Luz county to go dark?

[WB3DYE]

The ability for the public and media to listen to police scanner activity may come to an end or be drastically altered when Luzerne County implements a new 911 radio upgrade.
County officials plan to switch from a 20-year-old analog system to a digital one because equipment support for the radio transmitters and receivers that allow emergency responders to exchange messages will end December 2020

Goodbye to police scanner chatter? County radio upgrade could end public’s ability to listen | Times Leader

 

[E-542]

Kinda click-bait if you ask me there dude. They're just going digital, not going full Enc. Infact per the article:

he county would not encrypt its general 911 law enforcement channel because it is intended to provide general bulletins and information about disasters and other regional emergencies, he said.

Under the current plan, fire department channels won’t be encrypted because they generally don’t broadcast sensitive information, he said.

Rosencrans acknowledged scanner listening is a popular pastime for some area residents, and he does not expect many to invest in digital scanners, which cost hundreds of dollars for basic models without the “bells and whistles.”



So no, the county is not going to 'Go Dark'...

 

[One13Truck]

All the media outlets here have been hitting hard on the "possibly going dark theme". I actually kind of favor that terminology in this case and think it's fairly accurate. As far as I know (this IS Luzerne County so plans can change at any moment) the existing VHF paging channel will be kept for fire and EMS dispatching and I'm not sure if they will keep the rest of the existing conventional channels up at least initially and then drop them as the bugs are worked out with the new system. And there does sound like there will be minimal encryption but not major like Schuylkill did.

But the key point the media is pushing is that most people in the county have never had need for any of the scanners that can monitor P25 P2 systems and have older scanners. Technically when the switch is thrown and traffic goes onto the new system those scanners will mostly "go dark" for those people unless they buy new scanners.

Again this IS Luzerne County and a lot can change. They want the system up and running by the end of 2020 but so far have only made it as far as wasting our tax money hiring a consulting firm that of course told them exactly what they wanted to hear. The actual system that will be in place is still nothing but a dream as of right now. Once Luzerne County does what Luzerne County does best they will have it turned into a nightmare.