McKinney Encryption and Talkgroup update

[tateconcepts]

Before we begin - this is not a topic meant to be in violation of the recent announcements on discussions of encryption but rather the lack of, which we all have been discussing for some time now.

While driving to a relative's home in the middle of McKinney the other day (Eldorado and Lake Forest), I heard some thing never heard before… someone talking on the preprogrammed McKinney P25 system that was imported from here at RR! Now, I will state that I actually had the ID Search feature turned on instead since I knew that I have never heard anything before on those but when I did - I heard several talkgroups in use - including McKinney FD1 and PD1 Dispatch I believe. I do have pictures for anyone's reference but I thought it might be a good time for someone to rescan that area again and see if the county and state requested they allow for better interop thereby making some channels available?

All I know is there was definitely great reception and proper decoding that readily identified itself as part of the McKinney System/Site and that the signal was being received correctly. Has anyone else heard these guys? Anyone with a larger shack and system who is in the area; wish to rescan MPD for validity on all encryption? Again, I think we are all in agreement that there are things we don't have a need to hear but I would like to know that my taxes are at work and that there are no weirdos next door…

Brian

 

[Russell]

UniTrunker shows McKinney PD channels to be encrypted (protected). FD is open; perhaps it was a FD/PD channel; Unified Command (70) seems a likely candidate. I'll let it track for awhile to see if there are any 'new' channels. McKinney has clearly reduced their power and configured their antennas so that most of the signal remains in the city. From my location in Allen their signal is very week and difficult to consistently track.

Russell

 

[mikebennett]

Every now and then you can still hear some open traffic, particularly on their NCIC TGRP but that appears to be an accident, they turned their switch off or something. 99% is still encrypted.

You might have also heard CCSO or another agency calling them. They do not have encryption capability. There was a problem previously with MPD dispatch hearing them but maybe they've cleared that up.

 

[tateconcepts]

UniTrunker shows McKinney PD channels to be encrypted (protected). FD is open; perhaps it was a FD/PD channel; Unified Command (70) seems a likely candidate. I'll let it track for awhile to see if there are any 'new' channels. McKinney has clearly reduced their power and configured their antennas so that most of the signal remains in the city. From my location in Allen their signal is very week and difficult to consistently track.

Russell

I think you may be correct. The Collin County wiki page indicates the entire system is encrypted and yes they sure as hell made sure that their signal stays very local and relevant to their network. Dumb idea, would make it easy to jam since they also have cabs and their PD is near a college and school bus station. I guess they haven't figured out what Fort Worth figured out, their are some intelligent and innovative young radio hams and others that are usually found in large, metro areas like such. McKinney now relies on their small power and anything mobile could easily equal the same amount of power causing digital transmission errors from mobile units everywhere, forcing them to talk in the open. I wonder why this is legal anyway, I see most of them at Chic-Fil-A and other places for long periods of time. It behooves me to think that they know they have an inflated budget and too many officers and not enough crime to justify it or their expensive IT and radio operations from the known 'corrupt' city and police management who just happens to oversee the PD.

Here's the pictures I took, I believe most on PD but some on others. These are a month old as I have been quite busy at home with my toddler and another on the way, plus working too. I think most were FD but some were PD but seemed very 'directed' would be best stated. It was clear and full signal but clearly not able to be received in the other direction of Lake Forest going North away from McKinney.

Brian