Austin going encrypted April 22

[garys]

Not to beat a dead horse or anything, but APD released their five year strategic plan Friday. One of the goals is more transparency. Which would seem to be at odds with radio encryption.

Here's a link to the plan for those interested.

The Austin Police Department Shares New Five-Year Strategic Plan | AustinTexas.gov

www.austintexas.gov

 

[ninjabonez]

did anybody listen to the UT protests??

not getting into the politics of it --
but over the radio,
it sounded like total chaos on both sides.


but it didnt sound like there were any issues about Scanners during the UT protests with DPS, TCSO, or UT-PD.
or not that i heard any.

did anybody else hear anything???


so why does APD have so many issues?
oh, wait... they dont.
it was just That One Time At Band Camp... lol

 

[mmckenna]

did anybody listen to the UT protests??

I'm not currently in Texas, so, no. But I have dealt with this at other locations.

or not that i heard any.

More than likely.

Having dealt with this in the past, scanners/streaming the radio traffic to protestors have given them the information they need to avoid whatever the police were planning. It wasn't until officers switched to their cell phones that they were able to get the upper hand.

You are not hearing everything on a scanner.

 

[garys]

Which is why encryption gives a false sense of security.

Every officer I know, and that's a good number, has two phones. One for work and another for personal use. The work phone is discoverable in legal proceedings which is why they don't use it for personal calls.

More than likely.

Having dealt with this in the past, scanners/streaming the radio traffic to protestors have given them the information they need to avoid whatever the police were planning. It wasn't until officers switched to their cell phones that they were able to get the upper hand.

You are not hearing everything on a scanner.

 

[Russell]

FirstNet is also a good place to hide from prying ears.

 

[garys]

MDTs, internet, cell phones, etc... Younger officers are very adept at all of that sort of thing.

FirstNet is also a good place to hide from prying ears.

 

[Project25_MASTR]

did anybody listen to the UT protests??

not getting into the politics of it --
but over the radio,
it sounded like total chaos on both sides.


but it didnt sound like there were any issues about Scanners during the UT protests with DPS, TCSO, or UT-PD.
or not that i heard any.

did anybody else hear anything???


so why does APD have so many issues?
oh, wait... they dont.
it was just That One Time At Band Camp... lol

If I remember correctly, the migration to encryption was started by John T. Protestor with syskeygen.exe, CPS and a copy of a particular NWA song about some thoughts about the boys in blue from the City of Compton. I'm sure you could FOI the logged recordings of the event if someone doesn't have them archived on here.

 

[rattlerbb01]

If I remember correctly, the migration to encryption was started by John T. Protestor with syskeygen.exe, CPS and a copy of a particular NWA song about some thoughts about the boys in blue from the City of Compton. I'm sure you could FOI the logged recordings of the event if someone doesn't have them archived on here.

Isn’t this something that Link Layer Authentication is supposed to solve? If the goal is keeping people off of the system, that should do it. If the goal is to lock the public out of monitoring, it would seem they achieved that.

 

[KevinC]

Isn’t this something that Link Layer Authentication is supposed to solve? If the goal is keeping people off of the system, that should do it. If the goal is to lock the public out of monitoring, it would seem they achieved that.

Last time I checked 13E didn't have LLA.

 

[Project25_MASTR]

Isn’t this something that Link Layer Authentication is supposed to solve? If the goal is keeping people off of the system, that should do it. If the goal is to lock the public out of monitoring, it would seem they achieved that.

Theoretically, yes but pushing LLA affects all users of the system...from Texarkana to Starr and potentially obsoletes radios that some of the more poorly funded areas just can't afford to replace thus pushing them off the system (loss of revenue). Pushing encryption locally, is a bandaid but it at least makes it more difficult for an interferer to quickly track users across the system or know exactly who/what they may be interfering with (especially when you get into special events groups and other specialty groups that are effectively multi-use).

 

[Ensnared]

Well, I guess it is time to search federal frequencies, LOL.

In the recent past, I vowed I would only go to Austin for one reason, "Precision Camera."

Otherwise, I am crossing this city off of my list. I prefer live music in Dallas, Deep Ellum or H-town any day of the week.

Screw Austin.

 

[rattlerbb01]

Last time I checked 13E didn't have LLA.

I didn’t think it did yet since it’s a relatively new feature, and 13E hasn’t even forayed into TDMA yet. But it could be a way for agencies to beef up their system security without locking everyone out of monitoring. I know they aren’t ready to spend the multi millions it will take to get everyone new radios yet.

 

[KevinC]

I didn’t think it did yet since it’s a relatively new feature, and 13E hasn’t even forayed into TDMA yet. But it could be a way for agencies to beef up their system security without locking everyone out of monitoring. I know they aren’t ready to spend the multi millions it will take to get everyone new radios yet.

New is a relative word, 1A7 has had it for 10+ years.

 

[rattlerbb01]

New is a relative word, 1A7 has had it for 10+ years.

TDMA or LLA?

 

[KevinC]

TDMA or LLA?

Both.

 

[Project25_MASTR]

I didn’t think it did yet since it’s a relatively new feature, and 13E hasn’t even forayed into TDMA yet. But it could be a way for agencies to beef up their system security without locking everyone out of monitoring. I know they aren’t ready to spend the multi millions it will take to get everyone new radios yet.

It's been being advertised in the bandplan for at least 6 months now for either 700 or 800 MHz. I've heard there are several upcoming projects that may push TDMA to some of the VHF sites but nothing really confirmed.

Austin/Travis county and Williamson county haven't really had a need to go to TDMA. Induces cost and doesn't provide any benefit.

 

[KevinC]

It's been being advertised in the bandplan for at least 6 months now for either 700 or 800 MHz. I've heard there are several upcoming projects that may push TDMA to some of the VHF sites but nothing really confirmed.

Austin/Travis county and Williamson county haven't really had a need to go to TDMA. Induces cost and doesn't provide any benefit.

It's been there since sometime in 2020.

 

[rattlerbb01]

It's been being advertised in the bandplan for at least 6 months now for either 700 or 800 MHz. I've heard there are several upcoming projects that may push TDMA to some of the VHF sites but nothing really confirmed.

Austin/Travis county and Williamson county haven't really had a need to go to TDMA. Induces cost and doesn't provide any benefit.

Yeah I've seen the TDMA bandplan for a few years now on the GATRRS sites all over being advertised, just have yet to actually see a "-1" or "-2" come across the DSD screen. Truly didn't know that LLA had been around so long on TxWARN. Seems like just last year we were freaking out over LLA and LLE when the literature was public from APCO. LLA is good, LLE can kiss my grits

 

[Project25_MASTR]

Yeah I've seen the TDMA bandplan for a few years now on the GATRRS sites all over being advertised, just have yet to actually see a "-1" or "-2" come across the DSD screen. Truly didn't know that LLA had been around so long on TxWARN. Seems like just last year we were freaking out over LLA and LLE when the literature was public from APCO. LLA is good, LLE can kiss my grits

To the best of my knowledge, no one is currently using TDMA on GATRRS in CAPCOG. The only sites that may be using it are Texarkana and maybe Bowie. I was actually pretty surprised that Comal county went live with Phase 1 only. I think we would most likely see heavy adoption of Phase 2 in VHF compared to 7/800 MHz for GATRRS especially as frequencies become more difficult to license in VHF.

 

[BigDReynolds]

Does this include Austin ISD police frequencies?