FFIeld County FAPERN test

[motorman105]

Just listened to the FAPERN Test, highlight of my day! Just wish Trumbull would’ve answered up! Someone was burping.....that’s new

 

[APX7500X2]

The burping and music guy has been around for 10 years +, he used to be 80% on Stratford PD and they went P25 encrypted to get rid of him
Now he likes FAPERN and it gives him a huge audience since it is multicast over UHF/VHF and a TG on CLMRN

 

[Firebuff66]

He used to come up on South west cmed med 9 also back when i worked there
Around Christmas he does switch to that type of music so at least he stays current

 

[nhfdcadet]

apparently there was some racist song played on fapern over the weekend

 

[Cheeseburgers]

Not sure but he actually sounds cool.

 

[darkness975]

And this is a reason why they get mad ...

 

[Cheeseburgers]

what, the amazing zingers?

 

[Thorndike113]

Man, I read this whole thread and am now choking and laughing!!!
I also had to look up what FAPERN was. I used to live in CT and I'll Tell ya, Someone needs to stop with these billions of frequencies for all these departments. Im surprised they dont just start handing out frequencies to every citizen of the state. Since I moved to Maine, who actually has a statewide P25 system, I find it soooooo much more simple to listen to a radio. Most every single department is on high band VHF, including the State police on a P25 system. Every department can talk to each other crossing from P25 to analog and back. The state police dispatches can, at will, link ANY departments, P25 or analog all together on one tower with the touch of a few keys. There isnt this each department hiding on their own band and frequency and encryption key or departments that have to have multiple radios to talk to nearby agencies. There are a handful of departments mainly in the cities that might use 800 or UHF but its rare. What does this FAPERN do? Does it actually get used on a regular basis or is it just one of those SHTF frequencies? Seems kind of strange to have so many frequencies when they could do things much more simple.

 

[darkness975]

he used to be 80% on Stratford PD and they went P25 encrypted to get rid of him

This right here makes me sick.

 

[APX7500X2]

Seems kind of strange to have so many frequencies when they could do things much more simple.

Not strange at all since CT has 3 times more people squashed into 1/3 the area of Maine and population exploded much faster in CT then ME it makes total sense that city's and towns had to get their own systems when they did due to call volume.
Comparing ME current radio infrastructure to CT is comparing apples to a roll of tape (not even close)
Take into account that CT has to deal with NYC and LI when they look for channels and it makes it very hard to stay on 1 frequency range
If you look now, CT has a new statewide P25 system that has much more capacity than the old digital voice smart zone system, and many departments have or are switching over to it, with dozens looking at the plausibility to do so in the future.
Im sure over the next 10 or so years we will catch up to ME

 

[Thorndike113]

Not strange at all since CT has 3 times more people squashed into 1/3 the area of Maine and population exploded much faster in CT then ME it makes total sense that city's and towns had to get their own systems when they did due to call volume.
Comparing ME current radio infrastructure to CT is comparing apples to a roll of tape (not even close)
Take into account that CT has to deal with NYC and LI when they look for channels and it makes it very hard to stay on 1 frequency range
If you look now, CT has a new statewide P25 system that has much more capacity than the old digital voice smart zone system, and many departments have or are switching over to it, with dozens looking at the plausibility to do so in the future.
Im sure over the next 10 or so years we will catch up to ME

You do have a point when it comes to adjacent departments in neighboring states but what gets me is the vast spread of frequency. In one town, you can find all your services on not just separate frequencies but separate bands. I grew up in the northeast corner of the state and that system QV has up there when I look at what Maine has makes them guys look like a bunch of amateurs who decided to build this over complicated system with spare radio parts they bought on ebay or someone scored a huge lot of crossbanding radios on ebay and slapped them together. In my county up here you have multiple frequencies for say fire and EMS but they are all on the same band and they are tied together with a 900mhz backbone. They work the sheriff dispatch and fire and EMS off of that 900mhz system. There are not as many people and things dont get as busy as they can in CT but they do get busy at times and state police can assist the sheriffs dept with a quick switch of the channel knob on their radio and be headed to the same call answering the same dispatch. Try doing that in CT. The town I grew up in had their PD on UHF, State police on 800mhz and fire and EMS on 33mhz. Get a big scene of something go on and no one could communicate with each other. I think CT can do it, they need to revamp that whole state and the towns need to stop buying into the digital koolaid and work together to be able to communicate with outside agencies instead of creating that rats nest down there whether it be a digital system or analog. They can have analog patches to the states p25 system. Maine has it. It was requested that it be built into their system. The Pittsfield FD utilizes it quite often to talk to the Augusta state police dispatch when working calls up on I95. Ive seen plenty of other states also that have their systems all tied together somehow or at least on the same band so that they can communicate quickly with each other. I think from what I have been seeing, some towns are at least being smart and hopping up on the CSP's system or at least in that same band operating P25. Gotta commend them for that. In the times we live in, I personally think keeping your communication simple is better than buying into the latest and the greatest because some radio company told ya so. Especially in CT, things can happen quickly and without warning. Best to be prepared.

 

[darkness975]

So after all this time no one has figured out who that moron is and shut them down so that more departments dont go encrypted because of it? Or perhaps the one that did could open back up?
Cant they track the hacking signal?

 

[nhfdcadet]

So after all this time no one has figured out who that moron is and shut them down so that more departments dont go encrypted because of it? Or perhaps the one that did could open back up?
Cant they track the hacking signal?

He most likely is doing it on the analog conventional side of the system, so it would be complicated to trace, seeing as there is no ID.
Encryption definitely isnt a bad idea though

 

[Thorndike113]

So after all this time no one has figured out who that moron is and shut them down so that more departments dont go encrypted because of it? Or perhaps the one that did could open back up?
Cant they track the hacking signal?

They can definitely track the person doing it. Ham radio operators are trained how to do this. Its called foxhunting. You get a group of guys together from that area. All you need are radios receiving the signal. Figure out what area the guy is in, then break out your maps and compasses and triangulate the signal. Its actually easy to do and fun. I used to participate in foxhunts many years ago with the ham radio just for fun. Being that it is on analog frequencies makes it even easier for anyone to foxhunt this guy. It makes me wonder if this is still the same guy from back around 2013 when LCD was getting messed with by the guy in Mass. He had a boafeng radio and was causing Public safety calls to be diverted and putting out fake calls. Its hard to get hams out there to help with this because most hams are off on HF frequencies talking around the world. They dont care for VHF/UHF communications (where this guy is sitting causing a load of it for public safety). Its one of the reasons I gave it up. The sad part about all of this is that the FCC doesnt care one bit about this. Until it goes on too long and/or a life is lost, they wont bother catching the person causing issues on the radio. Ive seen it happen several times in CT before.

 

[darkness975]

Encryption definitely isnt a bad idea though

You're kidding, right?
Everything encrypted = no more hobby.

Care to elaborate?

 

[nhfdcadet]

They can definitely track the person doing it. Ham radio operators are trained how to do this. Its called foxhunting. You get a group of guys together from that area. All you need are radios receiving the signal. Figure out what area the guy is in, then break out your maps and compasses and triangulate the signal. Its actually easy to do and fun. I used to participate in foxhunts many years ago with the ham radio just for fun. Being that it is on analog frequencies makes it even easier for anyone to foxhunt this guy.

Problem with that is you have no way of knowing when it is going to happen, so it would be difficult to arrange this. unless you had a bunch of hams just camping out in the area

You're kidding, right?
Everything encrypted = no more hobby.

Care to elaborate?

Public safety radio traffic is nobody's business outside of public safety. Responder safety > anybodys hobby.
Just my opinion.

 

[APX7500X2]

Public safety radio traffic is nobody's business outside of public safety. Responder safety > anybodys hobby.
Just my opinion.

I would have to agree, Just because its a hobby for some its life and death for the people using the radios.
And the transparency argument goes nowhere..You can FOI all the tapes of the radio traffic AFTER it happens and listen to your hearts content

We have the WANT to listen live, NOT the Need

 

[Thorndike113]

Problem with that is you have no way of knowing when it is going to happen, so it would be difficult to arrange this. unless you had a bunch of hams just camping out in the area



Public safety radio traffic is nobody's business outside of public safety. Responder safety > anybodys hobby.
Just my opinion.

If the guy is constantly doing it, you can catch the guy. When I participated in fox hunts, it was something that was done in an afternoon with periodic transmissions from the fox. With enough guys you could catch him. It could take an afternoon or a week or more, but people familiar with radio, signals, and terrain can figure it out real quick. As far as keeping transmissions secret (encryption, digital etc) that makes it so that public safety personnel can lie, say things you shouldnt be saying over the air. It separates the public from public safety. I have had several times in my life where I actually heard something come over the scanner where it was police quite a few times and fire or EMS other times and they were having a nasty time finding something or someone and I helped them. Ive had other friends of mine who were scanner enthusiasts that have done the same. Just because someone is a fire fighter, police officer, or EMT doesnt make them special, perfect, robotic, flawless etc. They are all humans and are imperfect. They can use some help also sometimes. The only difference between them and regular civilians is that they are performing a public service. I do understand needing privacy at times. It IS necessary. Thats why there should be a tac channel where they can talk encrypted if needed, OR like most law enforcement do now a days and have been doing - Cell phones and computers. Cant track or listen to them. No public safety should be totally secured. There is enough distrust out there with cops and fire fighters, dont make a reason to have more. There is a nice balance that can be had. No need for one extreme or the other. I remember when I lived in CT, within 10 years after all the state cops switched to digital and were fooled into believing because they were p25 digital, no one could hear them. I heard the worst 4 letter words flying out of that radio from narcotics detectives right into the ears of a family with a couple small children. The woman gasped and asked who those guys were talking over my scanner. When I told her, her eyes bugged out of her head. She was very appalled at what she heard coming from people who were supposed to be acting "professional". I definitely know why police want their traffic encrypted. Its not right by any means, especially when they have 2 other devices they can use to keep traffic quiet. They have done it up here in Maine a few times. Dispatched securely, the rest of the transmissions were done over the air. Made it impossible to figure out what was going on until they were almost done working the scene.

 

[darkness975]

Problem with that is you have no way of knowing when it is going to happen, so it would be difficult to arrange this. unless you had a bunch of hams just camping out in the area



Public safety radio traffic is nobody's business outside of public safety. Responder safety > anybodys hobby.
Just my opinion.

Interesting.

I disagree.

 

[trentbob]

Cadet and APX you are indeed entitled to your opinions.

I'm sure you can understand that on a forum like this that's full of scanner fans who enjoy the hobby, like to be aware of their surroundings and what is going on in their community, you will find a lot of people who disagree with you here. LOL.