Numerous towns on same frequency+pl

[xpawel15x]

I have a frequency programmed in my scanner (Pro-96) that is the same frequency and same PL for many fire depts that are adjacent to each other. Is there a scanner that can listen to a certain town and not all the towns that share the freq ? Is that what the 'fire tone out' option on newer scanner does?

 

[Avery93]

Yes, that is what fire tone out is for. It listens for the Quick Call II tones that are sent during a dispatch and only opens squelch when the correct tone pair is received, alot like the pagers the fire dept use. The new Uniden XT scanners can automatically detect which tones are used, but with the older Unidens capable of this feature, you already have to know the tones. Unfortunately, the scanner can not continue to scan while listening for a tone out, and I believe it can only listen for one at a time.

This is the only way you will be able to listen to a single fire dept when they all use the same CTCSS tone and frequency.

 

[MFD4305]

Don't Forget...

Avery,
What you wrote is, of course, 100% correct. You might want to also remind the original questioner that, once "opened" by the Quick Call tone, the scanner will receive everything transmitted on that frequency/CTCSS combination, not just the comms of the department of interest.

 

[xpawel15x]

Avery,
What you wrote is, of course, 100% correct. You might want to also remind the original questioner that, once "opened" by the Quick Call tone, the scanner will receive everything transmitted on that frequency/CTCSS combination, not just the comms of the department of interest.

Argh so if two towns had a fire call at the same time (althought not likely) I would still hear the two town's fire depts comms stepping on each other. Okay thanks to both of you, very informative.

 

[hippieman556]

happens a lot here where I live. you would get a fire call for my town and a fire call for another state that's close by. I know its not easy to figure out without getting a new radio or joining the fire dept.