Single Beep at end of portable radio transmissions

[nokoa3116]

A few public safety radio frequencies I monitor on an XTS 5000 have a single beep at the end of only field radio transmissions, not the dispatcher, is there any data in them? What are they? They don't sound like MDC, and not PTT ID gets displayed. I am monitoring some other frequencies with clearly what sounds like MDC and PTT ID gets displayed. They all use Motorola radios.

Here is a video of some transmissions, beeps can be heard on the non dispatcher transmissions. Radio used in the video is XTS 3000 VHF monitoring Santa Clara County Sheriff Control 12 in California.

 

[firefive76]

That is definitely MDC being partially muted by DOS.

 

[nokoa3116]

That is definitely MDC being partially muted by DOS.

I thought that could have been a possibility, but how come no ptt id is being displayed. I have seen it come up for other departments.

 

[mmckenna]

I thought that could have been a possibility, but how come no ptt id is being displayed. I have seen it come up for other departments.

Because the DOS is in the repeater. It passes the radio ID to dispatch, but doesn't necessarily repeat it.

Depends on how the system is set up. I have our repeaters set up to pass MDC so all the officers can see it.

 

[nokoa3116]

Because the DOS is in the repeater. It passes the radio ID to dispatch, but doesn't necessarily repeat it.

Depends on how the system is set up. I have our repeaters set up to pass MDC so all the officers can see it.

I see, thank you!

 

[K2NEC]

It's also possible that it's disabled in the CPS to show the ID. I know I've made that mistake a few times.

 

[Stealthguy05]

Because the DOS is in the repeater. It passes the radio ID to dispatch, but doesn't necessarily repeat it.

Depends on how the system is set up. I have our repeaters set up to pass MDC so all the officers can see it.

Frequency 12, and all conventional channels if they are not patched in this county, pass the MDC 1200. Since narrow banding, this has been a common occurrence with some radios that are not properly aligned. I'm assuming his XTS 3000 has not seen preventative maintenance for a little bit of time as they have been EOL for over a decade. also if it were muted on a system level, the current flavor of Motorola console mute 100% of the data.

 

[nokoa3116]

Frequency 12, and all conventional channels if they are not patched in this county, pass the MDC 1200. Since narrow banding, this has been a common occurrence with some radios that are not properly aligned. I'm assuming his XTS 3000 has not seen preventative maintenance for a little bit of time as they have been EOL for over a decade. also if it were muted on a system level, the current flavor of Motorola console mute 100% of the data.

I believe it sounds the same on my SDRs, I will check. At this hour there is no department active that uses analog. So it will have to wait until tomorrow probably. From what I remember MDCs were not decoded on my SDR also. My XTS 3000 was recently aligned and tuned. My XTS 5000 on the other hand did not. But this occurs on both of them, not on the same channels.

 

[nokoa3116]

I believe it sounds the same on my SDRs, I will check. At this hour there is no department active that uses analog. So it will have to wait until tomorrow probably. From what I remember MDCs were not decoded on my SDR also. My XTS 3000 was recently aligned and tuned. My XTS 5000 on the other hand did not. But this occurs on both of them, not on the same channels.

Just listened to recording of Santa Cruz PD on Broadcastify and it sounds like MDC burst is at the beginning of the transmission, then they got the same beep after.

 

[devicelab]

That is definitely MDC being partially muted by DOS.

Dumb question but what is DOS?

 

[mmckenna]

Dumb question but what is DOS?

Data Operated Squelch.

 

[nokoa3116]

So it turned out that I had DOS enabled on the radio, I am able to hear the full MDC via SDR. I had the display time after voice set to 0 which resulted in only leading MDCs to be displayed and not trailing ones. So now on the 3000 VHF it's working, thank you.

I think my XTS 5000 UHF has other issues, as I was testing a few departments last night, and a lot of them have MDC trailing which can faintly sometimes be heard, but all but one don't get displayed, or maybe even decoded. I was trying to get in range with the repeaters but the amount of activity during the night time was super limited, so I couldn't properly test it out in the field. There is one department which has a very strong signal, and an extremely loud MDC, that's the only system my 5000 UHF would display the ids for, and I can receive it 20 miles from the city.

 

[Stealthguy05]

I believe the last UHF channel in Santa Clara County that's decently active is San Jose PD 20. Perhaps give it a shot on that. another one, and this may be the agency you're thinking of, is Redwood City on their Kenwood system. Also many years ago, Hayward police and fire used to be running on their analog ASIP system from Tait. I believe that's what Santa Cruz County uses as well. In my professional opinion I still believe that to be one of the best sounding analog simulcast over IP systems available today.

 

[mmckenna]

Santa Cruz County uses as well. In my professional opinion I still believe that to be one of the best sounding analog simulcast over IP systems available today.

Santa Cruz County is using Tait. It does sound pretty good. They've put a lot of work into the system over the last few years. Probably going to change in the near future, so enjoy it's analog gloriousness while it lasts.

 

[nokoa3116]

I believe the last UHF channel in Santa Clara County that's decently active is San Jose PD 20. Perhaps give it a shot on that. another one, and this may be the agency you're thinking of, is Redwood City on their Kenwood system. Also many years ago, Hayward police and fire used to be running on their analog ASIP system from Tait. I believe that's what Santa Cruz County uses as well. In my professional opinion I still believe that to be one of the best sounding analog simulcast over IP systems available today.

Santa Cruz County is using Tait. It does sound pretty good. They've put a lot of work into the system over the last few years. Probably going to change in the near future, so enjoy it's analog gloriousness while it lasts.

I have been going through pictures of police officers in San Mateo County law enforcement, a lot of them are using radios that are not Motorola, I believe it's Kenwood, but too blurry to tell for sure. Redwood City PD is the only the department that is decoding MDC. I assume if they use MDC they must be Motorola? Then Kenwood uses its own thing, which I assume is not compatible with Motorola? San Mateo PD, and East Palo Alto PD are also using Motorolas. I didn't know San Jose PD had channels in the clear. What is on that channel?

 

[mbnv992]

Certain Kenwood models can definitely do mdc1200. MDC is not limited to just Motorola

 

[mmckenna]

I have been going through pictures of police officers in San Mateo County law enforcement, a lot of them are using radios that are not Motorola, I believe it's Kenwood, but too blurry to tell for sure.

A lot of agencies have migrated to Kenwood to get away from the Motorola money sink hole.

Redwood City PD is the only the department that is decoding MDC. I assume if they use MDC they must be Motorola? Then Kenwood uses its own thing, which I assume is not compatible with Motorola? San Mateo PD, and East Palo Alto PD are also using Motorolas. I didn't know San Jose PD had channels in the clear. What is on that channel?

Any of the Kenwood LMR radios marketed in the last 15 years or so are capable of running MDC. I'm using it on NX-210's, NX-410's, NX-3400's, NX-900's, NX-700's, TK-3180's, TK-7180's TK-5210's and TK-5710's. It's all interoperable with the Motorola radios and radio consoles from many different manufacturers. The patent on MDC-1200 expired a few years back and now most high tier radio manufacturers support it. It's no longer just a Motorola thing.

The 'own thing' that Kenwood has is FleetSync. It's separate from MDC-1200 and not compatible. It has some features that MDC-1200 doesn't have. It didn't catch on outside Kenwood, but not such a big deal any more as digital provides it all.

 

[nokoa3116]

A lot of agencies have migrated to Kenwood to get away from the Motorola money sink hole.



Any of the Kenwood LMR radios marketed in the last 15 years or so are capable of running MDC. I'm using it on NX-210's, NX-410's, NX-3400's, NX-900's, NX-700's, TK-3180's, TK-7180's TK-5210's and TK-5710's. It's all interoperable with the Motorola radios and radio consoles from many different manufacturers. The patent on MDC-1200 expired a few years back and now most high tier radio manufacturers support it. It's no longer just a Motorola thing.

The 'own thing' that Kenwood has is FleetSync. It's separate from MDC-1200 and not compatible. It has some features that MDC-1200 doesn't have. It didn't catch on outside Kenwood, but not such a big deal any more as digital provides it all.

Thank you for the information. Do you know what the Kenwood trailing ID burst sound like, I couldn't find any audio snippet of it online. Also I noticed that sometimes there are 2 short different beeps between 2 transmissions that are close together, I don't know if it's the Motorola DOS chirp, I still need to check it raw on SDR. Or something like that, it just doesn't come up all the time and the few times it did it was between transmissions.

 

[nd5y]

Also I noticed that sometimes there are 2 short different beeps between 2 transmissions that are close together,

That could be tone remote tones.

 

[mmckenna]

Thank you for the information. Do you know what the Kenwood trailing ID burst sound like, I couldn't find any audio snippet of it online. Also I noticed that sometimes there are 2 short different beeps between 2 transmissions that are close together, I don't know if it's the Motorola DOS chirp, I still need to check it raw on SDR. Or something like that, it just doesn't come up all the time and the few times it did it was between transmissions.

MDC or Fleetsync?

And I agree, some may be tone remote tones making it through when someone quick-keys the system.