calgary ems now silent

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jloriginal

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It seems I can upload Calgary ems frequencies but hear nothing on playback. no problem uploading Calgary police service and fire. does it have anything to do with Calgary digital radio system now being called Calgary municipal radio system.
 

mciupa

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http://forums.radioreference.com/prairies-pacific-coast/345133-calgary-ems-now-silent

I have no ems playback. any ideas?

They are deprecated on Calgary Municipal, see the red highlights.

Code:
Alberta Health Services - Calgary Metro EMS Talkgroups 
[COLOR="Red"]EMS have switched over to using their new encrypted talkgroups on AFRRCS (Alberta First Responder's Radio Communication System). 
[/COLOR]
DEC 	HEX 	Mode  	Alpha Tag	Description	Tag  
16400	401	A	A1 Dispatch	A1 - EMS Dispatch 	[COLOR="red"]Deprecated [/COLOR]
16496	407	A	A2 Updates	A2 - EMS Dispatch Updates 	[COLOR="red"]Deprecated [/COLOR]
16560	40b	A	A3 Chat	A3 - EMS Chat 	[COLOR="red"]Deprecated [/COLOR]
16592	40d	A	A4 Chat	A4 - EMS Chat 	[COLOR="red"]Deprecated [/COLOR]
16624	40f	A	A5 SCHC	A5 - South Calgary Health Centre 	[COLOR="red"]Deprecated [/COLOR]
16656	411	A	A6 FMC	A6 - Foothills Medical Centre 	[COLOR="red"]Deprecated [/COLOR]
16720	415	A	A7 PLC	A7 - Peter Lougheed Centre 	[COLOR="red"]Deprecated [/COLOR]
16752	417	A	A8 RGH	A8 - Rockyview General Hospital 	[COLOR="red"]Deprecated [/COLOR]
16784	419	A	A9 ACH	A9 - Alberta Children's Hospital 	Deprecated 
17136	42f	A	B1 Updates	B1 - EMS Updates w/CFD 	Deprecated 
16432	403	A	BKUP DISP	C1 - EMS Backup Dispatch 	[COLOR="red"]Deprecated [/COLOR]
16528	409	A	BKUP UPDATE	C2 - EMS Backup Updates 	[COLOR="red"]Deprecated [/COLOR]
16688	413	A	BKUP PATCH	C3 - Backup Hospital Patch 	[COLOR="red"]Deprecated [/COLOR]
16880	41f	A	BKUP MCI	C4 - EMS Backup MCI Events 	[COLOR="red"]Deprecated [/COLOR]
16464	405	A	BKUP DISP	C5 - EMS Backup Dispatch 	[COLOR="red"]Deprecated [/COLOR]
16912	421	A	A11 MCI	A11 - EMS MCI 	[COLOR="red"]Deprecated [/COLOR]
16848	41d	A	A11 Spare	A11 - EMS Spare 	[COLOR="red"]Deprecated [/COLOR]
16944	423	A	A12 TAC 1	A12 - EMS TAC 1 	[COLOR="red"]Deprecated [/COLOR]
16976	425	A	A13 TAC 2	A13 - EMS TAC 2 	[COLOR="red"]Deprecated[/COLOR] 
17008	427	A	A14 TAC 3	A14 - EMS TAC 3 	[COLOR="red"]Deprecated [/COLOR]
17104	42d	A	A15 TAC 4	A15 - EMS TAC 4 	[COLOR="red"]Deprecated [/COLOR]
17232	435	A	CHEARS	Calgary Hospital Emergency Aid Radio System 	[COLOR="red"]Deprecated [/COLOR]

Now on the system below but...

Code:
Calgary Zone - AHS Talkgroups 

DEC 	HEX 	Mode  	Alpha Tag	Description	Tag  
1011	3f3	[COLOR="Red"]E[/COLOR]	CGY - D1	Calgary Metro Disp 1 	EMS Dispatch 
1012	3f4	[COLOR="red"]E[/COLOR]	CGY - D2	Calgary Metro Disp 2 	EMS Dispatch 
1013	3f5	[COLOR="red"]E[/COLOR]	CGY - D3	Calgary Rural Disp 3  	EMS Dispatch 
1014	3f6	[COLOR="red"]E[/COLOR]	CGY - D4	Calgary Rural Disp 4 	EMS Dispatch 
1015	3f7	[COLOR="red"]E[/COLOR]	CGY - D5	Calgary IFT Disp 5 	EMS Dispatch 
1016	3f8	[COLOR="red"]E[/COLOR]	CGY - 1016	AHS 1016  	EMS-Talk 
1017	3f9	[COLOR="red"]E[/COLOR]	CGY - 1017	AHS 1017 	EMS-Talk 
1019	3fb	[COLOR="red"]E[/COLOR]	CGY - T9	Calgary Tac 9 	EMS-Tac 
1020	3fc	[COLOR="red"]E[/COLOR]	CGY - T10	Calgary Tac 10
 
Last edited:

robertmac

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What the situation is, they are on AFRRCS and encrypted so no one can listen to what they are doing. Part of AHS/AB government privacy kick.
 

robertmac

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If you read other posts under this category, your will see answers to your questions, even about AHS EMS going encrypted.
 

Jay911

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Ok, here's the thing about encryption, to put this to bed once and for all:

Encryption is designed specifically for the purpose of preventing you from hearing something you're not supposed to be hearing.

As such, there are laws in place to make it punishable to "break" encryption.

This can't really be compared to getting a new digital mode enabled in a scanner, because the digital modes aren't intended to keep you from hearing things. (That may be a "side benefit" for some closed-minded agencies, but it's certainly not the primary purpose of a digital mode.)

Saying that you wish someone would break encryption is like saying you wish that somebody would give you a key to unlock a warehouse full of stuff. You might get access to the warehouse very briefly, but you'll get in trouble for it, and all the owners are going to do is change the locks. The same thing would happen with an encrypted transmission if the encryption key ever got released or "broken": The system managers would change to a completely new key in a matter of seconds.

Like it or not, for wise or dumb reasons/excuses, some agencies have enabled encryption on their channels, and it's doubtful it will go away, ever.

Can we please make this the last time we discuss encryption in this thread? RR has rules that encryption is to be discussed only in one thread on the forum: this one.
 

kayn1n32008

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... The same thing would happen with an encrypted transmission if the encryption key ever got released or "broken": The system managers would change to a completely new key in a matter of seconds



To expand on this, if a key is compromised, AFRRCS users have the capability to rekey(Over The Air Rekey, aka OTAR) the radios over the network. As in, the key manager can remotely rekey any/all radio when ever they wish.
 

Jay911

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Not a problem. I didn't mean to come off like an ***, and sorry if I did. It's just that encryption is a dead horse that has been beaten so hard on this website that it is just a pile of glue now. :)

Personally, I don't agree with the amount of encryption that is being employed in agencies all over this continent. I dispute the argument that general operational channels must be encrypted for personnel safety (despite the conversation I just partook in in the encryption containment thread mentioned above). I am the communications officer for a local public safety agency which prides itself in its relations with the community at large, and you can't maintain that kind of relationship if you are hiding yourself from the community. Not only do we not encrypt our comms, but we stream them on Broadcastify, in an official capacity. We're happy to have people know what we're doing. During a particularly intense incident several years ago, we had friends, family, and general public in Newfoundland, Ontario, and several US states contacting us in near real-time to compliment our incident commander on her and her crews' performance.

Things that we don't want everyone on the planet to be learning about is simply not broadcast on a radio frequency. If we had a reason to regularly transmit private/privileged data and could not do it without using a radio, I would see a benefit for having some encryption - maybe one channel. But definitely not all of it.

I can't speak to AHSEMS's decisions or rational because my (other) job involves doing dispatch for them, and for me to offer comments could be seen as a violation of certain employment policies. But as a public safety person in general, I can admit the benefit to having encryption in some but not all situations in this modern day.
 

jloriginal

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Thank you Jay. I just dont know the terminology. I only know that i connect my scanner to win500 and I get to hear stuff. I wont post anything else on here. I think the more i use rr ill understand the rules and where to talk.
 

mciupa

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Thank you Jay. I just dont know the terminology. I only know that i connect my scanner to win500 and I get to hear stuff. I wont post anything else on here. I think the more i use rr ill understand the rules and where to talk.

Don't do that, the forums exist so we can exchange ideas and opinions. I only moved the posts to keep the AFRRCS in focus, no need to feel that anything wrong was done.

It was a legitimate question to ask where some of your favourite monitoring has gone to. I would want to know the same as well.

See you on the forums! :)
 

Microscan

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jloriginal,
See:
How safe is safe? AES 256 encryption and your data. - Canadian Cloud Backup | Datacentres in Canada

It gives a good plain language overview of what someone would be up against if they tried to break the encryption key. Advanced Encryption Standard 256 bit (AES 256) is the system used by EMS and others such as commercial vehicle enforcement on AFRRCS. Just a matter of time until the RCMP is on board as well.

Don't shy away from participating in the forums, in my experience they're a friendly bunch and a wealth of information.

For what its worth, I agree completely with Jay's views on the amount of encryption.
 

SCPD

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About time that the truth was told on here. It is just sad that the newbies have to learn the hard way.
 
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