Fredericksburg PD Dispatch Freq

[KT4HX]

What's up with the Fburg PD dispatch freq of 154.725 (CT 131.8)? Noticed today that they are garbled while I was out mobile and also at home. This is on both Uniden and GRE made scanners. Are they experimenting with something like voice inversion or have they shifted their freq slightly? Appreciate someone else checking them to see if they are getting them clear or not. The remainder of the Fburg channels seem as normal.

[cj57548]

I noticed it yesterday (02/17) also. Didn't sound garbled, I could understand what they were saying fine. It had a "tin can" sound like Culpeper's trunked system has on the SIRS patch sometimes. Haven't heard them at all today.

EA

[dhmann1811]

Alan,
I'm monitoring Fred PD right now (2015 hours) and I am experiencing the same garbled transmissions as well on my PSR-500. I'm not sure what the issue is.
David

[fredva]

I'm hearing the same issue. It's so bad I can't understand what they are saying.

[TJMeredith]

I dare fear they have started encrypted their transmissions.....Not good.....

Tom M sends

[dtscho]

Definitely sounds like voice inversion. In listening yesterday and today, I only heard one unit (109) who was not using the voice inversion.

I totally disagree with using inversion on the primary dispatch channel. On the secondary channels, fine. But I think the public has the right to listen to the routine day-to-day dispatch operations. Not to mention that the public may assist the police on occasion.

Dave

[lisa52077]

I am having the same problem. I thought they had gone to digital so I went and bought a very expensive digital scanner and it did not fix the problem. Is there any technology that overrides voice inversion?

[fredva]

They already bought MDTs (computer terminals) for the dispatcher to pass along info that they don't want to put over the air. Why do they need voice inversion too? I agree with dtscho - there is no reason to hide most of their transmissions from the public.

[KT4HX]

And thats the thing, they aren't using it on secondary PD channels. I find it interesting that this is happening. I only wonder if they have had some instances of criminals using scanners? Guess we will have to watch and see if they start using it on additional channels in time.

Originally Posted by dtscho

Definitely sounds like voice inversion. In listening yesterday and today, I only heard one unit (109) who was not using the voice inversion.

I totally disagree with using inversion on the primary dispatch channel. On the secondary channels, fine. But I think the public has the right to listen to the routine day-to-day dispatch operations. Not to mention that the public may assist the police on occasion.

Dave

[cj57548]

Not 5 min. after I hit submit on my post about them only sounding tinny, Fredericksburg PD came in loud and garbled.

Doesn't sound real high tech though.

Some kind of multi-frequency spread-spectrum quasi-digital puedo-analog satellite radio thingy would be much better.

EA

[mike_s104]

Ramsey Electronics

[kfowler1]

I just listened to Fredericksburg. It is really a shame. I am loosing things to listen too.

[MHunter]

I went to the web site for the Fredericksburg Police department and found the e-mail address for the Public Information Officer/Media Relations person . We should send her e-mail and ask her why the department has "scrambled" the main dispatch freq. It's funny that the State Police, The counties of Stafford, Spotsylvania, Caroline and King George broadcast in the clear but the city of Fredericksburg has come to the coclusion that it's not good enough for them.

PIO/Media Relations
Natatia L. Bledsoe
NBledsoe@pd.fredericksburgva.gov

[kfowler1]

Originally Posted by MHunter

I went to the web site for the Fredericksburg Police department and found the e-mail address for the Public Information Officer/Media Relations person . We should send her e-mail and ask her why the department has "scrambled" the main dispatch freq. It's funny that the State Police, The counties of Stafford, Spotsylvania, Caroline and King George broadcast in the clear but the city of Fredericksburg has come to the coclusion that it's not good enough for them.

PIO/Media Relations
Natatia L. Bledsoe
NBledsoe@pd.fredericksburgva.gov

I tried that email and got an error message. I sent an email to the chief and he replied:

Mr. Fowler, thank you for your e-mail.



We scrambled the signal in order for the officers to more safely and efficiently do their jobs.

[cj57548]

Does anyone in the F'burg area know of the PD actually having a problem with their broadcasts being monitored by the bad guys? Not a "they might be doing it" but an actual event?

Or have they fallen for a sales pitch at taxpayer expense? One sad fact of post-9/11 America is that there is a glut of security "experts" all ready to sell you something "to improve officer safety". Because "someone might be listening".

I am all in favor of LEO safety. I am very suspicious of an agency that feels they need to hide routine comms from the public.

Y'all did say the secondary channels are still in the clear? Sounds backwards to me. You dispatch in the clear. You use good radio discipline on the dispatch channel. You take sensitive transmissions to a secure channel or call the officer on his cell phone.

EA

[W4UVV]

Originally Posted by cj57548

Does anyone in the F'burg area know of the PD actually having a problem with their broadcasts being monitored by the bad guys? Not a "they might be doing it" but an actual event?

Or have they fallen for a sales pitch at taxpayer expense? One sad fact of post-9/11 America is that there is a glut of security "experts" all ready to sell you something "to improve officer safety". Because "someone might be listening".

I am all in favor of LEO safety. I am very suspicious of an agency that feels they need to hide routine comms from the public.

Y'all did say the secondary channels are still in the clear? Sounds backwards to me. You dispatch in the clear. You use good radio discipline on the dispatch channel. You take sensitive transmissions to a secure channel or call the officer on his cell phone.

EA

Helllo...read mike_s104's post.

[jcooke]

I belive the Fredericksburg PD scambled their radio traffic so the general public won't know that about 4 to 6 of the Fredericksburg PD cars are at Chick-A-Fla in Central Park each moring at 7:30 AM.

[fireradio]

As a former resident of Fredericksburg, all I can say is that this news is pretty lame. I also want to know if they provided the college (Mary Washington) with encryption capabilities (since the college also has F'burg PD in their radios). What about incoming mutual aid from Stafford and Spotsy?

Encryption on a primary ops channel is generally more of a safety hazard than a solution.

I also can't decide if it is a good thing or a bad thing that they went on the cheap and obviously went with some sort of voice-inversion add-on board.

If I were a Fredericksburg resident, I'd be complaining at the next town council meeting(s).

[mike_s104]

Originally Posted by W4UVV

Helllo...read mike_s104's post.

I keep that item on hand...never know when you might need it. :-)

[KT4HX]

I doubt that the PD will change their minds because of a few emails. The general public could care less if they encrypt or do not encrypt, as they aren't trying to tune them in anyway. In fact, I would venture to say that the majority of citizens would accept the standard line of officer security and see it as a good thing.

Regarding the Ramsey unit, the below is from another thread, which might be of interest:

I have extensively tested the Ramsey SS-70 against numerous analog scrambling techniques and here are the results:
Ramsey unit vs.:
Fixed Voice Inversion: Busted (obvious)
Splitband: Busted
Transcrypt 410 (hops once p/sec.): Busted
Midian TVS-2 (std. mode 6-12 hops p/sec): Busted
Midian TVS-2 (adv. mode 13-25 hops p/sec): Was able to get strings of words
Transcrypt 430 (hops 250 times p/sec): Basically useless against this scrambling
MX-COM VSB rolling split band: Utterly impossible to get a word
Transcrypt 460 (650+ hops p/sec): Forget about it, too secure
Marconi MASC: Not a word , too secure
Transcrypt DES: Not a word, too secure

Conclusion: For the price the SS-70 is worth it!

The full thread is here: http://www.radioreference.com/forums...mci-works.html