Dual-tone multi-frequency signaling

A DTMF keypad from an Autovon Telephone. The column of red keys produces the A, B, C,
and D DTMF events, labeled by their telephony function.

Dual-tone multi-frequency signaling (DTMF) is used for telecommunication signaling over

analog telephone lines in the voice-frequency band between telephone handsets and other
communications devices and the switching center. The version of DTMF that is used in push-
button telephones for tone dialing is known as Touch-Tone, was first used by AT&T in
commerce as a registered trademark, and is standardized by ITU-T Recommendation Q.23. It
is also known in the UK as MF4.

Other multi-frequency systems are used for internal signaling within the telephone network.

The Touch-Tone system, using the telephone keypad, gradually replaced the use of rotary
dial starting in 1963, and since then DTMF or Touch-Tone became the industry standard for
both cell phones and landline service.[1]

Contents
 1 Multifrequency signaling
 2 #, *, A, B, C, and D
 3 Keypad
 4 Special tone frequencies
 5 See also
 6 References
 7 Further reading
 8 External links

Multifrequency signaling
Prior to the development of DTMF, automated telephone systems employed pulse dialing
(Dial Pulse or DP in the U.S.) or loop disconnect (LD) signaling to dial numbers. It functions
by rapidly disconnecting and re-connecting the calling party's telephone line, similar to
flicking a light switch on and off. The repeated interruptions of the line, as the dial spins,
sounds like a series of clicks. The exchange equipment interprets these dial pulses to
determine the dialed number. Loop disconnect range was restricted by telegraphic distortion
and other technical problems[which?] , and placing calls over longer distances required either
operator assistance (operators used an earlier kind of multi-frequency dial) or the provision of
subscriber trunk dialing equipment.

Multi-frequency signaling (see also MF) is a group of signaling methods, that use a mixture
of two pure tone (pure sine wave) sounds. Various MF signaling protocols were devised by
the Bell System and CCITT. The earliest of these were for in-band signaling between
switching centers, where long-distance telephone operators used a 16-digit keypad to input
the next portion of the destination telephone number in order to contact the next downstream
long-distance telephone operator. This semi-automated signaling and switching proved
successful in both speed and cost effectiveness. Based on this prior success with using MF by
specialists to establish long-distance telephone calls, Dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF)
signaling was developed for the consumer to signal their own telephone-call's destination
telephone number instead of talking to a telephone operator.

AT&Ts Compatibility Bulletin No. 105 described the product as "a method for pushbutton
signaling from customer stations using the voice transmission path." In order to prevent using
a consumer telephone to interfere with the MF-based routing and switching between
telephone switching centers, DTMF's frequencies differ from all of the pre-existing MF
signaling protocols between switching centers: MF/R1, R2, CCS4, CCS5, and others that
were later replaced by SS7 digital signaling. DTMF, as used in push-button telephone tone
dialing, was known throughout the Bell System by the trademark Touch-Tone. This term was
first used by AT&T in commerce on July 5, 1960 and then was introduced to the public on
November 18, 1963, when the first push-button telephone was made available to the public. It
was AT&T's registered trademark from September 4, 1962 to March 13, 1984,[2] and is
standardized by ITU-T Recommendation Q.23. It is also known in the UK as MF4.

Other vendors of compatible telephone equipment called the Touch-Tone feature Tone
dialing or DTMF, or used their own registered trade names such as the Digitone of Northern
Electric (now known as Nortel Networks).

The DTMF system uses eight different frequency signals transmitted in pairs to represent
sixteen different numbers, symbols and letters - as detailed below.

As a method of in-band signaling, DTMF tones were also used by cable television
broadcasters to indicate the start and stop times of local commercial insertion points during
station breaks for the benefit of cable companies. Until better out-of-band signaling
equipment was developed in the 1990s, fast, unacknowledged, and loud DTMF tone
sequences could be heard during the commercial breaks of cable channels in the United
States and elsewhere.[citation needed]

#, *, A, B, C, and D
The engineers[who?] had envisioned[when?] phones being used to access computers, and surveyed
a number of companies to see what they would need for this role. This led to the addition of
the number sign (#, sometimes called 'octothorpe' or 'pound' in this context - 'hash' or 'gate' in
the UK) and asterisk or "star" (*) keys as well as a group of keys for menu selection: A, B, C
and D. In the end, the lettered keys were dropped from most phones, and it was many years
before these keys became widely used for vertical service codes such as *67 in the United
States and Canada to suppress caller ID.

Public payphones that accept credit cards use these additional codes to send the information
from the magnetic strip.

The U.S. military also used the letters, relabeled, in their now defunct Autovon phone
system[3]. Here they were used before dialing the phone in order to give some calls priority,
cutting in over existing calls if need be. The idea was to allow important traffic to get through
every time. The levels of priority available were Flash Override (A), Flash (B), Immediate
(C), and Priority (D), with Flash Override being the highest priority. Pressing one of these
keys gave your call priority, overriding other conversations on the network. Pressing C,
Immediate, before dialing would make the switch first look for any free lines, and if all lines
were in use, it would disconnect any non-priority calls, and then any priority calls. Flash
Override will kick every other call off the trunks between the origin and destination.
Consequently, it was limited to the White House Communications Agency.

Precedence dialing is still done on the military phone networks, but using number
combinations (Example: Entering 93 before a number is a priority call) rather than the
separate tones and the Government Emergency Telecommunications Service has superseded
Autovon for any civilian priority telco access.

Present-day uses of the A, B, C and D keys on telephone networks are few, and exclusive to
network control. For example, the A key is used on some networks to cycle through different
carriers at will (thereby listening in on calls). Their use is probably prohibited by most
carriers. The A, B, C and D tones are used in amateur radio phone patch and repeater
operations to allow, among other uses, control of the repeater while connected to an active
phone line.

DTMF tones are also used by some cable television networks and radio networks to signal
the local cable company/network station to insert a local advertisement or station
identification. These tones were often heard during a station ID preceding a local ad insert.
Previously, terrestrial television stations also used DTMF tones to shut off and turn on remote
transmitters.

DTMF signalling tones can also be heard at the start or end of some VHS (Video Home
System) cassette tapes. Information on the master version of the video tape is encoded in the
DTMF tone. The encoded tone provides information to automatic duplication machines, such
as format, duration and volume levels, in order to replicate the original video as closely as
possible.

DTMF tones are sometimes used in caller ID systems to transfer the caller ID information,
however in the USA only Bell 202 modulated FSK signaling is used to transfer the data.

A DTMF can be heard on most Whelen Outdoor Warning systems.

Keypad

1209 Hz on 697 Hz to make the 1 tone

Main article: Telephone keypad

The DTMF keypad is laid out in a 4×4 matrix, with each row representing a low frequency,
and each column representing a high frequency. Pressing a single key (such as '1' ) will send
a sinusoidal tone for each of the two frequencies (697 and 1209 hertz (Hz)). The original
keypads had levers inside, so each button activated two contacts. The multiple tones are the
reason for calling the system multifrequency. These tones are then decoded by the switching
center to determine which key was pressed.

DTMF keypad frequencies (with sound clips)

1209 Hz 1336 Hz 1477 Hz 1633 Hz
697 Hz 1 2 3 A
770 Hz 4 5 6 B
852 Hz 7 8 9 C
941 Hz * 0 # D

Special tone frequencies

National telephone systems define additional tones to indicate the status of lines, equipment,
or the result of calls with special tones. Such tones are standardized in each country and may
consist of single or multiple frequencies. Most European countries use a single frequency,
where the United States uses a dual frequency system, presented in the following table.

Event Low frequency High frequency

Busy signal 480 Hz 620 Hz
Ringback tone (US) 440 Hz 480 Hz
Dial tone 350 Hz 440 Hz

The tone frequencies, as defined by the Precise Tone Plan, are selected such that harmonics
and intermodulation products will not cause an unreliable signal. No frequency is a multiple
of another, the difference between any two frequencies does not equal any of the frequencies,
and the sum of any two frequencies does not equal any of the frequencies. The frequencies
were initially designed with a ratio of 21/19, which is slightly less than a whole tone. The
frequencies may not vary more than ±1.8% from their nominal frequency, or the switching
center will ignore the signal. The high frequencies may be the same volume or louder as the
low frequencies when sent across the line. The loudness difference between the high and low
frequencies can be as large as 3 decibels (dB) and is referred to as "twist." The duration of the
tone should be at least 70 ms, although in some countries and applications DTMF receivers
must be able to reliably detect DTMF tones as short as 45ms.

As with other multi-frequency receivers, DTMF was originally decoded by tuned filter banks.
Late in the 20th century most were replaced with digital signal processors. DTMF can be
decoded using the Goertzel algorithm.