Athens-Clarke County digital migration

[SlipNutz15]

Is there anyone out there planning on doing a scanner feed for Fire side? I have a friend at dispatch down there and enjoy listening in.

As a dispatcher, LEO and scanner enthusiast I can see both sides of unencrypted vs encrypted. I enjoy listening to police incidents as much as the next guy but that added security of encryption so rubberneckers and the bad guys not knowing where LEOs are... I hold the safety of the LE community higher than a scanner listener's wish for entertainment any day. I know others would argue.

 

[MeddleMan]

That was fast

I was just listening this weekend. Went back over the road on the third. Guess I'll have to find a new use for that old trunk tracker, as well as all those other scanners.😢

 

[uga_scanner]

All ACC Public Safety is encrypted except PD East and PD West (the dispatch TGs). Clarke County FD is fully encrypted. Basically what we're still going to be able to get is public works and buses. On the UGA side, UGAPD is fully encrypted but UGA services (physical plant, network infrastructure, housing maintenance, library security, etc) aren't. UGA buses are mixed, some encrypted and some not.

Not sure about the event channels. I had heard that only one of the 3 was going to be clear.

Too bad about the FD going encrypted. I'd argue that their stuff is less sensitive than PD, so their dispatch should be clear if PD is.

I've heard Leaf and Limb, Streets, and The Lift (bus). I have heard no open public safety channels. As of yesterday afternoon they had not moved Fire over, but now I'm hearing nothing from the FD, so I don't know if they are not busy or they moved them over and encrypted them, but I have not been listening that much today, and was not listening during the normal radio check (8 AM).

I have not even heard the Clarke County jail, so they must have that encrypted too. You wouldn't want to have citizens hear them calling for a gate to be opened or a prisoner to be moved from one location in the jail to another.

I have heard Parking Services on the UGA side, but UGAPD is encrypted.

It is a shame because the reception of the new system is perfectly clear and much stronger than the old system. We'll see if the special event channels are in the clear (as someone posted earlier in the thread) this weekend since we have a home UGA football game.

By the way, they are using a combination of the frequencies from the 'old' UGA and ACC 800MHz systems (Phase 2 TDMA). 40+ years of listening to public safety gone in an instant...

 

[glideslope]

We're (county police) using the Motorola APX6000Li. Uniform Patrol has the base model, supervisors have the version with the DTMF keypad. I'm not totally sure if PD East/West are encrypted since I can't scan it but, they've informed us there is an encryption toggle key under the channel selector that we're supposed to keep in encrypted mode unless told otherwise.

Are you guys able to hear PD East/West with a capable scanner?

 

[SlipNutz15]

I never understood, if the TG is to be encrypted "most of the time", why give the chance of officers transmitting in the clear? I know the toggle switch is hard to "bump" but it's still an situation that can happen. Make it striped encryption and go from there.

 

[MTS2000des]

I'm not totally sure if PD East/West are encrypted since I can't scan it but, they've informed us there is an encryption toggle key under the channel selector that we're supposed to keep in encrypted mode unless told otherwise.

The photo you posted shows encryption enabled (the indicator with the circle with the line through it) means your encryption is active. Depending on programming, when you receive an encrypted call, your LED will flash orange.

BTW, no AES indicator next to the ENC icon=ADP encryption.

 

[glideslope]

The photo you posted shows encryption enabled (the indicator with the circle with the line through it) means your encryption is active. Depending on programming, when you receive an encrypted call, your LED will flash orange.

BTW, no AES indicator next to the ENC icon=ADP encryption.

The status LED doesn't illuminate at all when receiving a transmission. Only solid red when I transmit.

 

[MTS2000des]

The status LED doesn't illuminate at all when receiving a transmission. Only solid red when I transmit.

Most likely it was disabled by your radio programmer . I enable it on any radio I program so the user knows they are receiving a secure message.

 

[procopper7005]

If users are given the option to chose or not chose encryption the toggle switch is often accidentally turned off. I've worked for agencies where this occurred often. Half of a surveillance operation was in the clear and no one knew it.

Also some users will find that there is a slight delay when encryption is enabled and chose to turn it off for their own convienience.

In my opinion if an agency wants encryption it should not let line level user be able to turn it off and on.

 

[glideslope]

If users are given the option to chose or not chose encryption the toggle switch is often accidentally turned off. I've worked for agencies where this occurred often. Half of a surveillance operation was in the clear and no one knew it.

Also some users will find that there is a slight delay when encryption is enabled and chose to turn it off for their own convienience.

In my opinion if an agency wants encryption it should not let line level user be able to turn it off and on.

I don't disagree with you however, I think they allowed it for the sake of interoperability with agencies not on the new system.

With our new radio system we're able to communicate with multiple other agencies like UGA, GSP, OCSO, BCSO and even Walton County.