DCS (Digital-Coded Squelch), generically known as CDCSS (Continuous Digital-Coded Squelch System), was designed as the digital replacement for CTCSS. In the same way that a single CTCSS tone would be used on an entire group of radios, the same DCS code is used in a group of radios. DCS is also referred to as Digital Private Line (or DPL), another trademark of Motorola, and likewise, General Electric's implementation of DCS is referred to a Digital Channel Guard (or DCG). DCS is also called DTCS (Digital Tone Code Squelch) by Icom, other names by other manufacturers. Radios with DCS options are generally compatible provided the radio's encoder-decoder will use the same code as radios in the existing system. DCS adds a 134.4 bps (sub-audible) bitstream to the transmitted audio. The code word is a 23-bit Golay (23,12) code which has the ability to detect and correct errors of 3 or fewer bits. The word consists of 12 data bits followed by 11 check bits. The last 3 data bits are a fixed '001', this leaves 9 code bits (512 possibilities) which are conventionally represented as a 3-digit octal number. Note that the first bit transmitted is the LSB, so the code is "backwards" from the transmitted bit order. Only 83 of the 512 possible codes are available, to prevent falsing due to alignment collisions.

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