Bucks county encryption

[bcooper8441]

As of right now there have been times when i hear one of the dispatchers talk on encryption one Zone 2 and Zone 1 while the officers are in the clear. From what i have been told by a good friend of mine some dispatchers will encrypt there transmission if there is a serious call they don’t want to to be heard by everyone with a scanner or apx. As far as full encryption of the system goes, they have no intentions of doing so mostly due to the fact FD and EMS along with FP have protested that they will not be able to communicate with PD because all Bucks County Fire and Ems radios do not have the AES256 encryption installed in them,while some could argue a tac channel could be used most of them take a while to find it even though the layout of the zones in the apx radios are the same from when they had the xts radios, minus some of the old channels no longer being a part of the system obviously

 

[trentbob]

As of right now there have been times when i hear one of the dispatchers talk on encryption one Zone 2 and Zone 1 while the officers are in the clear. From what i have been told by a good friend of mine some dispatchers will encrypt there transmission if there is a serious call they don’t want to to be heard by everyone with a scanner or apx. As far as full encryption of the system goes, they have no intentions of doing so mostly due to the fact FD and EMS along with FP have protested that they will not be able to communicate with PD because all Bucks County Fire and Ems radios do not have the AES256 encryption installed in them,while some could argue a tac channel could be used most of them take a while to find it even though the la7yout of the zones in the apx radios are the same from when they had the xts radios, minus some of the old channels no longer being a part of the system obviously

Yeah thanks for the information, you might want to read the thread as we've covered all that. They don't encrypt tac channels. Each Zone has an Ops Channel that is full-time encryption they can switch to anytime they want which is different than County Wide tactical channels.

So Brandon, did you ever get that Kenwood on the network?

 

[bcooper8441]

Yeah thanks for the information, you might want to read the thread as we've covered all that. They don't encrypt tac channels. Each Zone has an Ops Channel that is full-time encryption they can switch to anytime they want which is different than County Wide tactical channels.

So Brandon, did you ever get that Kenwood on the network?

When i replied i saw page 4 at first my bad,and Unfortunately no but Licom in Bristol had a couple EFJohnson radios programmed for bucks, and currently have a g4 and apx7000. I want to touch on one topic discussed here and say when i was talking to an officer in Bensalem he had no idea how to switch his mobile or portable to PD DIR-1 which is on the same bank used for pd zones,while bank B is used for TAC 1-5 and a few other channels

 

[phillydjdan]

Scary, isn't it? They can fire deadly weapons but can't switch a radio channel. Shows you how good thier training officer is...

 

[trentbob]

That's what I meant about user confusion LOL. By the way Dan, I can change zones on my apx without looking too.

I thought I would resurrect this from the past LOL.

 

[phillydjdan]

I felt like beating a dead horse lol

 

[phillydjdan]

One more comment then I'll jump off my soap box lol...

It's quite interesting that Bensalem cops can't switch channels or zones... But conveniently found the switch that turns E on and off. Hmmmm.....

 

[trentbob]

One more comment then I'll jump off my soap box lol...

It's quite interesting that Bensalem cops can't switch channels or zones... But conveniently found the switch that turns E on and off. Hmmmm.....

Yes, they are permitted to switch on encryption if they have a sensitive transmission and just for the sensitive transmission but you'll notice a lot will just switch encryption on full-time on their portable. I've noticed that it's being done in Bensalem and Middletown more often.

The dispatcher is supposed to remind them that the radio was left on encryption but I noticed they only ask once. It is a slippery slope. I noticed last night that dispatcher and cars went encryptid on Zone 3, I believe it was warrant service with Sheriff and Middletown. They did resume normal Transmissions later.

No problem stirring the pot Dan, at least we are right on topic.

 

[phillydjdan]

This time lol

 

[tmnewman]

All police comms in Bucks County radio system now appear to be encrypted starting with late last week's issues.
Hearing nothing but "garble" on my Home Patrol-II in all zones.

 

[phillydjdan]

It's a temporary condition due to the unrest in the area.

 

[bill31089]

All police comms in Bucks County radio system now appear to be encrypted starting with late last week's issues.
Hearing nothing but "garble" on my Home Patrol-II in all zones.

according to an officer that I am friends with it is only temporary will the last one more maybe two more weeks

 

[tmnewman]

Thanks, hope so. Fire and EMS still appears to be in the clear.

 

[trentbob]

I will Echo and support what has been said here... It is supposedly a temporary situation that will return to normal secondary to threats made on police.

It sounds like a lot of social media nonsense out there and there was an article on it in Levittown now website.

Of all times not to be able to hear the police in Bristol, this is most annoying. I feel very uncomfortable not knowing what is going on in my immediate surrounding area. Very disconcerting.

I've been monitoring all fire South and fire East TGs and EMS South and Hospital band. I would also recommend scanning Tac 1 through Tac 5 which are in the clear and somewhat active.

 

[bill31089]

I will Echo and support what has been said here... It is supposedly a temporary situation that will return to normal secondary to threats made on police.

It sounds like a lot of social media nonsense out there and there was an article on it in Levittown now website.

Of all times not to be able to hear the police in Bristol, this is most annoying. I feel very uncomfortable not knowing what is going on in my immediate surrounding area. Very disconcerting.

I've been monitoring all fire South and fire East TGs and EMS South and Hospital band. I would also recommend scanning Tac 1 through Tac 5 which are in the clear and somewhat active.

I feel the same way I usually listen every day and now I'm stuck listening to philly and south fire and EMS I'm going crazy

 

[darkness975]

@trentbob I agree. I heard several times throughout the last few days where sections of the major highways in my state were shut down due to people blocking the road. I was glad to know since if I had to rely on the news telling me about it 4 hours later it would be little use if I was driving during that time.

 

[trentbob]

@trentbob I agree. I heard several times throughout the last few days where sections of the major highways in my state were shut down due to people blocking the road. I was glad to know since if I had to rely on the news telling me about it 4 hours later it would be little use if I was driving during that time.

Precisely, we have also had threats of certain overpasses where criminal protesters are tossing bricks into highway traffic off of the overpasses. Our bridges to New Jersey across from Trenton were blocked by police on the Pennsylvania side. Trenton is pretty well trashed so an effort was made to prevent that from moving over to Pennsylvania suburbs.

The main road I live on is relatively safe but I am somewhat close to a neighborhood that is a high crime area involving a lot of gang activity. There has been an increase in the last year of drive-by shootings and gunfire in general. Unfortunately the road I live on is a very convenient route for the bad actors to escape on whether it be in a car or on foot and it's very uncomfortable not being aware of the shootings or direction of travel afterwards.

I have heard of you speak of it before, you like to know and be aware of your surroundings and what's going on in your town, I'm the same way.

I'm a retired newspaper reporter as you know and I've been monitoring since I was a kid so this is very strange.

We did have a brief time of about two and a half years from 2000 to 2003 when Bucks County went to a 500 megahertz smartzone type 2 digital system and digital scanners weren't developed till 2003 but my newspaper had Motorola radios that the county did program for us.

I hope all this business ends soon.

 

[darkness975]

Precisely, we have also had threats of certain overpasses where criminal protesters are tossing bricks into highway traffic off of the overpasses. Our bridges to New Jersey across from Trenton were blocked by police on the Pennsylvania side. Trenton is pretty well trashed so an effort was made to prevent that from moving over to Pennsylvania suburbs.

The main road I live on is relatively safe but I am somewhat close to a neighborhood that is a high crime area involving a lot of gang activity. There has been an increase in the last year of drive-by shootings and gunfire in general. Unfortunately the road I live on is a very convenient route for the bad actors to escape on whether it be in a car or on foot and it's very uncomfortable not being aware of the shootings or direction of travel afterwards.

I have heard of you speak of it before, you like to know and be aware of your surroundings and what's going on in your town, I'm the same way.

I'm a retired newspaper reporter as you know and I've been monitoring since I was a kid so this is very strange.

We did have a brief time of about two and a half years from 2000 to 2003 when Bucks County went to a 500 megahertz smartzone type 2 digital system and digital scanners weren't developed till 2003 but my newspaper had Motorola radios that the county did program for us.

I hope all this business ends soon.

They were throwing rocks at cars here too.

 

[wa3bxw]

Precisely, we have also had threats of certain overpasses where criminal protesters are tossing bricks into highway traffic off of the overpasses. Our bridges to New Jersey across from Trenton were blocked by police on the Pennsylvania side. Trenton is pretty well trashed so an effort was made to prevent that from moving over to Pennsylvania suburbs.

The main road I live on is relatively safe but I am somewhat close to a neighborhood that is a high crime area involving a lot of gang activity. There has been an increase in the last year of drive-by shootings and gunfire in general. Unfortunately the road I live on is a very convenient route for the bad actors to escape on whether it be in a car or on foot and it's very uncomfortable not being aware of the shootings or direction of travel afterwards.

I have heard of you speak of it before, you like to know and be aware of your surroundings and what's going on in your town, I'm the same way.

I'm a retired newspaper reporter as you know and I've been monitoring since I was a kid so this is very strange.

We did have a brief time of about two and a half years from 2000 to 2003 when Bucks County went to a 500 megahertz smartzone type 2 digital system and digital scanners weren't developed till 2003 but my newspaper had Motorola radios that the county did program for us.

I hope all this business ends soon.

Bob, supposedly the encryption will be turned off next Tuesday (16th) at 0600.

 

[phillydjdan]

Thanks, Bill. I had heard that from another source but didn't have anything to go on other than rumor. Theres a LOT of that going around the county on this subject lol.