What is TwoToneDetect (TTD)?
TwoToneDetect is a part of the IaR system that interfaces with a radio receiver or scanner. It uses the computer’s sound card to listen to the received audio and detect two-tone sequential paging sequences (Quick-Call 2 and similar formats). This type of paging is commonly used for fire, EMS and police department alerting. Upon detecting known two-tone pages, the system will record dispatch audio and send that audio to your members through your IamResponding system.
In addition to this step-by step guide, check out the Step-by-Step training Video
Process flow
Checklist to get started
- Radio or scanner with an audio output capability. A reliable, clear signal is necessary for the system to be able to identify an A Tone & B Tone and is also important for playback of the audio.
- Auxiliary audio cable, usually 3.5mm to 3.5mm or 3.5mm to 2.5mm. The connector size depends on your radio or scanner output size.
- Windows PC (Win 10+ OS) & (suggested external USB sound card).
- Reliable internet connection. Your network will need to allow access to Port 443 for HTTPS traffic. Also, if you have a proxy server setup on your network that intercepts traffic, you will need to setup a bypass to allow access to ttd.iamresponding.com.
- Your pager tone frequencies. You should be able to get that information from your dispatch center or radio vendor.
- UPS “Uninterruptible Power Supply”, this is an optional item but helpful in the event of power outages and during generator test cycles. Keep in mind, if your internet connection goes down you will not be able to send audio notifications to IAR.
Hardware - setup
A reliable computer with a stable internet connection is vital to make sure the software is up and running 24/7.
Before launching TTD
● Configure your radio or scanner to monitor your dispatch channel.
● Connect your radio or scanner to your PC’s audio INPUT (or external USB Sound Card, INPUT port).
Support Tip → On your Radio/Scanner, if you have a Squelch Control, Open it 90-95%.
Support Tip → On your Radio/Scanner, set your volume to 20-30%.
Support Tip → On your PC, you may likely have a computer-controlled INPUT VOLUME for your Audio Input. Set this volume to 80% to start with. You may want to finesse it in the future for more/less volume in your recorded audio.
Support Tip → With many USB Sound Cards, both the speaker/line output and the microphone/line input cables must be connected for the sound card to function properly.
Programming - setup, part 1
Step 1: Enable “Permitted to manage TTD settings” on your IaR Web Profile under
Manage Members → Edit Member.
Step 2: Generate a TwoToneDetect API key by going to
Administrative Functions → TwoToneDetect Settings → Generate TwoToneDetect API Key, and select the button that says, “Generate”.
Support Tip → Copy the computer-generated API Key and keep available for a later step in these instructions.
Step 3: Create your first pager group by going to the
Administrative Functions → TwoToneDetect Settings → Manage Pager Groups.
● NAME the Group. Many agencies will simply input “FIRE”, “EMS”, “Officer”. Whatever suits your situation.
● The A Tone and B Tone frequencies will need to be provided to you by your dispatch center. Most users can get started with A Tone and B Tone frequencies and leave all other settings at the default values.
● Click SAVE at the bottom.
Step 4: Go to,
Administrative Functions → TwoToneDetect Settings → Generate TwoToneDetect API Key
See the link at the bottom of the page to download the latest version of TwoToneDetect.
The download will be the latest version of TTD TwoToneDetect.
Current TTD Version for Windows (Win 10+ OS)
TwoToneDetect will be downloaded as a ZIP file.
Support Tip → TTD can’t be run from the Zip file.
The ZIP file contents should be extracted to a location where the you have full read/write privileges on the computer such as C:\Users\Public or C:\Users\username\Desktop*
● This is easily done by opening the ZIP File.
● On your Desktop, ADD a new Folder, label/title it something that you can easily find/reference.
● Highlight all the contents (about 14+ items), Drag/Drop the 14+ items as a group into the folder you just created.
● This is where you will now access the TTD files.
The TTD Zip file can/should be deleted.
* Keep in mind that some user accounts block write access to the root C:\drive.
* If your PC is on a managed network, you will likely need to contact your IT personnel for assistance.
In the folder that you created with the 14+ items, open the item that ends with the phrase, “_debug”.
Support Tip → Give it about 10-20 seconds to launch.
Support Tip → If the TTD Debug program launches and then closes after a few seconds, it is not “hearing” anything from your hardware connection. Your computer settings may not be allowing TTD access to sound card.
Support Tip → Make Chrome your computer Default Web Browser.
When TTD ”_debug” program fully launches you will see a small TTD icon in your system tray*.
Right click on the TTD icon and select “Open TwoToneDetect GUI”, the TTD GUI will then launch in your computer’s Default Browser (Chrome).
*The system tray on your computer is down near your clock in the lower Right of your screen.
-You are looking for the TTD icon (circled in Red-image below).
-If you don’t see the TTD icon, click the Up Arrow (circled in Green-image
below).
Support Tip → If the TTD GUI does not open correctly, double check that you are using the most current version of Google Chrome as your Default Web Browser.
● Close the TTD Debug program.
● Go into your Computer’s Settings and make Google Chrome your DEFAULT WEB BROWSER.
● Re-open the TTD Debug program from your newly created folder. Give it about 10-20 seconds to launch.
● Go back to the TTD GUI in the System Tray. When you open it, it should open in Google Chrome.
Support Tip → If you accidentally open more than 1 instance of TTD you will see multiple TTD icons in the system tray.
It is important that you make sure only a single instance of TTD is running otherwise you will run into issues such as duplicate notifications.
A quick and easy way to solve this: Power your computer Off and On.
On the TTD GUI screen
Set the “Audio Input Device” as the input that your radio is plugged into. Some PCs have two or more sound input options. Try/experiment with your options, seeing which input is coming from your radio or scanner.
Support Tip → (On a Windows Laptop/PC), if the TTD GUI “Tone Frequency” is populating with tone frequencies while you speak, you are having TTD listen to your Laptop’s built in Microphone. You will need to select one of the “other” Audio Input Devices from your list.
Set the GUI’s Green “Audio Squelch” indicator slightly to the Right of the Blue “Audio Level” indicator when there is not any radio traffic.
If the squelch is set correctly “No Audio” should display next to TONE FREQUENCY when there is not any radio traffic.
Support Tip → If the “Tone Frequency” is populating with tone frequencies when the Green “Audio Squelch” is towards the Left, then we know that the TTD program is properly listening to and “hearing” your hardware.
Go to the TTD GUI button labeled “Edit Config Info” to enable the IaR Integration and add your API key.
● Check the box labeled, “Use IamResponding for alerting: ?”
● In the field labeled, “IamResponding.com API Key: ?”, paste the API Key that you copied on Page 6 of these instructions. If needed, you can go back to the Administrative Functions → TwoToneDetect
Settings → Generate TwoToneDetect API Key, and copy the API Key, to Paste into this field.
● Leave all other fields BLANK, unchanged.
● Click SAVE at the bottom of the screen. Close this Tab (Settings Editor) on your Chrome Browser, but keeping open the main GUI Browser Tab.
If you have made it this far, you are 99% of the way done.
Running TTD Tests
We suggest that you have the TTD Debug Program minimized and on one side of your screen, while simultaneously having the TTD GUI minimized on the other side of your screen.
-This allows you to easily monitor both programs at once.
You will want to ask your dispatcher (unless you can do it yourself) to have your tones tested/paged over your radio or scanner.
When this happens, you will want to watch two things.
- On the TTD GUI, does the Blue “Audio Level” indicator jump to the Right when the tones are played, and above (to the Right of) the Green “Audio Squelch” indicator?
● If Yes, Good.
● If the Blue “Audio Level” moves, but not to the Right of the Green
“Audio Squelch”, move the Green Audio Squelch” lower (to the Left). - On the TTD Debug Program, you want to see rows of data populate on the screen as your tones are played and as there is information spoken over the channel.
- If the DeBug program isn’t populating, verify that you don’t have multiple occurrences of TTD open.
Support Tip →
● If the Green “Audio Squelch” control is too far Right, you will not see the “Tone Frequency” populate.
● If the Green “Audio Squelch” control is too far Left, you will see the “Tone Frequency” populate constantly as it hears static and white noise.
● Ideally you want the Green “Audio Squelch” control set so that static and white noise don’t cause it to populate, but when tones are played and the dispatcher speaks, the “Tone Frequency” does populate.
● The “Tone Frequency” will populate when ANY tones or sounds are ‘heard’ by TTD, not just your tones. TTD will not record and send you anything until it hears YOUR programmed tones.
On the GUI use the button for View Debug Info.
Scroll to the bottom and start looking for indicators that your programmed Tones were properly heard by TTD, you will see Rows in the TTD GUI’s View Debug Info, that look like this:
If you do not see any mention of a “success”, you will want to look at your Debug Info Log File to see if you can recognize if ANY tones were heard.
Log files
On TTD GUI, go the button that says, VIEW DEBUG INFO.
● Go to the Very Bottom of the Log after it is opened. (the bottom is the most RECENT data recorded).
What to look for as your scroll upwards through the data:
1 .Visually search for what you believe is your A Tone and B Tone.
Support Tip → On the log, use Control-F (Ctrl key and F key) on your keyboard. This will open the SEARCH tool, typically along the Top/Bottom of your screen.
2. If you don’t see your exact A Tone and B Tone (which is very common), look for two separate “blocks” of data.
See in the image below, the 365.7 block and then the immediate 989.5 block of data.
This indicates an A and B Tone.
The image shows an A Tone of 365.7 and then immediately a B Tone of 989.5.
Many dispatch centers will tell you that your tones are “X”. Their margin for error may be greater than TTD. You may find that the tones found in the TTD “logfile” are slightly off, even a few “whole numbers” different from what you were told. This is OK. We will just program the IaR TTD Pager Groups according to what TTD hears.
Support Tip → You may have been told that your A Tone is, 363.7. TTD may have heard 365.7 as seen in the image above. Look for the “blocks” of the same information, an A Tone immediately followed by a B Tone.
Support Tip → On the DeBug Info, Remember the NEWEST information is at the BOTTOM of the column of data.
Support Tip → On the DeBug Info, each row of data represents a fraction of a second of time (0.22 sec). When you see 5-10 Rows of data that are EXACTLY the same, you know that is an electronic sound being played (i.e.: tones or static).
Support Tip → On the DeBug Info, if you see a lot of the same frequency, appearing in large blocks or consistently appearing, but no blocks of identical tones, you likely have some ‘interference’ in your environment/hardware.
Support Tip → On the DeBug Info, the second column represents the VOLUME of what TTD is ‘hearing’. 30,000+ is TOO LOUD. TTD will not recognize your tones because they are being ‘washed-out’. Please turn your device’s volume knob down to only about 5-20%.
Setting up your members to get TTD alerts
Now that you have added pager groups and installed TTD, your members will have to subscribe to those pager groups to be able to receive TTD alerts.
● Go to
Administrative Functions →Manage Members →Edit a Member
and select the member you would like to update. There will be a new section in the member profile called “Two Tone Detect – Pager Groups”.
● Each pager group you have created will be listed with two check boxes: “Pre-Alert” and “Alert”. Pre-alerts are notifications that arrive immediately when your pagers are activated, Alerts are notifications
that arrive shortly thereafter with the recorded audio.
An Administrator can check both boxes for each Pager Group, and members within their App can control whether they would like to receive audible notifications of Pre-Alerts and/or Alerts.
Download the latest IaR app, go to Settings → Audio Incident Settings, and
enable Pre-Alert and/or Audio Alerts.
The Android app has a unique feature labeled “Automatically play Audio Alerts” that will mimic your pager’s functionality.
● Your Android phone will then play the audio immediately even if you do not open the app or unlock your phone. However please make sure to read the information popup next to the checkbox in the app
to fully understand how this works.
Mutual-aid management of pager groups
Many agencies are not able to set up their own PC to run TwoToneDetect due to budget constraints, lack of hardware or may not have a quality radio signal in their area. Linking IaR agencies using the Mutual Aid
feature allows an agency to send audio dispatches to another agency using a single instance of TwoToneDetect.
This can also be used for 911 centers to setup a single TTD system to send to numerous IamResponding systems (check with our sales team to setup a Regional TTD account for your 911 center).
To setup the Mutual Aid feature go to the:
Main Administrative Page → System Settings → Dept ID. / Mutual Aid ID’s.
An agency that would like you to manage their TwoToneDetect Pager Groups will need your Subscriber ID, which is located at the top of your page.
● Once the other agency has your Subscriber ID it will need to be entered in the Mutual Aid Subscriber ID field within their IaR Mutual Aid IDs.
● Then the agency that wants you to manage their pager group, needs to select the checkbox labeled “Allow to manage our Pager Groups”, in-line with your Agency Name.
● You can now select that agency when creating Pager Groups on your IaR account’s TTD Manage Pager Group Settings.
TTD tips & troubleshooting
Getting pager tone frequency information
Some dispatch centers or radio shops may provide their pager tone information in "cap code" format rather than as actual tone frequencies. These can get a little confusing to decode since they vary by paging tone format. A good list of most common formats and cap codes can be found HERE. (http://genave.com/two-tone-paging/)
Running TwoToneDetect on Windows
We strongly recommend that users do not leave the web-browser GUI open while running TwoToneDetect unattended. It is okay to open the GUI to check operation or make changes, but when not using it make sure to close it down.
We also recommend having the computer that TwoToneDetect is running on perform an automatic reboot at least every couple days, if not daily. The automatic restarts can be set up using Task Scheduler, and automatic startup of TTD can be done by Putting a Shortcut to the EXE in the Startup Folder. The computer can also be set up to Restart Automatically After a Power Failure.
Simultaneous Alerts
If you receive simultaneous alerts the typical cause would be multiple instances of the TwoToneDetect software running. If you accidentally open the TTD program more than once, each instance will create alerts and cause duplicates. To see if this is occurring go to your system tray or task manager and make sure only one TTD icon is showing. To close an additional instance open the GUI and select shutdown.
Interference
When using a Radio/Pager/Scanner that plays its own sound when your agency is “toned”. Turn these additional alert sounds OFF. This additional sound from the Hardware is likely interfering with your TTD program hearing the broadcasted A Tone and B Tone come through the hardware itself.
- THIS INCLUDES A VIBRATION. If your hardware vibrates when a call is received, turn the Vibration OFF.
- When using a Radio/Pager/Scanner that has a charging “cradle”, TTD will likely pick up a quiet “hum” of white noise from the “cradle” charging process. You will want to try the device when it is NOT in the “cradle” to see if the “interference” goes away.
- PLACEMENT- you will want to make sure that your hardware and your computer running TTD are as far apart as your Auxiliary Audio Cable allow.
- Ensure that your Auxiliary Audio Cable is “shielded” from outside interference. If not, it may pick up electronic sounds and static like it was itself an antenna.
- If your VOLUME column of the Debug Info is 30,000+, turn your device’s volume knob down, to 15-30% of the maximum on your device.
There are a few ways to manage interference:
(not in order or preference)
1. Find the cause and eliminate it (other computers/servers/devices/appliances)
2. Adjust the Squelch to stop the static (radio transmissions still need to come through)
3. Better wire management (no tangles, braids, twists, wires draped over other appliances/devices)
4. For your reading pleasure, see this link and consider the possibility that the static is environmental (your rooms wiring/connections/wall plug usage)
-- Article about HUMs/STATIC --
Low Audio or No Audio
If you are not receiving audio or audio levels are low, verify the sound
input quality and whether the soundcard is receiving audio.
● On Win 10 computer: Open Windows Settings → System → Sound
Thank you for your interest in using TwoToneDetect!
Our goal at IamResponding.com is to reduce response times and help get more complete crews to your incidents, faster.
If you know of other agencies that would benefit from using this feature and they are not setup with IamResponding.com, please let us know.
Stay safe and thank you for using IamResponding.com!
Do you have a fun tip, or a suggestion of something to add to this article?
Email us at: Support@EmergencySMC.com, Subject Line: Attention to Steve, ZD-Article