SP50+ Two Tone Decode

[dwh367]

One of our local volunteer firemen got promoted to captain and was issued a city owned VHF HT. He sold me his personal VHF HT (10 channel SP50+, 3 batteries, standard rate drop-in charger, spare standard rate wall charger and speaker-mic) for $100. The internal speaker is blown and needs replaced but otherwise the radio is in excellent shape. I'm not sure about the TX audio as I am not authorized to use any of the channels that are currently programmed into it. I'll let a technician check that out while connected to a service monitor.

I will be using the radio as a member of Emergency Management in the next county. Since I'm a new member and I do not reside in their county, they're a little reluctant to issue me a county pager or VHF handheld. I do have authorization however, to provide my own personal equipment.

Their fire/ems/ema dispatch channel is quite active. Being as I am a day sleeper, keeping the radio open or using a scanner to monitor calls during the day is out of the question.

I know an SP50 can be used to decode the two tone format, but my local Motorola Tech was a little unclear as to how to do it. He's a new hire and has never tried this with an SP50 before.

I did some research here on the board, and if I understand correctly, I will need a decoder board, as well as a dedicated channel to use it as a pager? Once installed, will it act like a pager and stay muted until activated? And then, once activated will I be able to hear the audio? I'm trying to save a little money by adding a pager function to my HT, so I don't have to buy a separate pager.

Thanks!
David H.