Cape Coral / Fort Myers to go digital

K4IHS · #1 (**permalink**) 09-19-2007, 06:07 AM

From the News Press September 19, 2007

A $6 million grant from the federal government, obtained by the Cape Coral Police Department, is going to help streamline communication between all Lee County emergency crews from Cape Coral, to Bonita Springs, to Lehigh, to Fort Myers, and improve response times.

"We're going to have a better, more reliable system that won't have to come from local taxes," Cape Coral police Chief Rob Petrovich said. "It's a win-win all the way around."

The total cost for the digital system, which will have communication access throughout the county using a series of towers, is going to be about $8 million, so what's not covered by the grant will be covered by the county.

It's something the county had been planning to fix for quite some time, especially in places like Sanibel and Pine Island, where "dead zones" are more likely to be, said county communications supervisor Andy Stadtler.

This particular system will not affected 911 emergency calls.

Cape Coral was specifically chosen by the Department of Justice to apply for this grant after grantwriter Cindy Dennison collaborated with the county and other agencies to identify the regional need. It was the largest grant ever received by the department.

"For a community this size, it's a pretty rare occurrence," Dennison said of the size of the award.

One of the big problems the county has tried to fix is dropped calls because of "dead zones," Stadtler said.

"Sometimes calls can't get through, and it can take three or four minutes before you can get a voice channel," Stadtler said. "That's the worst-case scenario."

Sanibel Fire Chief Danny Duncan said many of his problems come in situations where mutual aid is required. Crews have to manually switch channels when they enter another district.

"It doesn't have the range because we operate off a different tower entirely," Duncan said. "It's kind of complicated to switch depending on what radio you've got."

Certain channels also can jam up if there are too many callers trying to use it at once. Because Lee has grown exponentially in recent years, the number of emergency responders using the system has also ballooned.

The new system will solve these issues by creating more channels and digitalizing them so they will change automatically when a crew is driving from one area to another. It should also decrease response times — something every department tries to keep at below five minutes, Stadtler said.

Stadtler and Michael Bridges, the county's deputy director of public safety, estimated the first changes will happen in Cape Coral and Pine Island by December 2008. That will be the first phase of the project. The rest of the county will follow in an additional two phases that should be completed by 2010.

CapStar362 · #2 (**permalink**) 09-19-2007, 02:51 PM

well crap... my family lives in Ft Myers. what can cover a digital system?

n4voxgill · #3 (**permalink**) 09-19-2007, 03:06 PM

If all they are doing is converting the existing Lee County Motorola systems to digital, then Uniden, Radio Shack and the new scanners from GRE will work on the new digital system. However, if they encrypt the digital, then no scanner will worik. Just have to wait untill all the information is known.

K4IHS · #4 (**permalink**) 09-19-2007, 03:19 PM

Cape Coral / Fort Myers live stream is at http://www.pinelakeshome.com/Scanner/radio1.htm

ElroyJetson · #5 (**permalink**) 09-19-2007, 04:18 PM

And another agency drinks the digital Kool-Aid, thinking this will make their communications better and more reliable.

Win for the salesman, lose for the system users.

Digital systems need more sites and/or more power to equal the coverage performance
of analog systems. And you can listen through some static and still get the message,
but when digital gets to fringe coverage, forget it. Space movie sound effects instead of
recognizable voices.

That grant money came from your tax dollars at the federal level, so this is your tax
dollars at work...spending more and getting less.

Elroy

JohnnyGalaga · #6 (**permalink**) 09-19-2007, 06:54 PM

That's well said. I just hope they don't go encrypted.

WB2UZR · #7 (**permalink**) 09-19-2007, 08:15 PM

I also hope they don't go to an encrypted system. I am moving to Fort Myers next month, and that would really restrict what there is to hear! Guess we will have to wait and see.

Scott/WB2UZR

scanfreq315 · #8 (**permalink**) 09-20-2007, 10:39 AM

I was disappointed to hear the news of this this week.

I use a Radio Shack PRO-90 and listen daily.

So if they go digital but not encrypted what would I be able to listen to them on - will i have to buy a new radio?

gcr33 · #9 (**permalink**) 09-20-2007, 05:14 PM

Where does it say they are going encrypted? Stop the sky is falling routine.

APCO 25 is not a problem. It might be time to upgrade your scanner that's all.

ctrabs74 · #10 (**permalink**) 09-20-2007, 09:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scanfreq315

I was disappointed to hear the news of this this week.

I use a Radio Shack PRO-90 and listen daily.

So if they go digital but not encrypted what would I be able to listen to them on - will i have to buy a new radio?

Either the Pro-96/2096, Bearcat 296/396/996, or the new GRE scanners. When Fort Myers goes digital, you will have to upgrade your scanner (though, if they do go ENC, then it's a moot point).

jack3726 · #11 (**permalink**) 09-21-2007, 06:26 AM

I read this article, and the replies, to go to all these digital systems must mean your prepping to make channels encrypted, I hope this is correct not sure though. If it is then you can bet they will probably do it, maybe not all channels though. The 800 systems where you have a mix of analog and digital and the ability to encrypt or not encrypt sure makes it a pain to micro manage from the scanner buff side, it would be interesting to see how they micro manage it from the county PD/FD etc side.

scanfreq315 · #12 (**permalink**) 09-25-2007, 08:50 AM

Is it possible to use a computer to somehow decrypt encrypted frequencies?

UFEMTFF · #13 (**permalink**) 09-25-2007, 08:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scanfreq315

Is it possible to use a computer to somehow decrypt encrypted frequencies?

No, it is not.

KOscanner · #14 (**permalink**) 09-26-2007, 04:16 PM

Hi folks. First post here. I figured if anybody knows the answer to this question it would be you guys.

According to a friend of mine who works there, Cape Coral Police has split their main disptach channel into North and South sectors. I have the talkgroup # 18096 for the main CCPD dispatch channel. But I can't/don't know how to find the talkgroup/s for the new channel/s they are using. Anyone out there have this info or know how to find it? I've been through every web resource I can find with no luck.

PS. these are all the CCPD talkgroups I currently have:

CCPD main -- 18096
TAC 2 -- 18128
Tac 3 (car to car) -- 18192
Teletype - 18160
CID -- 18224
Foxtrot -- 18288
Events 1 -- 18384
Events 2 -- 18416
CCPD unknown -- 18256

ElroyJetson · #15 (**permalink**) 09-26-2007, 05:44 PM

Actually, yes, it is. But you'd need a LOT of computing horsepower in order to get reasonable average times to break a given key. To crack a DES key in an average of five days, you need to be able to test over 90 BILLION keys per second.

And it's a FELONY to decrypt encrypted communications that you are not authorized to intercept.

Elroy

Quote:

Originally Posted by scanfreq315

Is it possible to use a computer to somehow decrypt encrypted frequencies?

UFEMTFF · #16 (**permalink**) 09-26-2007, 07:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ElroyJetson

Actually, yes, it is. But you'd need a LOT of computing horsepower in order to get reasonable average times to break a given key. To crack a DES key in an average of five days, you need to be able to test over 90 BILLION keys per second.

And it's a FELONY to decrypt encrypted communications that you are not authorized to intercept.

Elroy

Not to continue to derail this thread, but I believe the people in the DES thread have been trying to crack some encryption for a few months now, and haven't had any luck.

Obviously, you're answer was more correct than mine, but mine was directed at 99.9% of RR readers. :P

UFEMTFF · #17 (**permalink**) 09-26-2007, 07:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KOscanner

Anyone out there have this info or know how to find it?

Pretty simple. Change your scanner from "ID Scan" to "ID Search" mode. Once in this mode, the scanner will stop on ANY TG and show the ID (or Alpha tag, if you've got it programmed.) Then, start locking out talk groups that you've identified as "not the one you're looking for". Eventually, you'll have enough locked out you should be able to stumble upon the ones you don't know.

KOscanner · #18 (**permalink**) 09-26-2007, 07:53 PM

Sounds easy enough. I'll give it a shot.

Thanks.

KOscanner · #19 (**permalink**) 09-26-2007, 10:03 PM

Looks like it worked. Took some doing but here are 2 more CCPD talkgroups that are unlisted ANYWHERE!

CCPD Main Dispatch 2 -- 18320
CCPD Main Dispatch 3 -- 18480

Sorry to hijack the thread but I figured I might as well finish what I started.

Thanks for the help.

UFEMTFF · #20 (**permalink**) 09-27-2007, 06:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KOscanner

Looks like it worked. Took some doing but here are 2 more CCPD talkgroups that are unlisted ANYWHERE!

CCPD Main Dispatch 2 -- 18320
CCPD Main Dispatch 3 -- 18480

Sorry to hijack the thread but I figured I might as well finish what I started.

Thanks for the help.

If you're sure about those, could you go ahead and submit them to the database for us? Announcing them in a thread is very nice, but submitting them is a lot nicer.