Bridgeport PD Encryption

[Cskib32087]

All week 154.8225 & 155.625 have been alive with alot of encrypted comms
On Bridgeport CH-1 all week at diffrent times they have been telling cars to go to
patrol to get the portables reprogrammed.
Yesterday 10 or more times I herd radio repair asking what ID a radio is showing.
Today I went by the EOC and 2 Northeastern Communications trucks were in the parking lot.
It looks like the digital encrypted switch over might be comming soon..One cop I know said September..We will see
He also said they will be using a new digital channel for the VIbes concert at the end of the month

 

[bluefox2163]

why dont you go ask the bridgeport police chief if he could take the pd off enc,be sure to say please with a cherry on top

 

[georged4997]

cskib32087

thanks for posting the information on the bridgeport police. i retired from bridgeport 8yrs ago
and still interested in the fire and police depts. even though i moved from the city, i still
travel that way once in a while. please keep us updated.

 

[48alfaone]

All i can say is enjoy the listening while you still can!! Because when its gone, its gone for good by by! And man it suck's!! We lost the Police & EMS channels where i am, soon to go is our Fire channels as well! (Vancouver B.C. Canada). Thank God for the internet & sites like this! :-(

 

[SKYNET156]

All i can say is enjoy the listening while you still can!! Because when its gone, its gone for good by by! And man it suck's!! We lost the Police & EMS channels where i am, soon to go is our Fire channels as well! (Vancouver B.C. Canada). Thank God for the internet & sites like this! :-(

That's not entirely true, Wolcott PD started their digital conventional out with full time encryption, and less than a year later they switched it off i heard, or had plans on switching off full time encryption,

I've seen towns like milford, Ct use dispatch clear and units encrypted, i never got why they did that, the FPS (federal) does the same thing, but there are times here in brooklyn when i catch them in the clear,
but encryption keys get lost sometimes, field units flip the switch by accident, encryption cuts down range, and alot of reasons they may dump it, i'm not saying that they will, but it is a great possibility,
I grew up in CT, and i always wondered why new haven never went P25 or Analog Encrypted, but every town has their reasons, but we shall see what the future holds for BPT.

 

[48alfaone]

From what your saying there may be some hope, who knows? But here in Vancouver BC the police & ems have been gone 100% for almost 7 years now. It sucks!

 

[SKYNET156]

I can't say that is something that WILL happen, but you never know what route an agency will go, after a year or 2 the officers and users might start complaining about coverage or inter-op or whatever their reason may be, but it is not something that is likely to happen, it could, iv'e seen it happen, but in the case of BPT, it is prob less likely to happen, just keep your ears out on their freq, keep it in your scanners and take the delay off and store it in the back of the bank, maybe one day things will get crazy and the keys get dropped...

 

[Cskib32087]

Back in the 90s analog encryption cut down on range because it went from analog to digital to encrypt then back to analog. But now days with P25 their is no range change or different audio with encryption. Bridgeport uses ADP they will never see any difference in encrypted Vs. non encrypted as its all digital and its just one’s and zeros.
You can tell that some of the cops trying to bash the new system found something from the 90s online because they are saying the encryption is making it hard to hear, but when they were saying this they were on a clear channel with no encryption LOL

They are talking about using the special events chanel this wekend for the vibes concert so ill be looking for that

 

[MrAntiDigital]

Back in the early 60s my first Bridgeport Police Radio was a tube job with only one channel. It was 39.10 mhz also shared with the Waterbury Police. We lived in the East end. Our sector car was "Car 211". Also out of the second precient was Cars 208, 209, 210, and 212. The 1st pct cars were Cars 111, 112, 113, 114, and 118. The 3rd pct had cars 311, 312, 313, and 314. It was Great listening back then. The police cars were painted Black and Green. Later they were painted White and Green.
Then came tunable radios with one crystal. They were even better. The Bridgeport Police at some point had changed frequencies to 154.725 and 155.43. The city was split in half and scanners with 4 to 8 crystals had made it as the way to go. .Now we could listen to Bpt Police and other Emergency services in the area. Later 154.725 became the main dispatch channel, and 155.43 became channel 2 for motor vehicle info. Also 154.10 mhz was used for car to car talk around. Programmable scanners made listening even easier. we would now listen to the Amber, Blue, Green and Red Sector cars. Later the Red Sector cars were eliminated. Technology had given the scanner buffs everything they needed. Mobile, small portables, and desk top scanners. It was a great hobby following the action. Those members of the Bpt Police sure earned their pay.
Now with the digital Encryption for the Bpt P.D. the days of listeing are over. I'll sure miss listening to the Bpt PD. A very exciting city to follow the action in. Its over now..

 

[ansky]

Bristol PD went to digital and encrypted many years ago. As far as I know the encryption is still on.

 

[georged4997]

heard bpt p.d on rt 395 near mooseup 8a.m this morning loud and clear calling car blue 11 or
blue 14 on 154.725

 

[Cskib32087]

155.8425 PL 192.8 today I caught (I record all the freqs)
"53 to 38 on Fireground 4 your comning in loud and clear at the end of seaside park"
"roger go to digital"
On the same freq in digital NAC 505
"How do you copy now....Your loud and clear. Ok I think we are all set for this weekend and officer rayes is happy with it"
Then on 154.725 107.2 analog a radio test from seaside park and secons later 154.725 NAC 501 encrypted another transmition, Im thinking a test in digital encrypted from the same place.

Twice during the day DC 4 came on doing radio tests on 154.725 107.2 analog and radio service tested a few times on 155.430 and 154.725 then some digital encrypted comms on the same channels

 

[georged4997]

thanks for the information on bridgeport. they just might be using those frequencies for
the funerals for the two firefighters that got killed. one for the public on the 29th and the
other just for firefighters on the 30th.

 

[Cskib32087]

Im now told that 155.8425 is Fireground 4/ Special Events channel. Fireground 4 is analog and special events is digital
Its being used for the Vibes Music Fest being held in seaside park this weekend.
They are expecting over 20,000 people
On the Vibes note they are operating on an LTR UHF trunking system

 

[TrenchFeeder]

You know what I notice? Ussually PD's that go encrypted, are in low crime areas, departments that have the extra money that they don't need to spend to actually keep the streets safe. All these departments are doing is ruining it for departments that use encryption intelligently instead of a blackout of all comms.

When prohibition came along, people got by, the same will happen with encryption. The more and more departments go encrypted the more publicly available and cheaper the equipment and software to decrypt the radios will be.

I have said this time and again at town meetings where the issue was brought up, and time and again, they refuse to listen. I even came in and did a demo with my own personal hand held how quickly I could program their radios and even decrypt them with free software off the internet and a 30 dollar interface cable. Needless to say they were not thrilled with my skills

 

[radioman2001]

I assume you mean decoding digital. Encryption is a bit harder, in the order of weeks to hard break a key. BTW also illegal.

 

[Cskib32087]

You know what I notice? Ussually PD's that go encrypted, are in low crime areas, departments that have the extra money that they don't need to spend to actually keep the streets safe. All these departments are doing is ruining it for departments that use encryption intelligently instead of a blackout of all comms.

When prohibition came along, people got by, the same will happen with encryption. The more and more departments go encrypted the more publicly available and cheaper the equipment and software to decrypt the radios will be.

I have said this time and again at town meetings where the issue was brought up, and time and again, they refuse to listen. I even came in and did a demo with my own personal hand held how quickly I could program their radios and even decrypt them with free software off the internet and a 30 dollar interface cable. Needless to say they were not thrilled with my skills

Come on down and go infront of our town and show them how you can decrypt the encryption. This should be fun. After jail you can show us again LMAO
Better yet let me know where you did this infront of people, im sure the FBI would like to meet you and people who saw you do it.

 

[PJH]

Motorola is throwing in ADP enc at very little cost these days. I've seen the option on contract orders at under $50 a unit. This is a far cry below modules that require the hardware at over $400 each for DVP/DES/AES.

ADP will ONLY work in the digital mode.

As far as officers "forgetting to flip the switch" that might be true, that might not be. Motorola radios can be programmed to be field selectible or preprogrammed to ONLY work in secure mode on a channel by channel basis.

Also these days, your seeing (with radios since the ASTRO Spectra) that more agencies are using the option for "infinate key retention" so that should there be power loss etc, you do not need to reload the key in the radio like you had to in the pre-ASTRO days (where if the radio was disconnected or battery removed in portables you had to reload the key each time).

 

[pro106import]

Im now told that 155.8425 is Fireground 4/ Special Events channel. Fireground 4 is analog and special events is digital
Its being used for the Vibes Music Fest being held in seaside park this weekend.
They are expecting over 20,000 people
On the Vibes note they are operating on an LTR UHF trunking system

Any additional info on the LTR system freqs for the Vibes?
I guess they won't be using the BearComm conventional repeaters this year then.
Bob

 

[radioman2001]

The is no security in encryption, only a false sense of security especially with options as listed in the above responses (infinite Key retention). That makes for an easier key break. OPSEC is the use of secure transmissions knowing well that the security may already been compromised. This is mearly the next technological step, but with today's computers, DES a 56 bit key can be broken in as little as 40 hours. Basic ADP I believe is no better than DES, and I doubt you are going to get ADP AES for $50.00. There is a lot of information out on the internet on how to hard break keys, and I suspect that in the near future you will see a story on some one who broke their key and used it in some criminal activity. Then you will see the S__T fly.