A tweet posted by the PIO just an hour before the chief's tweet implies they are still trying to remove the encryption:
Orange County CCCS P25 Update
- Thread starter allend
- Start date
A tweet posted by the PIO just an hour before the chief's tweet implies they are still trying to remove the encryption:
Are You Ready?
We still do not know when the fire talk groups will be un-encrypted. My sources are not providing any substantive information on the subject. If and when this happens, are you ready? In July, I was not!
During the past two months I have been tweaking my P25 scanners, using the few TG's that are in the clear. The Countywide Cell carries the majority of the fire traffic. It is also sometimes the most problematic cell to receive, primarily due to Smart Zone technology. In a 12x16' room I placed scanners in three different corners of the room. All scanners were programmed with identical TG's, but each scanner exhibited a different receive characteristics because of its location. P25 digital audio is not as easy to receive as analog FM. I experimented with the P25 Mode and Threshold settings with mixed results. I logged all the traffic using FreeScan because it includes RSSI. My testing indicated that the most critical element for good P25 reception is Signal Strength, and the location of the receiver affected the relative signal strength.
If you can reliably receive Animal Control (2500) and Park Rangers (2524) then you will most likely be able to hear the fire talk groups loud and clear. If not, you may have trouble receiving them.
We still do not know when the fire talk groups will be un-encrypted. My sources are not providing any substantive information on the subject. If and when this happens, are you ready? In July, I was not!
During the past two months I have been tweaking my P25 scanners, using the few TG's that are in the clear. The Countywide Cell carries the majority of the fire traffic. It is also sometimes the most problematic cell to receive, primarily due to Smart Zone technology. In a 12x16' room I placed scanners in three different corners of the room. All scanners were programmed with identical TG's, but each scanner exhibited a different receive characteristics because of its location. P25 digital audio is not as easy to receive as analog FM. I experimented with the P25 Mode and Threshold settings with mixed results. I logged all the traffic using FreeScan because it includes RSSI. My testing indicated that the most critical element for good P25 reception is Signal Strength, and the location of the receiver affected the relative signal strength.
If you can reliably receive Animal Control (2500) and Park Rangers (2524) then you will most likely be able to hear the fire talk groups loud and clear. If not, you may have trouble receiving them.
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Other than the 2 TG's that you listed, which others are in the clear?
Thx John
| *****AIRCALL***** | 421 |
| 9-A TAN-CALL | 391 |
| 9-C TAN-SOUTH | 395 |
| DSP-DSP | 1700 |
| ANIMAL CONTROL | 2500 |
| SHERIFFS TRANSIT-1 | 2580 |
| SILVER-1 PARK RANGERS | 2524 |
| SILVER-2 PARK RANGERS | 2600 |
| HOC-HOC | 1710 |
Also, Laguna Beach Transit on 2490
To add to the list
All of the Zone 9 channels should be clear
All of the PINK channels should be clear
All of Public Works
And all of Lifeguards are in the clear
All of the Zone 9 channels should be clear
All of the PINK channels should be clear
All of Public Works
And all of Lifeguards are in the clear
As note in the posts there are several. However, only a few of the in-the-clear countywide talk groups have a significant amount of traffic. Those listed by allend are fairly active. In addition Laguna Beach Life Guards (2952).
The TAN talk groups 9B & 9C are occasionally used for special events and TAN CALL (9A) has occasional traffic. If you use the SEARCH mode on our scanner you will find others. You will also be able to view the encrypted TGs but your scanner will not decode the audio. An interesting (and time killing) exercise is to watch the scanner display and note the ratio of encrypted to non-encrypted talk groups. You'll fine it's about 9 to 1 in favor of encrypted. Begs the question: Does the County really have this many things it wants to keep secret?
As to the FIRE side of The County there is nothing to keep secret. Hopefully streaming these feeds officially is not going to be the final decision.
Just heard T.G. 1700 on OCFA-P25 !! Maybe that was one of the clear channels before & I missed that posting. If not, another one in the clear !
John
John
Yeah, that's DSP-DSP and is already confirmed as being in the clear, which is a good thing.
We are in the latter part of September and no substantial changes. Looking less positive to me. OC Fire was one of my main interests.
Well there has been no more announcements from any of the area Fire Chiefs from OC at all. So who really knows. I do know that all of the FIRE radios had to be re-programmed manually. Most likely its taking longer than usual. If and when the radios go back to being in the clear its going to be a whole switch over like the day when the airwaves went silent almost 90 days ago.
Take this with a grain of salt or not that the talks are switching back over within the first or second week of October of this year. All we can hope is that when the tweet went out that it was going to be 60 days that they under estimated how long it was really going to take. Keep in mind that OC did not have in place OTAP or OTAR. These features were going to be added and upgraded over the next couple of years as the back end upgrade process was going to happen.
OCSD and OCFA radio comms should of migrated the right way and had OTAR and OTAP in place before the P25 uprade occured a few months ago. This is what happens when you do not have the right talent working and planning technology correctly. Even if the system was pushed back 1 year to get the right tools in place before switching over then all of this could of been done on the fly with over the air programming and over the air re keying. Statewide systems already have this in place
Take this with a grain of salt or not that the talks are switching back over within the first or second week of October of this year. All we can hope is that when the tweet went out that it was going to be 60 days that they under estimated how long it was really going to take. Keep in mind that OC did not have in place OTAP or OTAR. These features were going to be added and upgraded over the next couple of years as the back end upgrade process was going to happen.
OCSD and OCFA radio comms should of migrated the right way and had OTAR and OTAP in place before the P25 uprade occured a few months ago. This is what happens when you do not have the right talent working and planning technology correctly. Even if the system was pushed back 1 year to get the right tools in place before switching over then all of this could of been done on the fly with over the air programming and over the air re keying. Statewide systems already have this in place
Back in the late 90's when the OC was combining their radio systems with law enforcement, I worked for one of the radio companies that was working with three other companies to accomplish this. Our company was in charge of reprogramming the fire radios. We had one tech doing all the radios one at a time in the entire county. This took more than six months to do. Working 8 to 5, five days a week. There were delays with units on calls or training, ect.
Also our tech was assigned locations in a random order for each day to work, with travel time it eat up most of the day just driving to each location.
The fact it is taking this long does not surprise me as they are most likely very disorganized with the reversal decision.
Give it some time, it will happen.
Also our tech was assigned locations in a random order for each day to work, with travel time it eat up most of the day just driving to each location.
The fact it is taking this long does not surprise me as they are most likely very disorganized with the reversal decision.
Give it some time, it will happen.
You would figure 30 yrs later agencies would have more organization with their technology but "that's government" for you.
Plus, they tend not to allow good talent to come to the table and do it right. Spend the money and follow best practices from the experts
"Motorola"
Plus, they tend not to allow good talent to come to the table and do it right. Spend the money and follow best practices from the experts
"Motorola"
I would think it would be easier to just program at set at HQ, then just go to a station, swap all of them and then take the “old” radio back to HQ, program those and repeat station by station.
Also, every pacset is tagged/engraved as the asset of the agency that paid for it, i.e. StationID-asset# or (18-1000001).
Not sure of this was ever posted, but I came across it anyways...
That info & screenshots was posted in July, 27, 2017
Link:
Link:
Ever lend money to a relative, money never paid back, ask about it, relative says will pay it back, but years later never received money? Sounds like we're getting the same response regarding when OC Fire encryption will be reversed. I'm not expecting payment anytime soon, if at all.
