Pinellas Sherriff illegal users on trs

OK so I am listening to PCW 1 on the Pinellas County Sheriffs system I hear strange conversations going
about snow and kids very weird so the PCSO dispatcher comes onto PCW 1 and says what agency are you with. The response was a bunch of numbers then they said I don't know. The dispatcher says you are using the PCSO trs system illegally .Then the talkgroup goes quiet for awhile. Then the PCSO disp comes onto PCW1 and says to another person in the PCSO to go to PCW 2 .I switched there as well and they said they didn't know who was using PCW 1 .
Did anyone else hear this very strange.?
Tim

Not a problem, they made the stolen radios a $5000 brick.

Yeah paid for by the tax payers, Harris wins again

suess13 said:

Yeah paid for by the tax payers, Harris wins again

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As opposed to letting unauthorized users run amok on the system? I don't get your point.

Supposing the radios ARE recovered, all it takes is a console command to "unbrick" them and place them back in service.

KF5LSC said:

As opposed to letting unauthorized users run amok on the system? I don't get your point.

Supposing the radios ARE recovered, all it takes is a console command to "unbrick" them and place them back in service.

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Then it really wasn't bricked......bricked is usually a one-time thing and then there is no way to flash the firmware.

V

KI4VBR said:

Then it really wasn't bricked......bricked is usually a one-time thing and then there is no way to flash the firmware.

V

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Incorrect. Just as easily as that radio is "bricked" by the system, it can also be "unbricked" by the system. For example, I misplaced my portable and couldn't find it anywhere. So I filed the appropriate forms with my agency reporting it "lost" per policy. Two days later I found it and turned it on. As soon as it affiliated to the system the screen went blank (bricked it). I called dispatch, verified the serial number and within seconds they sent the command and it "woke up" (unbricked it).

However, if I had removed the antenna and made it so I didn't affiliate to the system, I could flash the firmware, change the codeplug, etc.(provided it wasen't a password protected read, encrypted key,etc) and it wouldn't get bricked unless I affilaite to that system again.

Signal-Zero said:

Incorrect. Just as easily as that radio is "bricked" by the system, it can also be "unbricked" by the system. For example, I misplaced my portable and couldn't find it anywhere. So I filed the appropriate forms with my agency reporting it "lost" per policy. Two days later I found it and turned it on. As soon as it affiliated to the system the screen went blank (bricked it). I called dispatch, verified the serial number and within seconds they sent the command and it "woke up" (unbricked it).

However, if I had removed the antenna and made it so I didn't affiliate to the system, I could flash the firmware, change the codeplug, etc. and it wouldn't get bricked unless I laffilaite to that system again.

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Semantics.......I guess different companies use different terms. When I disable a stolen device (phone, tablet etc.) for one of my clients, it is just that.....disabled. My interpretation of "bricked" means that there is no way to replace the firmware back to factory default or an alternate OS/Firmware set. Therefore the device is almost worthless......like the brick that is holding the door open to let in a nice breeze.

Hope the original poster did not mind this.

Best regards,
Vince

Thanks for your input guys was an interesting read.

Wow, with talk about snow, it makes one wonder if the "unauthorized users" might have been a legitimate agency in a SAR aircraft in some northern state. Recently I read about some agency having to un-inhibit (un-brick!) some Technisonic P25 radios because they would roam to wrong systems and affiliate.