Hamilton Fire and social media info

[alex288288]

So, people on social media that are NOT firefighters in Hamilton, but yet seem to have upto date info about incidents.. do media outlets get radios/frequencies? haven't seen much of this type of thing here and wondering if there is something else being used.

 

[SCPD]

So, people on social media that are NOT firefighters in Hamilton, but yet seem to have upto date info about incidents.. do media outlets get radios/frequencies? haven't seen much of this type of thing here and wondering if there is something else being used.

99.97% sure it's someone in the department tipping off the media, its an old boys club in general and it's disgusting.

Hamilton is 100% ENC from police to fire to works to hydro to anything else that uses a radio there, no one is listening but it's always possible that people who work for the various services have friends in the media and tow trucks and tip them off once in awhile.

There is less of that happening now as police and other internal affairs departments come down very hard on insiders tipping the media, I believe it was in Quebec where the authorities put the media cell phones and internet under surveillance and then nailed the cops who shared tips with the media.

Now Hamilton used to give the media radios back when they were analog, the fire chief of the day loved the media coverage and gave the media radios, the current administration at all levels is like Durham region, not friendly at all to media. No radios or anything being given out now.

Another way media might be getting information in Hamilton is through social media, all it takes is one member of the public to tweet or post something and no radio encryption will be able to stop that.

 

[exkalibur]

Hamilton has an arrangement with legit media outlets where they can get a radio issued to them. Also, hydro isn't encrypted, though everyone else is.

Sent from my iPhone 8 using Tapatalk.

 

[SCPD]

Hamilton has an arrangement with legit media outlets where they can get a radio issued to them. Also, hydro isn't encrypted, though everyone else is.

Sent from my iPhone 8 using Tapatalk.

They used to under the old chief but that was in the analog days, The fire chief back then programmed radios for the media but the media had to buy the hardware and they got the dispatch channel, $10,000 for one talkgroup. Of course then trunk tracking scanners came out.

Is this something new then because as of a month ago they were not doing that, giving out radios to media, media would sure be happy if they did though.

You sure Horizon utilities is in the clear on TRBO?, I thought they went ENC TRBO like McMaster.
Maybe they took the encryption off

 

[exkalibur]

Hamilton Hydro is on the trunk system with Police, Fire, etc.

And yes, they offer them to legit media. CHCH declined the offer. Halton does as well.

Sent from my iPhone 8 using Tapatalk.

 

[SCPD]

Hamilton Hydro is on the trunk system with Police, Fire, etc.

And yes, they offer them to legit media. CHCH declined the offer. Halton does as well.

Sent from my iPhone 8 using Tapatalk.

Learn something everyday, the RR database needs updating then, they still have Hamilton hydro on TRBO/ENC with one interop talkgroup on the P25 system.

Did not know Hamilton and Halton fire offered media radios, good to hear.

 

[mciupa]

the RR database needs updating then

I'm always ready to update....waiting
....waiting
....waiting :roll:

 

[mbstone99]

Hamilton Hydro is on the trunk system with Police, Fire, etc.

And yes, they offer them to legit media. CHCH declined the offer. Halton does as well.

Sent from my iPhone 8 using Tapatalk.

I know that Hamilton is served by Horizon is the core part of the city.. and some parts of Ancaster and Hydro One in other parts of Ancaster..

Matt

 

[SCPD]

I'm always ready to update....waiting
....waiting
....waiting :roll:

No need to update, Hamilton hydro is Horizon and it's TRBO enc and already in the database

 

[alex288288]

Hamilton Hydro is on the trunk system with Police, Fire, etc.

And yes, they offer them to legit media. CHCH declined the offer. Halton does as well.

Sent from my iPhone 8 using Tapatalk.

Halton region is open for FD so that wouldnt make sense for them to buy 10k radios

 

[fire4117]

Halton region is open for FD so that wouldn't make sense for them to buy 10k radios

I would love to know who would buy a radio for 10k when you could buy one full price from a dealer and it would still be about 3-4k cheaper! How does that line go, "I've got a piece of land for you in Florida.."

 

[SCPD]

Hamilton has an arrangement with legit media outlets where they can get a radio issued to them. Also, hydro isn't encrypted, though everyone else is.

Sent from my iPhone 8 using Tapatalk.

You might want to double check your info, I called and confirmed and no, Hamiton nor Halton fire or police do not give any media their radios and if someone has one they want to know about it and I confirmed with scanner than hydro is TRBO and encrypted. They may have some clear channels, I didn't listen that long.

The only thing in the clear in Hamilton that I could find was CB radio channel 19 and Twitter, they haven't figured out how to AES-256 those yet.

McMaster also appears to be encrypted on TRBO, that or my TRBO scanner programming is still not perfect but I was getting no audio out of it at all.

 

[mbstone99]

You might want to double check your info, I called and confirmed and no, Hamiton nor Halton fire or police do not give any media their radios and if someone has one they want to know about it and I confirmed with scanner than hydro is TRBO and encrypted. They may have some clear channels, I didn't listen that long.

The only thing in the clear in Hamilton that I could find was CB radio channel 19 and Twitter, they haven't figured out how to AES-256 those yet.

McMaster also appears to be encrypted on TRBO, that or my TRBO scanner programming is still not perfect but I was getting no audio out of it at all.

McMaster is fully encrypted and so is Horizon Utilities.. I have heard no clear tg's on either of those systems.

Matt

 

[SCPD]

McMaster is fully encrypted and so is Horizon Utilities.. I have heard no clear tg's on either of those systems.

Matt

That's what I thought. The tricky thing with TRBO on a scanner is the radio doesn't chirp and flash ENC like it does on P25 systems so I end up wondering if I made a programming error sometimes.

 

[exkalibur]

You might want to double check your info, I called and confirmed and no, Hamiton nor Halton fire or police do not give any media their radios.

The offer was made for legit media outlets, it isn't available for freelance for obvious reasons. It was HPS that offered radios to (at least) CHCH and The Spec, both of whom declined due to a fairly restrictive use policy.

 

[SCPD]

The offer was made for legit media outlets, it isn't available for freelance for obvious reasons. It was HPS that offered radios to (at least) CHCH and The Spec, both of whom declined due to a fairly restrictive use policy.

I think Hamilton police also had a secure website for the media and most declined the offer as well due to the restrictive use policy. Then again there are so few media left now and most will be out of business by the end of the year if not sooner so they could leave the radios in the clear and no one would notice.

You'd be amazed at what goes down and is not covered by media these days, they just don't have the staff an budgets anymore, there are a couple of freelancers left, one who happens to show up very quickly at fires, must be huge money in filming small fires but other than that it's done. You could say almost anything on a radio now and not worry about it ending up in the news.

 

[SCPD]

The offer was made for legit media outlets, it isn't available for freelance for obvious reasons. It was HPS that offered radios to (at least) CHCH and The Spec, both of whom declined due to a fairly wrestrictive use policy.

Obvious reasons you got that right. Those freelancers are vermin who listen to scanners and go to incidents and take photos of people who are badly hurt and sell them to the papers and TV networks.

The police and bylaw should be ticketing then and the media should not buy thier wares and they will go away.

My fear is a I or a friend of mine will get into an accident and one of these scum will take pictures, sell it and it will be on the front page.

These vermin should also be outed all over social media so no matter where they go to ply their trade police and public will know them.

They must have grade 6 education at best, I mean who does this?

 

[Command30]

The police and bylaw should be ticketing then and the media should not buy thier wares and they will go away.

Yes, let's criminalize the use of a camera in a public place. That sounds like a totally reasonable suggestion from someone completely rational and level-headed.

 

[mciupa]

Can you guys at least include the word "Hamilton" in your gripes?

 

[alex288288]

Obvious reasons you got that right. Those freelancers are vermin who listen to scanners and go to incidents and take photos of people who are badly hurt and sell them to the papers and TV networks.

The police and bylaw should be ticketing then and the media should not buy thier wares and they will go away.

My fear is a I or a friend of mine will get into an accident and one of these scum will take pictures, sell it and it will be on the front page.

These vermin should also be outed all over social media so no matter where they go to ply their trade police and public will know them.

They must have grade 6 education at best, I mean who does this?

So, Id like to respond to a few things you said here, although a little late.

Your first statement says; we should not listen to scanners and take photos/video, pretty sure that's what media outlets have been doing since camera were invented.

You also say we "Vermin" should be outed to public and social media...Not sure why as most photo journalists I know have a very good report with alot, if not all of the dept's in city. - Dont be a dick and stay outta the way, they wont care and cant stop you if your in public space.

To say we must have a Grade 6 education is kinda odd, as most 6th graders dont have a vehicle and the time to get out at those midnight calls when no one else is able to capture a burning building or a bad accident. Just sayin,

Lastly i'd like to ask why "known" media outlets(thespec, chch, cbc, etc) aren't being considered "Vermin"? they are sometimes worse than the one man shows running around the city, trying to get the coverage.

This may seem drawn out and it prob is and I apologize, but as someone who does this as a hobby I take a little offence to being called "vermin" and having grade 6 education.