Setting up Tone Remote?

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dfc2
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Joined: Sun Mar 10, 2002 4:00 pm

Setting up Tone Remote?

Post by dfc2 »

Can someone talk me through what is needed to set up a tone remote?

Small town, basement department, no reception in the basement except the dispatch radio (antenna on the roof)

my thought was to install a 2nd radio in the back office, with 1, 2, or 3 phone style remotes, to put a radio in roll call, Chief and Lt's office. all of the above office are too far away to hear dispatch via yelling back, and have "0" reception due to the building and our office location underground.

I understand its possible to just daisy chain an extra speaker all the way to the back offices, but this is NOT what I want, and it does NOT fix the problem of not hearing dispatch.

Tone remote MAY not be exactly what im looking for, so feel free to correct me if Im not using the proper terms.

OUR repeater is located 3 miles away, at our city garage, NOT at the PD. Dispatch uses a Mobile set up as a base, talking into the repeater just like our cars.
jry
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Re: Setting up Tone Remote?

Post by jry »

sounds like a plan to me .

Plenty of HW available to do this.

Not sure if the main system is trunked or conventional ...usually use a four wire remote on trunked for the talk permit tones.

Also set the furthest remote to have the termination and the rest unterminated.
RFguy
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Re: Setting up Tone Remote?

Post by RFguy »

If it's all in building and never going to have remotes in far away buildings (many miles), then I would tend to use DC remotes (no keying tones, quicker TX time).

Is this a trunking system that has bust tones, if so, they 4-wire, otherwise 2-wire is fine.
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Bill_G
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Re: Setting up Tone Remote?

Post by Bill_G »

dfc2 wrote:Can someone talk me through what is needed to set up a tone remote?
Recipe to add a tone remote control -

Ingredients:
1 mobile radio with an accessory port on the back with PTT, MIC HI, RX HI (preferably not off the volume control), and Ground
1 Tone remote adapter preferably with instructions or ready made cable to plug into mobile radio
1 or more tone remote controls
1 500ft box of IW (Inside Wire commonly used for telephone applications)(CAT5 cable is more than adequate))
2 or more surface mount telephone jack blocks (commonly called bisquits)
2 or more silver satin RJ telephone jumper cables to connect the equipment to the bisquit jacks
1 outdoor rated antenna for the mobile radio
1 mounting bracket / tripod / mast / hunk of metal that ain't too ugly to attach the antenna to the building
coaxial cable sufficient to connect radio to antenna with a drip loop at the building entry point
1 power supply for the mobile radio and possibly the tone remote adapter
tar, silicone seal, putty, or something to weatherproof your exterior wall penetration
drills, bits, screwdrivers, and other implements of destruction as required to complete your task
1 portable radio to aircheck with

Procedure:
Plan your work.
* Determine where the radio will sit with its power supply, tone remote adapter, and telephone bisquit. It has to be close to an AC outlet with a clear route to an exterior wall for the coaxial cable, and an easy path for the tone remote telephone cables to reach. You may have to build a shelf.
* Determine where the antenna will mount on the roof that provides an easy path for the coaxial cable from the roof to the cable entry point on an exterior wall. The anchor points for the antenna mount need to be solid, and the antenna needs as much free space around it as possible. DO NOT mount the antenna to the AC service conduit, or to any conduits on the roof that feed any rooftop equipment (like the air handlers). DO NOT mount the antenna on a large metal siding wall without the antenna element itself entirely projecting above that wall with free space for at least 10 feet in all directions. Keep the antenna away from other vertical metal pipes, conduits, and siding in general.
* Determine where your tone remote(s) will go. They need to be close to an AC outlet. You need to place a bisquit nearby on a wall that you can easily run the telephone cable(s) to the radio. You can run a tone remote through 1000ft of IW without any concerns for wire loss.

Practice makes perfect:
Connect all your equipment together on a work bench before installing it just to make sure it works. Even wire a couple bisquits together so you get familiar with how they hook up. Once you get it running, you're ready to install.

Drill and Fill:
* I mount the antenna first, and get its cable to the radio area leaving the spare coiled up for now. All the outdoor work gets done first including cable attachments and entry weatherproofing before moving on.
* Then I run all the phone lines trying to be as neat as possible where I have to drill through floors or walls for the wire pull. I put the bisquits on the walls at the remotes, and leave the extra wire coiled by the radio. I put the remotes in with their RJ jumpers connected. All other interior work done before the final step. Be careful stapling the wire down. Sometimes those staplers crush the wire. Adjust the impact tension if possible. You can put a staple through the cable without noticing. Check each one before progressing.

Wire it up and Fire it up:
* Land all your telephone lines in the bisquit next to the radio.
* Assemble the radio, tone remote adapter, and power supply together.
* Terminate the coaxial cable.
* Check your work, turn it on, walk around the building making sure it all works by airchecks on the portable.

Miller Time:
* Self explanatory.
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Bigred
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Re: Setting up Tone Remote?

Post by Bigred »

To get this to work, dispatch will have to have a remote also. Consider one that fits the day to day operation like maybe a gooseneck mic and a footswitch instead of a handset you have to pick up.
Lots and lots of watts...
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Bill_G
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Re: Setting up Tone Remote?

Post by Bill_G »

Bigred wrote:To get this to work, dispatch will have to have a remote also. Consider one that fits the day to day operation like maybe a gooseneck mic and a footswitch instead of a handset you have to pick up.
Dispatch will be heard through the repeater.
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Bigred
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Re: Setting up Tone Remote?

Post by Bigred »

Bill_G wrote:
Bigred wrote:To get this to work, dispatch will have to have a remote also. Consider one that fits the day to day operation like maybe a gooseneck mic and a footswitch instead of a handset you have to pick up.
Dispatch will be heard through the repeater.
I was going to give a "?", but after re-reading this it will be for a 2nd control base and not on dispatch's radio in which you are correct.
Lots and lots of watts...
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Bill_G
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Re: Setting up Tone Remote?

Post by Bill_G »

Bigred wrote: I was going to give a "?", but after re-reading this it will be for a 2nd control base and not on dispatch's radio in which you are correct.
That's okay. I misread his post too. He already has a radio with an antenna on the roof. So, he can disregard a big portion of my recipe. But, he should tell us what kind of radio they are using in the office so we can tell him if it will accept a tone remote adapter, or not.
dfc2
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Re: Setting up Tone Remote?

Post by dfc2 »

Is it possible to use a tone remote with an XTVA?

the Portable Radio/XTVA as the transmit radio for the tone remote?
RFguy
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Re: Setting up Tone Remote?

Post by RFguy »

dfc2 wrote:Is it possible to use a tone remote with an XTVA?

the Portable Radio/XTVA as the transmit radio for the tone remote?
Anything is possible. Just need to match the audio levels and interface the logic.
Jim202
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Re: Setting up Tone Remote?

Post by Jim202 »

The big thing here is to get the audio levels set correctly. This will require 2 people and some test equipment.

You should use a service monitor to ensure you have the audio levels correct at the radio and the radio transmit deviation is correct. I generally use a TIMS unit to measure the audio output from the tone remotes. The TX audio idle tone should be set someplace around a -25 to a -27 db. The rest of the audio levels should fall into place unless someone has screwed with the internals of the tone remote.

With this said, I have run across many installations where the radio shop tech should be strung up by his little fingers until he cries UNCLE. The proper audio levels were all over the place to the extent it was lucky the tone remotes were even keying up the remote radio.

Jim
dfc2
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Re: Setting up Tone Remote?

Post by dfc2 »

Jim, that is out of my ability.
I wanted to keep it simple.. I want to leave the Dispatch stuff alone. and add the remote in the back offices.
we have spare radios... MCS2000, and kenwood 760's
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kb4mdz
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Re: Setting up Tone Remote?

Post by kb4mdz »

Here's a thread with the MCS2000 Access. conn. pinout:

http://batboard.dreamhosters.com/viewtopic.php?t=3906


Tho let me ask this question: What's the console setup? A Centracom Console? Or another manufacturer? 2 wire or 4 wire interface?
WHy can't you just hang some more tone remotes off the BIM/Line Interface Card and run them to where you want? Less expensive than setting up a whole radio, set the tone remotes for Hi-Impedance, so they don't load the line. I did this once with a Telex Vega mini console, like this: https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/oNgAAOSw ... s-l225.jpg) attached to the few channels they wanted off a Centracom; 3 other positions, (911 supervisor's office, Em. Mgr's office, etc) Worked like a champ. Very simple, for an analog console system.

You're right, just daisy chaining an extra speaker will not be what you want; one, the audio level is too low to drive a speaker (max. peaks at +10 dBm, generally 0 dBm average); two, you'll hear the keying tones with it, that will become annoying very quickly,

A proper tone remote will filter out the keying sequence tones, and you'll get audio amplification of the RX audio.
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