Purpose of beeper?

[NWtoSFO]

I know that it's usually turned on during the more critical situations, but what is it's purpose?

 

[JoeyC]

It lets users on the channel who may not know what is going on that emergency traffic is in effect and to keep off the air unless they have radio traffic related to that or another emergency.

 

[Sac916]

If somebody turns on their radio or switches to that particular channel, the "beeper" indicates that ONLY priority/emergency radio traffic is authorized.

Just because there is a significant incident being worked on that channel, it doesn't mean that there will be a lot of radio traffic to indicate such an event.

So even without officers talking on the radio, the beeper indicates that the radio channel is reserved for priority traffic.

There may be times that an officer comes up on the radio with an equal or greater emergency on that same channel. Traffic of that nature is authorized.

 

[key2_altfire]

You guys mean the "beep... beep... beep... beep..." that's heard between voice transmissions?

 

[trooperdude]

You guys mean the "beep... beep... beep... beep..." that's heard between voice transmissions?

No, a longer single beep every 15 or 30 seconds that's activated by
the dispatcher on the console.

Used to indicate an in-progress situation that requires non emergency traffic to
stay off the radio.

Called different things:

Code33 tone
Emergency In Progress tone
Emergency Action tone

etc.

 

[commstar]

My experience: Its to keep the 30 year retired-on duty veteran cookie monster from going 10-8 from lunch or asking for a case number while a newbie is getting his a** kicked down the street.

Or
its a audible location device for the badguys who can hear ya coming in a quiet building during a search while doing double duty to disrupt your hearing.

Or
Its a way for a "look at me" cop to get everyone to get his coworkers look at him when a dog charges him or a drunk calls him bad names.

Or
It is a great way in a lot of agencies to make it more difficult to coordinate other units while trying to talk between the beeps.

Richmond PDs old tone marker on 460.300 was the best I have ever heard (and used ALOT I might add); open, dead carrier (increasing the sensitivity of the system and no waiting for repeater to open), a low deviation tone inserted at six second intervals at the repeater (not at the console) and it did not cover the coppers transmissions.

I believe it was built by a tech at MRE in Benicia in the early 80's.

Masterful!

 

[RobertW1]

In Burbank it's called a "channel marker". When a "Field Emergency" is issued as a result of a serious crime, a crime in progress or a baby choking call, the tone goes out on the Dispatch channel and will continue until the a "code 4" and the request for the Field Emergency to be cancelled is made by two officers at the scene.

In Burbank a Field Emergency means all available officers respond. Depending on the nature of the "emergency" at least one unit may be given authorization for code 3 (lights and siren). Upon that unit's arrival the next closest unit receives the authorization for code 3. As mentioned the channel marker will alert an officer moving back to the Dispatch channel from another Tac channel that a Field Emergency is in progress. Often you'll hear such officers ask Dispatch what the Field Emergency is so they can also respond.

Before ICIS the first beep or tone would go out over all the frequencies to alert all officers that a Field Emergency was in progress no matter what frequency they were on. That way an officer could switch to the Dispatch channel to hear the call. Then the channel marker would just continue on the Dispatch Frequency. With the ICIS system I haven't noticed if the first "burst" goes out over all Talk Groups channels or not.

If you have your delay set properly the channel marker will keep your scanner locked on the Dispatch TG so you don't miss anything.

 

[trooperdude]

Most of the modern tone setups don't cover the field units.

They are interrupt driven from the field audio.

Around here it's not an "everybody and the dog respond code 3" tone.

It's used when units go on-scene on hot calls, while getting your butt kicked , while
searching a warehouse for a 1/2 an hour :roll: , felony car stops, etc, etc.

 

[mkewman]

pig detector. if you're hiding in a bush, if the beeping gets louder, the cop is getting closer!

(tongue firmly planted in cheek)

a LOT of cops HATE the marker and will get snotty with a dispatcher if the dispatcher does their job and senses when something is up and puts on a beeper.

A lot of cops also *think* that the beeper covers them or prevents them from transmitting. more often than not, they're wrong.

I think the beeper is important, i've heard instances where someone pops up on a beeperless department's net and goes 10-8 in the middle of a pursuit, I know that would piss ME off.

I think it's also nice so that those of us who are in the media can keep the radio turned down, but we can still hear when stuff going down when we hear that beeper.

 

[trooperdude]

I always asked for "code 33 no tone" when searching for anything in the dark, and I didn't much care about the tone at the time, if I was getting my A^$s kicked.

 

[RolnCode3]

I wear an earpiece on the radio. Beep away, baby...it don't matter.

The beeper = STFU.

 

[brandon]

Speaking of emergency traffic tones I think San Diego PD's tone is pretty unique.

 

[pfish]

A lot of cops also *think* that the beeper covers them or prevents them from transmitting.

Not only does it prevent them from transmitting over here, it also covers them!

Fun stuff.

 

[N_Jay]

Not only does it prevent them from transmitting over here, it also covers them!

Fun stuff.

Then your department had an idiot design the system! :roll: :roll:

 

[Sac916]

Then your department had an idiot design the system! :roll: :roll:

The major TRS in Sacramento has issues with the beeper (air clear marker) covering the units. It's been addressed a gazillion times and the word has been... Nothing can be done to fix it.

Officers and dispatchers often have to time their transmissions to avoid the beep. It's not uncommon to simply turn off the marker when traffic is very heavy and it's not going to beep much anyways.

 

[trooperdude]

The major TRS in Sacramento has issues with the beeper (air clear marker) covering the units. It's been addressed a gazillion times and the word has been... Nothing can be done to fix it.

Maybe they need an outside vendor, instead of Motorola

 

[Kirk]

I can't believe a system modern enough to use trunking has a beeper (we call it a Code 33 tone around here) that covers mobile units.

Of course one local agency (San Luis Obispo Police) around here does (conventional UHF)... that's what happens when you don't have wireline/fiber/microwave to the repeater site and generate the beep in the console.

Last I heard, they got fiber up to the radio site. But when the radio tech left, he wasn't replaced. I guess using an outside vendor is saving money.

And the bee-BRRRZZZZZ-p goes on.

Sigh.

 

[N_Jay]

The major TRS in Sacramento has issues with the beeper (air clear marker) covering the units. It's been addressed a gazillion times and the word has been... Nothing can be done to fix it.

Officers and dispatchers often have to time their transmissions to avoid the beep. It's not uncommon to simply turn off the marker when traffic is very heavy and it's not going to beep much anyways.

Anyone want to bet that some "genius" put a console on a control station?