Different Tone Sounds?

[Guest DFFD227]

Ok, this has been bugging me for a while. When 60 Control dispatches an agency, then send out a tone...DUH! But when a Police Agency dispatches there FD the tone sounds very different. For example; When 60 Control dispatches Bedford, the tone is very distinct. But when bedford Police (KEF-249 ) dispatch Bedford Fire its a different tone. If your not sure what I'm talking about go to http://www.angelfire.com/ny5/kwfaudio Go to Bedford Home Units, and then go to Bedford engine 108....there both different. That doesn't just go for that department though, that goes for all.

[SteveOFD 176]

The front (initial) tones must be the same to activate a certain group of pagers. The following tones are just for notification(alerting the user) and can be any sound.

[x635 4,066]

Sometimes, the more subtle tone audio changes could be that they are using a different make/model tone encoder as well .

[Fed124 0]

FIRST OFF......BEDFORD POLICE DOES NOT DISPATCH BEDFORD FIRE. KEF249 IS BEDFORD VILLAGES BASE AT THE FIREHOUSE. THE COUNTY DOES NOT USE TRAILER TONES. MOST BASE STATIONS AND PD'S USE ENCODERS WITH TRAILER TONES. 60 CONTROL ALSO STACKS THE SIREN TONES TO ACTIVE SIRENS OR HORNS. FOR EXAMPLE BEDFORD FIRE HAS DIFFERENT TONES FOR FIRE AND EMS. THE EMS TONE BLOWS THE HORN LESS TIMES THAN THE FIRE TONES.

[Guest DFFD227]

Well, maybe Bedford was a bad example. Take Briarcliff, Or Ossining. When they dispatch there agency it has a different tone set off. Especially on Ossining, at the end of there tone it sounds like someone is dialing numbers. When 60 control dispatches Ossining, there is no dialing sounds, and the tone it self doesn't sound like the one being dispatched by the polce. I thought that Bedford police dispatched them because some agencies are dispatched by there police dept.

[WAS967 97]

The sounds at the end of Ossining's tones are exactly what you suspect they are, DTMF tones, ie, the tones you hear when you dial a phone (touch tone that is) or call in to hospital via HEAR Radio. The function they serve is unknown to me (perhaps you can ask our resident Ossining FD guy), but I suspect it is either a code to set of the siren (so some yahoo with a radio and tone encoder cannot easily do so) or to signal to the station what "box" the fire is located at. You often hear OPD dispatch a fire as "Box XXX". Perhaps that is what the tones designate.

When I worked in Putnam, there was one department, (which slips my mind at this time) that set off thier fire siren using DTMF tones. Now that I think of it, It may have been Mahopac. You would hear the tones go out to trip the pagers, the dispatch. Then a few seconds after the dispatch there would be DTMF tones that set off the siren.

[Guest bmfd368]

The DTMF tones after ossinings dispatch are to set off the sirens, they tell the siren what box the call is, if you are in ossining when a call is dispatched you can count the siren or horn blasts and know what the box number is of the call

[Guest DFFD227]

Now I also have another question...How come Katonah, Bedford, and Bedford Hills, always get toned out twice?

[Guest DG795]

Katonah, Bedford, the hills, and also Yorktown get toned out twice for one reason....radio coverage is spotty at best in northern westchester, and the tones are put off two different towers to try to ensure full coverage. There have been some problems with the mountain lakes tower and its reliability, and the dept's that utilize this tower are working with 60 control to find a solution. I dont know each dept's exact protocols for tower use, but yorktown transmits once off the mountain lakes tower, and once through our UHF repeater.

Another note on DTMF tones dispatching companies, which many of you probably know already. Yonkers Fire Stations are alerted by a DTMF sequence on their low band freq. the two tones heard are the numbers of the station (i.e. E310 is alerted, the DTMF sequence is a 1, then a 0, sounds the same as if you hit 1 and 0 on your touchtone phone)

[EJS1810 7]

Just a note on WAS967 comments about Putnam tones. The only Department that has trailer tones is Putnam lake, not Mahopac. That is because back in the day, PLFD went with a Plectron system rather then the Instalert system used by the other departments in the county.

In Putnam we also have coverage problems with the Towers. We are starting to transmit off multiple towers for several agencies (Garrison Fd, North Highlands FD, Mahopac Falls FD, Putnam Lake FD, and Putnam Valley VAC). The tones sound the same off each tower but you can tell by the change in the audio quality which tower is used.

Greetings from the North County

EJS1810

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