PL Decode
- Thread starter MotoVio
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scanfan03
Member
yup all new scanners can except the Pro-95, 93 and 94.
richster
Member
PL or Private Line is a continuous tone coded squelch system (CTCSS). It is simply a SUB-AUDIBLE carrier included with a transmission to open up squelches that are set to a particular SUB-AUDIBLE tone. It really has nothing to do with privacy at all, it primarily allows multiple users to share a given frequency, or secondly to filter out strong adjacent frequencies that may interfere.
Example:
Let's say you share 464.3375 MHz with 3 other buisinesses. Obviously you would only want to listen to "your" company, and not have to listen to the others "dirty laundry". So you would have your radios' squelches set to "open up" on a particular sub audible tone, let say 162.2Hz. The other 2 companies would have their own seperate sub audible tones. Say company "B" is 71.9Hz, and company "C" is 233.6Hz.
If you key up your radio, only "your" radios that are set to 162.2Hz will open their squelches to hear you. The other 2 companies will have a "busy" light come on, and they will not be able to key up until that light goes off, and their squelches will remain closed. Radios strictly built for this kind of communication have no squelches, other radios may have squelches but are disabled and both type only open up when it hears it's own particular sub audible tone.
Some FRS radio manufacturers have "misguided" the public by calling it "serparate privacy channels". I remember one FRS manufacturer boasted it had 532 channels!!, giving the public the impression that you were on a seperate channel when you switched your privacy number or CTCSS code. All you were really doing is "closing" your squelch to other transmissions for the frequency you were on. Other users who had no CTCSS tone set could hear you anyways, and if other users were closer to you rather than the buddy your supposed to be talking with, you got mainly them and not your buddy.
The PL or CTCSS squelches and decode features on some scanners is not needed to listen to a company using a CTCSS tone on a given frequency. Where this squelch and decode feature would come in handy is if you wanted to only listen to a particular company sharing a frequency with others, and you didn't know the CTCSS tone. For example I have a friend of mine who drives tow truck and shares 461.2875Mhz with another company here locally. With my older scanners I would have to listen to both companies and sometimes got confusing on who was who. But I got an Icom R5 and decoded my freinds CTCSS tone, and programmed that frequency with that tone into the scanner. Now when that frequency is active, I know it's my friends company talking, and I didn't have to spend a few days going through all the tones manually until I hit the right one.
LOL imagine if they put toned squeches in CB radios back in the late 70's. OH MAN!!
Wow my mind is starting to think some strange things here, I think it's time for bed.
Regards,
Richster.
Example:
Let's say you share 464.3375 MHz with 3 other buisinesses. Obviously you would only want to listen to "your" company, and not have to listen to the others "dirty laundry". So you would have your radios' squelches set to "open up" on a particular sub audible tone, let say 162.2Hz. The other 2 companies would have their own seperate sub audible tones. Say company "B" is 71.9Hz, and company "C" is 233.6Hz.
If you key up your radio, only "your" radios that are set to 162.2Hz will open their squelches to hear you. The other 2 companies will have a "busy" light come on, and they will not be able to key up until that light goes off, and their squelches will remain closed. Radios strictly built for this kind of communication have no squelches, other radios may have squelches but are disabled and both type only open up when it hears it's own particular sub audible tone.
Some FRS radio manufacturers have "misguided" the public by calling it "serparate privacy channels". I remember one FRS manufacturer boasted it had 532 channels!!, giving the public the impression that you were on a seperate channel when you switched your privacy number or CTCSS code. All you were really doing is "closing" your squelch to other transmissions for the frequency you were on. Other users who had no CTCSS tone set could hear you anyways, and if other users were closer to you rather than the buddy your supposed to be talking with, you got mainly them and not your buddy.
The PL or CTCSS squelches and decode features on some scanners is not needed to listen to a company using a CTCSS tone on a given frequency. Where this squelch and decode feature would come in handy is if you wanted to only listen to a particular company sharing a frequency with others, and you didn't know the CTCSS tone. For example I have a friend of mine who drives tow truck and shares 461.2875Mhz with another company here locally. With my older scanners I would have to listen to both companies and sometimes got confusing on who was who. But I got an Icom R5 and decoded my freinds CTCSS tone, and programmed that frequency with that tone into the scanner. Now when that frequency is active, I know it's my friends company talking, and I didn't have to spend a few days going through all the tones manually until I hit the right one.
LOL imagine if they put toned squeches in CB radios back in the late 70's. OH MAN!!
Wow my mind is starting to think some strange things here, I think it's time for bed.
Regards,
Richster.
Thanks 4 the info :lol:
Hey richster, I saw a link in one of these threads recently that had an intoduction to ctcss/dcs/pl/dpl and an explanation of each one in depth, do u have a link:?:
I tried the search feature but no luck.
Hey richster, I saw a link in one of these threads recently that had an intoduction to ctcss/dcs/pl/dpl and an explanation of each one in depth, do u have a link:?:
I tried the search feature but no luck.
DJ88
Member
Just want to let you know that I don't have the link but PL and CTCSS are the same thing and DPL and DCS are the same thing. They are just different names different manufacturers give them.
scanfan03
Member
Voyager said:
Yeah, that one's so new, it slipped my mind :!: :!: :!:
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