[Alexandria Radio Club Reflector] <ARC> Re: Addition of a PL Tone to both 91 and 79

[Gary Sessums]

As previously posted to this list, some area amateur radio repeaters 
are adding PL tones to reduce interference.

Whether your are an experienced ham or a brand new ham, it never 
hurts to brush up on PL tone terminology when programming your radio.

Different amateur radio radio manufacturers use slightly different 
terminology in their radio instruction manuals and some are better 
than others in explaining how to enable the PL setting on your radio.

Listed below are simplified definitions of the various PL settings 
you may find on your radio.

Your mileage may vary.

Gary
KC5QCN

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CARRIER SQUELCH -- When the radio is in "Squelch" mode, the audio is 
muted when no signal is present. The squelch circuit opens when the 
audio signal strength is great enough to break open the squelch 
setting. No tones are involved.

TONE SQUELCH or TONE -- When the radio is in "Tone" mode, it will 
transmit a CTCSS tone, also known as "PL" tone, when the radio is 
transmitting. In this mode, your radio transmit a tone, but does not 
require a tone on receive.

CONTINUOUS TONE CODED SQUELCH SYSTEM (CTCSS) -- When the radio is in 
"CTCSS" mode, it will transmit a CTCSS tone when the radio is 
transmitting AND it will require a CTCSS tone on the received signal 
in order to open the squelch on your radio when receiving. In this 
mode, the same tone is transmitted by your radio and your radio 
requires that same tone on receive. Uses different selectable analog codes.

DIGITAL CODE SQUELCH (DCS) -- When the radio is in "DCS" mode, it 
functions the same way as CTCSS but uses a different encode/decode 
method with different selectable digital codes.