Hey I was wondering what it means by CSQ under the tone category?
- Status
nd5y
Member
CSQ = carrier squelch, which means no tone is used.
scannerowner
Member
Basically, you will hear everyone on a frequency with CSQ. So ideally if someone was using CSQ and another agency was using PL of whatever they may have interference from this other agency. I'm not sure how well professional radios use CSQ, but my mobile will hear anything when CSQ is programmed in no matter what the tone is.
I'm not for certain but a tone shown as Carrier Squelch may also indicate no tone is known or was found but I think they leave the field blank if the tone if not know.
And as others have said, Carrier Squelch usually means the transmitter does not transmit a PL or DPL tone or code in the case of DPL when it transmits.
If you program the frequency with a tone or DPL code assigned, you will likely not hear anything as your radio is expecting to hear the code you programmed before it will open the audio path to the speaker.
If you are unsure if a code is correct, set your radio to no code and you should hear anything broadcast on the frequency as long as you are within range. If you hear distant stations you don't want, try and find if your station does use a PL or DPL code and program that in and your radio will only hear the station you want.
Most modern scanners will also search for a PL or DPL code if one is not listed in the database. You just program your radio for "tone search".
And as others have said, Carrier Squelch usually means the transmitter does not transmit a PL or DPL tone or code in the case of DPL when it transmits.
If you program the frequency with a tone or DPL code assigned, you will likely not hear anything as your radio is expecting to hear the code you programmed before it will open the audio path to the speaker.
If you are unsure if a code is correct, set your radio to no code and you should hear anything broadcast on the frequency as long as you are within range. If you hear distant stations you don't want, try and find if your station does use a PL or DPL code and program that in and your radio will only hear the station you want.
Most modern scanners will also search for a PL or DPL code if one is not listed in the database. You just program your radio for "tone search".
What frequency are you after? I assume it is here in Missouri. Send me a PM if you don't wish to reveal the frequency and system here in public.
nd5y
Member
If the RRDB tone field is blank it's usually because nobody has submitted a tone or confirmed that no tone is used, but you can't rely on the database being accurate.
teufler
Member
an example where no tone, csq is used is PT 2 PT. 155.370. Agencies want everyone to hear. Now your item of interest, possibly the tone the dept uses is the same tone that they may use on other frequencies. If the system being used is old, they may only have the ability to use one tone, as a tone board was added and that left no way to change tones, or if these is a fire dept, or volunteer fire unit, they may only have one tone available, and others in the county just follow suit and use one tone too. You personal scanner may be able to do a tone search, and tell you if a tone is being used. If you are far from other agencies, and you are listening, you really don't need a tone.
St Louis County does (did) broadcast a PL tone on 155.370 but it was used in reverse. If a monitoring agency did not want to hear the counties analog CWID, they added a tone block into their Pt to Pt consoles. When the other agencies radios detected the PL tone that county broadcasts with it's CWID, it actually muted the audio so they did not need to hear the counties CWID every half hour or so. They did the same on the old RIOT channel on 154.725 also.
STL counties analog broadcasts were still active with a PL tone for the RIOT and Point to Point users not on any digital systems last time I checked just a couple weeks ago. Some of STL counties lesser used RIOT frequencies were also still pumping out a tone along with the analog CWID but I can't recall the last time I heard any analog voice on anything but the primary RIOT channel and point to point frequency.
155.370 is still in use by pretty many departments here even though it is also simulcast on different talkgroups on the three area Slater systems in use.
If you are monitoring just Slater now, you will see the patch talkgroup pop up and analog users will show a RID of zero. Flip over to an analog radio and you will hear those users in analog still if they are in range.
I don't hear many RIOT A users in analog today but there are still a few out there. St Louis county still transmits a PL tone on 154.725 and 155.370 to this day when they send the analog CWID.
155.370 still has a fair amount of analog users on it. The tone is only sent when they broadcast their CWID in analog.
It's kind of neat listening to point to point on the Slater patches as you can hear a lot of stations from way out there thanks to the high antennas the three primary Slater users have.
I'm not sure about St Charles but STL County still transmits point to point traffic on both the Slater TG and the old 155.370 analog frequency for the users still on analog systems. During voice transmissions, they don't send a PL tone.
Basically, you don't want to add a tone on the point to point frequency here unless you have a modern scanner that can use the tone in reverse to block the analog CWID signal so you don't have to hear it.
I can't really recall anyone other than STL County that used a CWID on point to point and riot. All the others just verbally said their call signs to be compliant with the FCC rules.
You will still hear the analog users saying their call signs on the point to point Slater patches. For those on Slater, you will see their console RID display even though some still say their call as well. Probably out of habit.
Troop C is still using low band as well. Some of the dispatchers will still announce the old KAA203 call sign when they know they are also on low band.
Does Moswin still have an analog point to point patch running? They did but I forget the TG number used. Today, Troop C seems to only simulcast point to point traffic on TG 5 or 7 it seems and only when they are involved in the transmission. It seems Troop C somehow blocks regular point to point transmissions if they are not a part of the transmission. If someone calls Missouri State on point to point or MO State initiates the point to point call, they are also heard on TG 5 or 7 (in Troop C's case anyway) but if Hazelwood calls Ferguson (an example) it seems like that never comes out of Moswin's repeaters. I wonder how they do that. It seems like a lot for a dispatcher to remember to patch the point to point call into their normal dispatch talkgroups unless their consoles use a different button they press that patches it all together when involved in point to point traffic. Whatever the state does for point to point analog traffic does seem to work well for them as you hardly ever hear any pt to pt traffic on Moswin if state is not involved. I also still hear the KAA203 callsign announced sometimes when they use point to point but not always.
They could have something simple like a light that comes on when the transmitter is running in analog mode on low band or point to point.
Sometimes you can hear some really far away users when they do use point to point from Troop C. Not nearly as much as can be heard on Slater though.
I did not know that about StL Co's pt to pt radios. I thought that all 155.370 pt to pt was csq. At the same time it also sounds kind of confusing putting reverse tone blocks etc on the radios to keep them quiet.
I remember a StL Co area police department shared a freq with a far southern Illinois ambulance disp. Even though they had different PL tones you could still hear the ambulance dispatch at the police disp desk. (If the conditions were just right of course) So I am guessing they had the PL switch off up here.
I still have the MSHP lo band freqs programmed in my scanners. They do use them. Nice to know they understand the importance of "old" technology.
Mentioning technology I am still trying to wrap my head around "everything" going 700/800 trunked. It would probably bring up a whole 'nuther topic but there has to be interference between 700/800 trunked systems that sit so close to one another. We/they were told they were running out of VHF freqs but with so many 700/800 freqs being used for all these new systems it can't be much better.
As I stated, it might bring up a new topic as I am aware of a few things that potentially cause interference on these new systems. Hope it isn't the case.
Have a good day.
I remember a StL Co area police department shared a freq with a far southern Illinois ambulance disp. Even though they had different PL tones you could still hear the ambulance dispatch at the police disp desk. (If the conditions were just right of course) So I am guessing they had the PL switch off up here.
I still have the MSHP lo band freqs programmed in my scanners. They do use them. Nice to know they understand the importance of "old" technology.
Mentioning technology I am still trying to wrap my head around "everything" going 700/800 trunked. It would probably bring up a whole 'nuther topic but there has to be interference between 700/800 trunked systems that sit so close to one another. We/they were told they were running out of VHF freqs but with so many 700/800 freqs being used for all these new systems it can't be much better.
As I stated, it might bring up a new topic as I am aware of a few things that potentially cause interference on these new systems. Hope it isn't the case.
Have a good day.
Okay thanks I saw that on one of my radio reference print out sheets and did not know what that meant.
In Region E (just south of Region C), the old MO Sheriff's Net and Point-to-Point are not used anymore. All traffic is on TG 3525 - Region E IO Calling - and is quite busy. Since there are multiple PSAP's in Cape City, there are at least 2 monitoring 3525 24/7, I will hear all traffic from all stations on that TG wherever they are located at. I think that TG 5 and 7 in Region C are just MHP dispatch (Metro and Rural) - you want to monitor TG 3515 which is Region C IO Calling. It isn't a "simulcast" in Region E - all the PSAP's have a MOSWIN radio provided by the state for this - even if the agency isn't on MOSWIN.
3515 is used in Region C. The traffic on 3515 really picked up the last month or so.
The times I hear state on analog point to point (155.37) is usually when they call or get called by one of the smaller municipalities located in St Louis County. Several of those muni's do not have digital radios for pt to pt and still use analog. Many of those users don't seem to be on Slater yet either.
When Troop C calls on analog or they get called, they will sometimes rebroadcast their side of the chatter on one of their dispatch TGs on Moswin.
Not always though. I guess it's at the dispatchers discretion if they think the troopers should hear the pt to pt traffic or not. Sometimes it is even broadcast on Troop C's low band frequencies.
I'll often hear a trooper reply to Troop C dispatch over Moswin that they copied the traffic direct.
When state (Region C) calls most any county though, it is now done over Moswin on 3515 as all the counties would (should) now be PSAP's and have state supplied radios like you mentioned.
They seem to call St Louis county on analog a lot of times though but it may be so the small muni's within the county can also hear them.
St Louis county does rebroadcast all point to point traffic heard on analog 155.370 over the P25 Slater system as well.
Some users reply via Slater and you can see their console RID's show up but if they are on analog, the Slater TG just shows an RID of zero and you can then hear them in analog on 155.370.
When I hear analog traffic on the old 155.730 Sherriff's Net, it seems to mostly be distant rural users or mobiles travelling through this area. Not much in the way of local users.
- Status
Similar threads
