Bucks county encryption

[trap5858]

Nothing is certain but death and taxes. We will just have wait and listen

 

[WA3ERQ]

Just curious. I’m new to scanning and just recently got my SDS200 programmed for some Philly and Bensalem. I keep seeing references to Zones 1,2,3 & 8 for Buck’s county. Where do I go to see where these zones are? I am receiving Bensalem and that’s all that I want in Buck’s county but can’t seem to figure out what the different zones are.
thanks

Jim
WA3ERQ

 

[WA3ERQ]

Disregard. I finally found what I’m looking for.

 

[royldean]

Disregard. I finally found what I’m looking for.

Always put answers to questions so that people using the search function don't have to dig deeper:

Bucks County (PA) - The RadioReference Wiki

wiki.radioreference.com

 

[trentbob]

Well as of 10 a.m. this morning it's gone. We knew it was coming but I had the understanding that Fire & EMS were going to be outfitted first for their safety.

I have a feeling this is not temporary due to Philly riots over a justified shooting. What's going on in Philly is a organized Soros operation with the locals just getting free shopping sprees.

Maybe this is temporary but I have a bad feeling about it and I don't think so. With next week being the start of election week and I believe the probable outcome will be a surprise a** whooping I doubt they're going to turn it back on as the countries inter-cities explode including Philly.

I personally don't know what's going to happen and those who I know who know more than I do don't know for sure what is happening either other than they thought we had much more time.

I'm 67 and have been monitoring police calls since I was 12 in 1965 listening to Abington PA on 39.18 on a tunable. I haven't stopped listening since and it led to a wonderful career as a newspaperman.

I'm not happy and hoping something's going to happen but I don't know. I'm considering unloading my apx 7000 and sds200. I will probably keep the 100 until Philly is gone. I also have the 536 and the 436 not to mention a scanner museum in the garage.

I am not happy and don't know what's going to happen, hopefully this is temporary and they will outfit Fire & EMS before shutting down permanently. I personally have no idea.

 

[maus92]

Trying to decipher your post: Fire / EMS "outfitted" first - what does this mean? Also, are you saying that all Bucks County public safety is now encrypted?

 

[phillydjdan]

Let me dispell some rumors. There is a plan to encrypt police full time. The information I got from people in my department is that the proposal includes spending $1.5M to upgrade the fire and EMS radios so that they can monitor the police channels for situational awareness (which was the reason this proposal was denied before). This has been approved, according to one of my chiefs. Obviously that is a task that will take months to do, so I really don't think this latest round of encryption is permanent. The last time there was unrest, they did it for 3 weeks. I anticipate a similar scenario now. If those of you that listen don't like this (especially the idea of spending $1.5M tax dollars for something the police already have at the flip of a switch) then I encourage you to contact your County Commissioners. They have phone numbers and email addresses on thier website. Voice your opinion. It may be enough to sway them, it may not. But

 

[trentbob]

Thanks Dan, from your mouth to God's ears. I am not an Insider, I'm just fortunate enough to be kept in the loop by some very considerate people. I don't have the answers other than right now the police are dark. I did not want to get into all the details of politics. I would certainly think they should wait until everything is in place for the safety of all First Responders like yourself.

Rumors or not, it's been voted on and the money has been allocated, I think, and what's most important is my radio is... silent, that's not a rumor LOL.

 

[phillydjdan]

Even the information *I'M* getting is sporadic lol. They think this solves the issue of situational awareness but it doesn't. Unless you're a chief officer, you're still deaf for several minutes before you get on the fire truck and turn the radio on. Oh and by the way, the encryption keys change daily, so when you turn a radio on you have to go over to the Programming channel and rekey the radio. Every radio. Every day. Every fire truck. While responding to an emergency. You can take a wild guess how THATS gonna work out...

 

[trentbob]

Well again, I don't think this is because of threats to Bucks County Police secondary to this Justified shooting in Philly. When I was listening to the chopper Pilots from channel 29 and channel 6 talking on the Aviation news Chopper coordination frequency they were amazed at the organization and equipment that was staged in parking lots in North Philadelphia. They commented that... These are outsiders.

Not going to get into politics here but as I say I don't think things are going to end up being what the fake polls say they are next week. The number one search on Google is, am I allowed to change my mail-in vote LOL. I think we're in for a lot of violence in the inner cities and you know that is ripe fodder for the police chief's to encrypt despite the compromised safety of other First Responders.

They've done it before. Let's hope you're right and this is just temporary due to this unrest in Philly, personally I don't think so but...

I basically came on to express my displeasure, not to let any cats out of the bag or to start any rumors since everyone would realize... they can't hear the police on the radio. You know me for a long time, I'm not happy and I KNOW you aren't either.

 

[phillydjdan]

It's going to be hard to keep politics out of it when the political police chiefs association and the elected politician Commissioners are making the decision. It SHOULDN'T, but you and I both know politics is in play here

 

[phillydjdan]

Just a quick update. I just got information that a decision on full-time encryption has not been made yet. That means there is still time to email your concerns and issues with spending $1.5M for something the police already have at the ready...

 

[trentbob]

Let's see if we can work on finding out why we are encrypted starting today, I just can't accept that the police in Bucks County are endangered because of a Justified shooting in Philly. If it is as you have suggested to me an arbitrary decision from shift to shift that would say to me that everyone's going to make the same decision, I'd love to know the reason for that other than the obvious which we are forbidden to talk about.

You can be sure that everybody appreciates your efforts here Dan!

 

[W2SJW]

Somebody made a submission today to have all the PD TG's changed over. You guys want me to hold-off on that for now?

 

[phillydjdan]

YES! Please hold off. For now the setting should be "selectable encryption" and not "strapped encryption". For now...

 

[W2SJW]

Copy that!

 

[bill31089]

From my understanding is only temporary for now I spoke to a few officer that I am friends with tonight

 

[joeyperillo]

From my understanding is only temporary for now I spoke to a few officer that I am friends with tonight

Oh, Zeus I hope so.....any idea why this happened? I don't think we're a "problem" area....

 

[joeyperillo]

During the severe "unrest" in Philadelphia months ago I listened to J Band for a long time....I was amazed and deeply impressed with how the PD handled things...something popped up in every part of the city practically every minute....they were calm and in control on the radio and the citizenry should be proud....I completely understand why they would not want bad guys to know how they were going to deal with things and that is what encryption is for.....situational.....I am torn....but...I was impressed with their work and I heard it.....fifty years of listening to patrols and now EVERYTHING in the 'burbs has to be quiet? I'm proud of the work they do here in Bucks and love listening to it.....If my rant is inappropriate please zap it.....rant over.

 

[trentbob]

Are we really wondering why this is happening? I'll just keep my mouth shut on that. Encryption was never a big deal in Bucks County. Media types, First Responders and serious hobbyist who bought sophisticated radio equipment with the best of intentions was not a problem for most law enforcement. I'm pretty upset not being able to listen to the police anymore after so many years of doing it, so I am trying to be careful here.

Knowing the situation with the Chiefs pushing so hard for encryption and the proposal of 1.5 million dollars to outfit fire and EMS supervisors and equipment to ensure situational awareness, if this is temporary, it's just kicking the can down the road.

And what was the reason again for temporarily being encrypted disregarding fire and EMS safety concerns? Was it the shooting in Philadelphia and the riots which have calmed down now? None of which we had in Bucks County by the way.

I've spoken to law enforcement also about it and they all quote the same reason for the push for encryption.

If this is temporary I hope the reason that they're doing it resolves itself before I sell all my equipment. I'm tired of listening to syncopal episodes and water flow alarms.

Actually I'm just kidding, the radios are off, I packed up the sds200, I kept everything intact knowing that I might return it the day after I bought it but it turned out to be a great unit. Also getting together all of my accessories for my apx 7000 which is 700 - 800 megahertz and UHF 2. I'll keep the 100, 536 and 436 along with the scanner Museum in the garage.

I guess we'll see what happens but...