[FlyGuy]

Best way to think about this is to completely separate (in your mind) the CTCSS (audio tone) frequency from the (RF) transmit/receive frequency of the radio.

The CTCSS function only controls whether or not your radio's speaker will un-mute in the presence of an incoming transmission having an identical CTCSS tone. Similarly, when you transmit you need to have the identical CTCSS tone as the rest of the folks you wish to talk to or their radios will not un-mute for your transmission. This prevents your "talk group" from hearing other users not in the same group when sharing the same RF tx/rx frequency.

The RF transmit/receive frequency is just as it says...it's the frequency emitted from or received by the radio's antenna. For FRS there are 14 unique frequencies and on the "blister pack" type of radios, they are actually labelled by channel number (1-14) rather than by the actual frequency itself.

The tx/rx frequency is "radio" whereas the CTCSS is "audio" and they serve two distinctly different purposes. Do not confuse the two...

As previously pointed out, the particulars of how to "operate" CTCSS on your radio is largely specific to that radio itself. Some radios will apply your chosen CTCSS tone to all frequencies (unless you turn it off) while others will allow you the flexibility to assign individual tones (can even be different ones) to both the transmit and receive frequencies either in memory channels or on direct entry. This would obviously be a situation where you'd be obliged to RTFM...

Regards,


Fly