You all have done a good job working out the system. This is what makes this a fun hobby, right?!
Thanx, as has been posted a number of times before, this is a very good system. Well placed with a lot of thought as to its layout and application, especially given the need for effective Pikeville to Paducah interop across rugged to flat terrain...
Here is the deal. The fact that some of the system operators may be upset with the posting of information is understandable in these post 9/11 days.
That is the same kind of thinking that some in the medical field use when they hide behind
HIPAA; I am not a terrorist nor do I appreciate your insinuation that I am. Although real, I find the probability of an earthquake, flood, tornado, chemical leak, etc. the more real disaster threat (speaking from personal experiences that go back many floods, etc) than a repeat of 9/11. Preparedness is a multi-lane highway and I do not ascribe to the British model of the government caring for me and my family. Or are the words of your boss to be dismissed as mere PR?
A message from Brig. Gen. John W. Heltzel, director of Kentucky Division of Emergency Management (KYEM).
“Although the state and local governments are expected to assist the public during times of emergencies and disasters, preparedness starts at home. In the event of large scale disasters the government may be unable to respond immediately.” He continued, “Be prepared! You should have a three day supply of food and water for each member of your family, along with essentials such as: medicines, flash lights, radio, extra batteries, matches, candles, first aid supplies, etc.”
I consider my scanners and HAM HT to be part of my survival gear....
I think what really pissed someone may have been the posting of the map and a few TX NACs.
As you should know, they were removed as soon as it was discovered that they didn't meet the criteria for inclusion. This site has no use for input tones of any sort since scanners are RECEIVERS, that's the way it has been since I joined and before. As for the maps, they are easily found in the
State Emergency Operations Plan (KyEOP); in
Appendix B-4 Kentucky Network Map & Repeater Sites (p.42) and other places.... cross referencing with KEWS towers found in the
27 March 2008 Briefing and other places...
KYEM Regional Response Offices and other places... Confirmation of the information gleaned from the earlier sources with the
FCC ULS data base was very helpful and yielded positive results. A listing of KYNG Armories confirmed some voice links.... Ironically, the map to which you refer has been downloaded more than 320 times as of this writing, presumably by KYEM folks who are looking for a useful reference so they might know where they are on the system, could you be one of those individuals?
This is still considered FOUO and not meant for general public knowledge. If you do work with us, KYEM and/or your local EMA, and have access to the system information, then it is understood that this information is considered “Guarded” and not to be published or posted for all to see.
This information came from a very small number of
redneck scannists who enjoy listening to their scanners and sharing their findings with others of the same ilk. ALL information found in the Kentucky Database is from those individuals.... No insiders were compromised in the mapping of this system....
For the individuals that will or do work with county EMA groups and would like access to the system, then the process is no secret. An MOU must be signed with the Division of Military Affairs J6 Wireless Communication Office in Frankfort, located at the Boone National Guard Center. Your radios will be required to meet specs and be loaded with the correct codeplug of system features to be complaint. The radio must also meet the supported models that the communication office will support. The office will program the radio with system codeplug and system IDs that are listed in your MOU.
The insiders who have taken part in USING information posted here are well aware of the procedure as outlined... Again, readily available as public information:
LEXINGTON-FAYETTE URBAN COUNTY COUNCIL WORK SESSION AGENDA August 11, 2009 (Item O under New Business), among others...
Speaking of system IDs - Let me warn all of you, that any unauthorized, oddball radios that show up on our console in Frankfort will be most likely be inhibited. The means your new very expensive Ebay digital radio will be a brick paperweight for your desk. We watch the entire system very closely and all transitions are logged in software and also recorded. Please do not program any digital radio to transmit on the system. This would be stupid on your part to risk bricking your digital radio and illegal anyway. Don’t do it.
I find your accusation that I or others have plans to do as you say not only insulting but arrogant in a way that embarrasses me as a taxpayer. It is this same attitude toward the average citizen that gets in the way of being a successful public servant. I believe most members of RadioReference.com would rather spend that money on a scanner that will further their enjoyment of this hobby rather than buying a radio that will be of little use to them as scannists. In all of the incidents where I have received complaints accusing someone of using information they took from this website to interfere or requests to remove information because of perceived interference, the majority of the problems turned out to be unfounded. In the case of a rural Kentucky Volunteer Fire Department, for example, who asked that their information be removed, the “constant activation of the repeater” was members seeing how far from their repeater they could get a 'kerchunk' with their new radios.... another of these complaints was intermod during periods of moderate ducting causing the repeater to fire on an input from far away.... Conversely, I do know that during the two Ice Storms earlier this year, a number of out-of-state First Responders deployed here on a mutual aid mission used information found within these pages to program their scanners so they could respond to calls-these were out-of-jurisdiction First Responders helping in Kentucky.
Back to monitoring and the scanner hobby. Chances are if the radio traffic is sensitive and not for the general public, then it will be encrypted. Also, if one agency is communicating to another agency, encryption may be used in order to not be a nuisance to other system users. Sorry, it is just the way the system is utilized and shared by several agencies.
And that is a fact of monitoring to which we are accustomed; however, encryption just to keep “those redneck scannerheads out of our business” (part of a conversation I overheard at an exercise between two participants who thought they were encrypted) is insulting and demeaning.
I can’t help any more than this so don’t ask, but keep in mind it works very similar to the KSP system, just VHF. Have fun out there!
We haven't asked for help thus far given our full understanding AND appreciation of the legal restrictions based upon the provisions of
For Official Use Only and other non-disclosure protocols, besides, if the system was handed to us the gratification of mapping it would be gone....
