Beep" five times at a reasonable pace, it's over.

The city I live in (Coweta, OK, pop. 10.1K in 2021) is typically not very high tech in anything they do, so it wouldn't surprise me at all if maybe it's just to trigger the internal PA at the Firehouse for a set amount of time or something similar. It would be pretty simple to have that happen I would think - maybe with a simple LM567x decoder chip or something.

Anyhey - I genuinely appreciate the thoughts & comments from @Citywide173 & @mmckenna here.

Next time I run into any of the firemen (I often do at area restaurants! ) I'll ask if they know!

 

[wtp]

and maybe a dinner on you might get the best answer...
the wife and i have paid for many a first responder dinner.

 

[a417]

That sounds like every over the air pre-alert beep that gets used to signify important voice traffic is coming. Usually console generated, and like the OP said - nothing special. It's not going to signal anything at the firehouse, or set off a pager...it just signifies priority traffic or a message. The 3 usual suspects (based on console manufacturer preferences/options) are the 5 short beeps, the long steady tone, and the hi-lo warble.

That's exactly the way it was used at every agency i worked with / or administered.

 

[mmckenna]

After re-reading my post - I realize I may not have been very clear in describing what I'm hearing. When I referenced 5 tones, what I meant was, 5 single frequency beeps.

Each beep is about a half-second long, each beep is an approximately 1,000 hertz tone.

These are single frequency tones, not dual tones - and definitely not DTMF, CTCSS, GOLAY, POCSAG, FLEX, etc. just simple ~1KHz audible beeps. In about the time it takes an average person to say "Beep" five times at a reasonable pace, it's over.

I think we all understood what you were saying.

It's not paging tones, as you stated. It's not going to trigger anything. It's just an audible alert to get attention.

Our dispatch has one they use when an officer isn't answering their radio. They'll call, wait, call, wait, then usually if no response after a bit, they send similar tones hoping they get the idea. If not, they usually try calling their cell phone, and/or send another officer to their last location.

 

[Ensnared]

Before I start this post, I would like to determine which radio system you are monitoring for Coweta Fire:

Oklahoma Wireless Interoperability Network (OKWIN) (P25) Trunking System, Various, Oklahoma

Broken Arrow Communications Regional Network Trunking System, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma