Anyone know how to filter out that racket? It blares every time and is annoying. I'd hate to do a volume offset because then I wouldn't hear the rest of the transmission.
Thanks.
Thanks.
Get Rid Of Fire Tone Out
- Thread starter pinballwiz86
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ka3jjz
Wiki Admin Emeritus
Seeing that you can't do FTO and scanning at the same time, it's a little hard to know what you're talking about here. Are you on a conventional freq that is sending out tones all the time?
To paraphrase a crazy nut 'What's the frequency Kenneth?'
A little more info on this, please...Mike
To paraphrase a crazy nut 'What's the frequency Kenneth?'
A little more info on this, please...Mike
I know what you're talking about, but unsure how to filter out. I've thought about it as well.
My daughter gets scared every time she hears a fire tone played on any of my scanners. She associates it with a tornado warning or bad weather heading our way.
My daughter gets scared every time she hears a fire tone played on any of my scanners. She associates it with a tornado warning or bad weather heading our way.
I've never heard of a radio that will mute or reduce the volume on tones. The only such example would be an alert monitor, which is a type of pager that remains silent until the correct set of tones go off, and then opens up. But I don't think that's what you are looking for.
I don't think anyone has ever expressed a desire to not hear the tones before. I doubt you'll find any radio that will do that.
I don't think anyone has ever expressed a desire to not hear the tones before. I doubt you'll find any radio that will do that.
The Fire Tone Out on my BCD-396XT is silent, no tones, nothing. It sits silent, then when it decodes the proper tones the speaker opens and the call is audible. Its the same way with my Kenwood TK-380 commercial HT.
Are we talking about the alert tone and its level? That's the sound the scanner makes when the programmed tone sequence is detected.
The Alert Tone can be off or on and the level can be set from Auto to 1-15. It's all set via Menu>Tone-out>Tone-out Setup.
If it is the actual tones sent over the air, there's not much that can be done. Possibly it could be the tones are at "full volume" but the dispatcher may be too far from the radio microphone or could have a headset problem. If the latter is the case, I imagine the firefighters are experiencing the same and will eventually call that to the attention of the dispatch center.
The Alert Tone can be off or on and the level can be set from Auto to 1-15. It's all set via Menu>Tone-out>Tone-out Setup.
If it is the actual tones sent over the air, there's not much that can be done. Possibly it could be the tones are at "full volume" but the dispatcher may be too far from the radio microphone or could have a headset problem. If the latter is the case, I imagine the firefighters are experiencing the same and will eventually call that to the attention of the dispatch center.
Thanks for all the comments. I'm referring to the tone they send out over the air for a fire/emergency. It's loud and grating. Sometimes the dispatcher lets it play for a long time, > 20 seconds...to wake up the firefighters? lol.
I'm thinking of rigging up some audio filter that filters out certain frequencies..anyone know how to go about doing that? lol.
I'm thinking of rigging up some audio filter that filters out certain frequencies..anyone know how to go about doing that? lol.
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If I was to guess, they are probably sending out the two tone sequence to open pagers, followed by some other alert tone. While to two tone part is automated, the follow-up tone might be something manual.
Over the years I've listened to a number of fire dispatches and what you are describing is a little unusual.
Over the years I've listened to a number of fire dispatches and what you are describing is a little unusual.
ecps92
Member
I remember one of my old (80's) radios (now trying to remember the model) that sadly was quiet on the Plectron tones, but the audio was passed for the actual dispatch. This was before PL on scanners, so I could not blame it on the Plectrons not using PL 
It was a PITA to miss the tones and not fully wake to hear the Dispatch. Seem to recall it was an early Regency or Electra
Some Agencies (now) use PL/DPL on the Voice and No Tone for the Pectrons, maybe add PL ??
It was a PITA to miss the tones and not fully wake to hear the Dispatch. Seem to recall it was an early Regency or ElectraSome Agencies (now) use PL/DPL on the Voice and No Tone for the Pectrons, maybe add PL ??
wheels63
Member
I know these tones drive my wife up a wall.On Saturdays they test them and it lasts about 3 minutes,Feels like 3 hours to my wife.I got the feeling that we are stuck with them.I wish I had a remote to mute my scanners.
Tom
Tom
I bought a commercial Kenwood radio that decodes Two tone. I set it up for our county dispatch frequency, then set up the two tone decode for my local stations. Then I lock out the dispatch channel on my scanners. This way when my local stations get toned out the Kenwood beeps like a pager. If something is going on outside my local area I hear the comms on the fire tac channels regarding the incident but not the tone out.
Of course, if you have more than 1 scanner capable of FTO, you could do the same thing without buying a commercial radio. I could have used one of my Unidens for this purpose, but I don't like any of the alert tones Uniden provides. The beeps are much more pleasant to the ears IMHO.
radioman2001
Member
Recently some one posted an auto volume leveling control circuit for scanners with a Youtube video to boot. Look around for that as there are ways to tone down so to speak the Fire Tone out. I also have noticed that our own County's tone out is at 2.4kc audio while conversations stay around 1.8 to 2.0 kc. definitly anoying. I guess this is to help the Minitor pagers actually decode the tones especially with what I hear as a sloppy simulcast.
The purpose of the tones is not to "wake up" the personnel. Correctly programmed pagers, portables and mobiles that can decode QCII will alert upon receiving the correct tones a particular unit is programmed for. Notice that a lot of FF/EMS pagers/portables stay silent most of the time. Only when THEIR unit/squad/whatever is dispatched, then the pagers alert. This way, they don't have to listen to every other stations' calls. The QCII tones are a reliable sort of selective calling. ALL radios/pagers in that particular department are actually "listening" to the same thing you are, but just unmute only after their particular tone sequence has been transmitted.
The looong tones you hear are either multiple station/unit dispatches, or periodic tests to ensure that all is working. The dispatcher doesn't "let it play". The dispatcher enters the units to be dispatched, then the terminal then rolls out the tones to "unlock" or unmute the corresponding receivers.
So, if you want to hear all the calls sent over the dispatch channel, then you have to listen to the tones sent out. Otherwise, you can use FTO with all used tones, or you can purchase a pager, and provided you know the correct tones, have it programmed for the stations/units you only with to monitor. The concept is exactly the same as if any personnel place their pager/radio in "monitor" mode. They too will hear all the tones and all the traffic broadcast over the dispatch channel that you hear.
Thanks for the advice. I didn't want to have to use up a scanner to do Fire tone out only to avoid the loud tones.
But, I guess I might have to, since it bothers me that much.
Thanks!
b7spectra
EMS Dispatcher
As an EMS dispatcher, sometimes your crews are just flat out not listening to their radios. I have had to hit the BEEP BEEP BEEP tone out sometimes for about 10 seconds to get their attention. Ours is a 1004 khz tone, so unless they have a way to filter it out, everyone on the channel hears it (and then they get pissed at the unanswering crew for having me sit on the tone out so long).
LOL, I remember dispatching for rural VFD's... And some times it took multiple Tone Outs to get any replies. We finally instituted an 3 Strikes system, where we paged the VFD with the announcement "First Page at XXXX Hours" waited maybe a minutes to two, paged with the announcement "Second Page at XXXX Hours", then another minute or two and "Third, And Final Page at XXXX Hours". If no response very quickly, we selected the next closest VFD ant Toned Out for them. Of course for testing days, and very large events, we paged multiple VFD's.
12dbsinad
Member
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Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, it was common practice to "strip" any PL while the tones are being sent. There are actually still a few places around me that do that. So, if you have tone code decode all you'd hear is the announcment and no tone. However most send the tone with PL nowadays. But, worth a check anyways in your location.
I admit those tones can be annoying at times but they are effective--if your house is on fire and your kids are there; you want us firefighters to hear the tone and respond quickly.
Be safe
Be safe
My former agency did that...I think. We wouldn't hear the tones but would hear the voice traffic. We received new HTs and that feature was gone. Not sure if it was a limitation of the new HT or they put the PL on the tones.
I remember watching a reality TV show where they featured Los Angeles County Fire back in the day when they still used QCII 2+2 paging. I noticed they would only PL the second half of the tones but not the first half. I found that interesting at the time. Firefighters could still listen for their station tone without having to listen to everything.
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