BGE/Constellation Energy

Hi All.

I know we could no longer monitor BGE when they changed to some new Motorola system a while back.

I think it was called a "iDEN Harmony" system.

But will the Uniden BCD436HP with the new ProVoice or DMR upgrades allow us to listen ?

Thanks.

No - iDEN's protocol is proprietary, and has never, to my knowledge, ever been released to the public. Who owns that now I have no idea.

But no, you can't listen to them at all, upgrades or not. Mike

Hi Mike.

Thank you very much for that info.

I always liked to tune them in when there was a big storm emergency, it was interesting listening.

Best Regards, Tim

If they're anything like DPL they talk more via computer now. Not a lot of radio chatter much anymore

Unfortunately, after one of the hurricanes (can't remember which one), people were doing just that and posting interesting stuff they heard on their system. The guys were pretty punch-drunk from all the hours they were out there putting stuff back together, and saying just about anything that was on their mind. Shortly afterward, they changed to a proprietary system.

Sorta like what police departments do when somebody overhears a filthy joke, a racist comment, etc.

pratzert said:

Hi Mike.

Thank you very much for that info.

I always liked to tune them in when there was a big storm emergency, it was interesting listening.

Best Regards, Tim

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Spleen said:

Unfortunately, after one of the hurricanes (can't remember which one), people were doing just that and posting interesting stuff they heard on their system. The guys were pretty punch-drunk from all the hours they were out there putting stuff back together, and saying just about anything that was on their mind. Shortly afterward, they changed to a proprietary system.

Sorta like what police departments do when somebody overhears a filthy joke, a racist comment, etc.

Click to expand...

Makes sense they wanted to keep things to themselves in that case.

emtLarmy15 said:

If they're anything like DPL they talk more via computer now. Not a lot of radio chatter much anymore

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It's true. I can't remember the last time I saw a BGE lineman (electric) use the radio handset. They make all their status changes and do all their trouble-reporting and grid researching via their Toughbooks.

Gas trouble man who arrives first on a legit leak will typically report back via radio for additional resources needed.

The iden handsets look just like the last version of the ruggedized Nextel handsets, except they have a solid duck antenna instead of a retractable one, and an orange emergency button. Makes sense since Nextel was an iden-based network.