It happened the big E

[626hawkeye]

Well it's happened. Benton County, MO after switching to NXDN turned on encryption this morning as shift change took place. I was on the road dropping someone off when the switch happened as units were calling in then the dreaded busy sound on my TRX-1 on started. I'm told that fire is next to switch over and go encrypted. It's already caused issues between the sheriff's and highway patrol. I'm told when fire switches it will cause the same issues with fire and the volunteer fire fighters. I don't think this was a well thought out plan on the county side.

 

[hkrharry]

The First interop with a "non-E" dept will be an eye-opener, I hope no one gets hurt.

 

[626hawkeye]

The First interop with a "non-E" dept will be an eye-opener, I hope no one gets hurt.

Well seeing as Benton county is NXDN and High Patrol are P25 P1 trunked there's already one issue. Before county went encrypted they had a incident and they had to call one dispatch to the other by phone. The funny thing is county has access to the MOSWIN system that highway patrol is on but they don't use it. I have a feeling well see that with fire and volunteer fire and someone is going to get hurt or loss their life. I hope it doesn't come to that.

 

[mburge]

Scanner Marked off the Christmas List.

 

[mastr]

they had to call one dispatch to the other by phone

That is done regularly in some areas, really not a big deal. .

 

[LD723]

That is done regularly in some areas, really not a big deal. .

If it's sensitive info that does happen all the time which is fine but if it's to relay info said over the radio to another agency, huge waste of time. Time is crucial. Why a fire department is encrypting in general is beyond me like what are the flames going to do? Leave a scene of a structure fire cause they're listening in?🤣

 

[W0RS]

I might understand PD going encryption, but Fire!!! 🤔🤔

 

[fredva]

they had to call one dispatch to the other by phone.

If it's sensitive info that does happen all the time which is fine but if it's to relay info said over the radio to another agency, huge waste of time.

I agree there is a delay to go through dispatch but that's just how it's done in a lot of places. I can only speak to my own experience. But compared to when I first started listening to a scanner, it seems there is a lot more reliance on dispatch to pass info between agencies than there used to be. I think part of this is not just due to encryption but also due to different agencies migrating to different radio bands. If the only radio in your cruiser is VHF and the other agency is on 800 mhz, then you are probably telling your dispatcher to pass info.

 

[LD723]

I agree there is a delay to go through dispatch but that's just how it's done in a lot of places. I can only speak to my own experience. But compared to when I first started listening to a scanner, it seems there is a lot more reliance on dispatch to pass info between agencies than there used to be. I think part of this is not just due to encryption but also due to different agencies migrating to different radio bands. If the only radio in your cruiser is VHF and the other agency is on 800 mhz, then you are probably telling your dispatcher to pass info.

Many agencies now in my side of the state carry scanners in their cruisers/apparatus just for this very reason so they can copy direct works very well. Yesterday a neighboring agency in my area got into a pursuit did not notify surrounding agencies, local pd jumped right in when the suspect crossed town lines because they were listening on their uniden 996P2's they have installed in their cruisers so they were aware since the very beginning of the pursuit

 

[n3obl]

Fire is probably going E mainly to prevent streaming. Some agencies don't want their signals rebroadcasted.

 

[radionx]

I just took a look out of curiositiy... Benton County, MO has a pop. of about 20000.
Are there a lot of sensitive things happening?

 

[mburge]

Many agencies now in my side of the state carry scanners in their cruisers/apparatus just for this very reason so they can copy direct works very well. Yesterday a neighboring agency in my area got into a pursuit did not notify surrounding agencies, local pd jumped right in when the suspect crossed town lines because they were listening on their uniden 996P2's they have installed in their cruisers so they were aware since the very beginning of the pursuit

So how does that work if they are encrypted ? They have to rely on dispatch? thats if they can copy encryption...

 

[mgolden2]

So how does that work if they are encrypted ? They have to rely on dispatch? thats if they can copy encryption...

Its not hard. The encrypted officer tells his/her dispatcher what info they need relayed to the other agency, said dispatcher calls the other agency on the phone or on an unencrypted and shared radio channel or talk group, and passes on the information. That other dispatcher then relays the information to their officers.

Like someone above said: it happens all the time.

 

[mgolden2]

I might understand PD going encryption, but Fire!!! 🤔🤔

Unfortunatley, it happens. All firegound comms in Johnson County, KS, for example, are encrypted.

 

[mburge]

Unfortunatley, it happens. All firegound comms in Johnson County, KS, for example, are encrypted.

It's getting out of hand in my opinion...transparency issues ..

 

[mastr]

It's getting out of hand in my opinion...transparency issues ..

I'm not sure that "transparency" carries much weight at this point. Virtually everyone in the USA over the age of about 13 carries a cellular phone these days, which are for all practical purposes encrypted. It is not unreasonable for police, fire , EMS etc. to expect a similar level of privacy for their communications.

 

[mburge]

I'm not sure that "transparency" carries much weight these days. Virtually everyone in the USA over the age of about 13 carries a cellular phone these days, which are for all practical purposes encrypted. It is not unreasonable for police, fire , EMS etc. to expect a similar level of privacy for their communications.

after thought...sounds legit ..

 

[LD723]

So how does that work if they are encrypted ? They have to rely on dispatch? thats if they can copy encryption...

That's why agencies in my area choose not to encrypt lol overall it's just cheaper to listen to each other over the scanner and be in the clear for normal ops

 

[LD723]

Unfortunatley, it happens. All firegound comms in Johnson County, KS, for example, are encrypted.

If it's simplex and all mutual aid has keys fine. If the fireground ops goes through a conventional or trunked system good luck trying to hit the repeater from inside of a large commercial structure you have a better chance of reaching the command post through simplex than anything else lol unless you are in a major city with voters scattered everywhere. The fd's in my area who are on a trunked system use simplex analog for fireground not only because of mutual aid, but because it works better in most scenarios. They are patched to their P25 trunked too. If I'm screaming mayday over the radio the last thing any unit should be worried about is someone listening in😁

 

[engvan]

weii sorry it is going be everywhere a lot of pd are going this way and to the system operater i did start this