You can set a pl tone and not a "ctcss" tone if you want. If the band is 
crowded where you are you may not want to but you could, where I live a lot 
of people do it but they're nuts. You have no hope of scanning without it 
around my way but I hear we're flooded with repeaters where most of the 
country isn't as bad. Our coordination group needs to spread things out in 
New England though the biggest problem is that CT is so hilly and has a 
different coordination group from us and in a battle, right or wrong, the CT 
group, run by the ARRL, always wins so it's no point fighting interference 
from a CT repeater. Most of the country though, I'd imagine from what I've 
heard, you don't need CTCSS, tone squelch, what ever you want to call it. My 
radio scans the repeaters for clubs I belong to, a MARS repeater, and a 
couple other things so I run it where I can, if I didn't the radio would 
never scan, even in the hole I'm in now. I thought I was in a hole before, 
I'm in a much better hole now and still hear what I always did. I have a 
feeling though the day is fast approaching where I put something else where 
the dual band antenna is and that's the end of me on 2 meters from here.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "KK4AHX Darren Duff" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, December 06, 2012 8:01 AM
Subject: Difference in tones.


> Good morning!
>
> Before I get the kenwood today I wanted to ask a question about pl tones 
> and
> ctcss tones. What is the difference? And if you program in a pl tone do 
> you
> need to worry about the ctcss? I feel silly asking this question but I 
> think
> programming the wouxun radio has confused me!  When I would program in a
> repeater in the wouxun, I would program in the ctcss tone (menu 16) and 
> that
> would be it. But it looks like the kenwood has pl, and ctcss and dcs.
> Someone please refresh my memory! Lol!
>
> Thanks.
>
>
>
> 73.
> Darren Duff.
> amateur radio station KK4AHX.
>
> Vice President,
> Cherokee Amateur Radio Society.
> http://www.cherokeehams.com
>
> Cherokee County ARES.
> http://www.cherokee-ares.org
>
>