Hamilton PD (Mercer)?

[nj_ace]

Been dead quiet since around 8pm last night... No audio, no detectable signal, nothing. Anyone know what’s up? Did they move to the county system?

 

[trentbob]

I'm retired now so I have not been listening to Hamilton but I'll listen in the next couple of days. I did notice that West Windsor actually went to the New Jersey interop system.

Hamilton F2 has been encrypted since they converted their conventional UHF frequencies to conventional p25 digital. Perhaps F1 is now encrypted.

They could have gone to the county or state interop systems but they didn't need to, to go encrypted. I'll start looking for them on those systems.

 

[nj_ace]

Seems like all traffic moved to 460.45 (P25 w/ encryption).

 

[rvrat1]

Yep!.....too many ' Breaking News ' Want to BE's in the area. They assume, since they have a scanner, they are ahead of 'Breaking News' and post every single call the police have. They post it on Facebook, as if they are real top notch reporters! I feel we can thank them all for screwing it up for everyone!. Bad for the Police Patrols, and bad for us!

 

[trentbob]

I agree, and by the way, they don't have to use scanners. Very sad, we lost Trenton, Princeton, Bucks, Burlington and Montgomery also.

It's the trend and it is accelerating.

 

[bailly2]

At least you can listen to the input frequency 465.45. Use the stock indoor antenna and set it attenuated and if you receive it something is happening very close. If patrol is using 460.45 then detectives are just using phones?

 

[trentbob]

They are all using the one frequency at will. Now that it's encrypted they don't have to be careful about anything they say. Here in Bucks County they have locked out everybody including dispatchers when they are off duty. Fire police used to talk right on the Zone dispatch channel, now they're using their old T band Portables.

I guess it makes sense for them as if someone has an encrypted radio they could make a fortune private streaming, encryption is just the trend, and we all know why.

 

[nj_ace]

30 years of listening... Sigh.

 

[bailly2]

Started picking up 465.45 thursday. Thought there was a surveillance operation in my neighborhood as channel 3 was always encrypted since they switched to p25. Assumed it was used by detectives .

once heard hamilton pd narcotics use 460.45 for a operation when it was analog maybe 15, 20 years ago. Detectives were afraid to afraid to be in whatever neighborhood they were in and the supervisor yelled into the radio "you are supposed to be buying crack"

 

[bailly2]

Monitoring 465.45 with an old analog scanner using half inch piece of aluminum foil as an antenna..picking it up but when i drive around i dont see patrol cars..so now monitoring it with no antenna

Should have seen this coming and listened to it with the stock indoor antenna when they were in the clear to see where the signal starts to fade. If i hear one or two transmissions its probably just a car stop or something routine, if you hear transmissions constantly for 10 minutes then its probably something major like a armed robbery

How long does an antenna have to be to only pick up 25 watt radios a block away in the suburbs with an glass window in the room?

 

[trentbob]

Monitoring 465.45 with an old analog scanner using half inch piece of aluminum foil as an antenna..picking it up but when i drive around i dont see patrol cars..so now monitoring it with no antenna

Should have seen this coming and listened to it with the stock indoor antenna when they were in the clear to see where the signal starts to fade. If i hear one or two transmissions its probably just a car stop or something routine, if you hear transmissions constantly for 10 minutes then its probably something major like a armed robbery

How long does an antenna have to be to only pick up 25 watt radios a block away in the suburbs with an glass window in the room?

Hi bailly, so if I'm understanding what you're saying, you are monitoring the input frequency so as to pick it up as a simplex transmission using an analog radio to determine how close the car is?

I don't think that's going to work on a conventional p25 digital system, encrypted no less. Any kind of noise, signal, hash you might receive would probably either be there or not depending on distance and most likely... not. I don't think it would be like an old time VHF High repeater where you would listen to the input or the cars and be able to tell how close or far they are from the strength of their signal.

Never really tried it, what's your results? To answer your question on the best antenna, a quarter wave for that frequency range would be a 5 inch whip or any telescopic antenna or standard multiband scanner antenna.

 

[markrsmith83]

They seems to be back on 453.525 unencrypted today.

 

[bailly2]

Aaaaaand its 100% encrypted again. Did someone start putting it on broadcastify or did they have a tech fix it? Im Back to listening to 458.525 with a half inch piece of aluminum foil

 

[trentbob]

I'm curious what does the input frequency yield? What do you hear. You hear just the cars in the clear?

 

[CaptDan]

I'm curious what does the input frequency yield? What do you hear. You hear just the cars in the clear?

Generally, probably like 99% of the time, If a transmission is encrypted, it will have been encrypted at the radio making the original transmission, it is possible, but rare and makes no sense, for a message to be received in the clear and a repeater set up so that when it transmits the message it is encrypted.

Do the local Police do this, I very much doubt it.


I don't know in what situation it would be legal, but some folks I know tested it, just because they could, in a repeater situation on a farm and it worked. Low power walkie talkies transmitted to the repeater in the clear, the repeater ( cross band situation ) then encrypted the transmission an transmitted it from the tower at full power.

 

[trentbob]

Okay that makes sense, this UHF repeater has been around for decades and decades and then they took it, made it p25 conventional digital with a NAC. If the input frequency is transmitted in the clear there is absolutely nothing illegal about monitoring that. I would find it very frustrating and you're not going to get much out of it.

 

[bailly2]

trentbob, since it is 100% encrypted all that monitoring the input frequency tells you is if there is some police activity nearby. 1/4 inch piece of aluminum foil seems to just receive transmissions maybe a couple blocks away through walls

 

[markrsmith83]

FYI - they seem to have been simulcasting dispatch on the old F1. Not the cars, just dispatch.