Preamble:
For nearly two years I've been constructing a call sign guide with one simple goal: Log all radio call signs, private, local, state, and federal, that are used in Monroe County for the sake of historical record and assisting other listeners. Obviously, this goal is far from complete, and completion is likely impossible. However, it has gotten to a point where I feel comfortable releasing it for public viewing and input. As it stands, thousands of call signs are currently accounted for.
Organization:
The guide itself is quite simple: It's a Google sheet broken down into sections. Within each section, each department or company is listed. Larger agencies are broken down into divisions. The units are listed in order of call sign, next to it is what unit it is assigned to, and any notes that may be worth attaching in regard to the unit's usage. Occasionally, I'll have a note assigned to the department as a whole marked in green. Unknown talkgroups and radio codes are also listed in their own respective sections.
Encryption concerns:
Should this Guide be noticed by any agency we could move one step closer to encryption. Obviously, we move closer every day, but a guide like this could expedite the process. This is a sort of balancing act, distributing the information while ensuring that the information doesn't become completely useless. To eliminate as much risk as possible, I've removed all SWAT and Rescue Taskforce call signs (which are deployed to extract victims from mass shootings and other hostile situations). This information is backed up on a separate Google sheet that will be private. I would like to share this information where I can, but I'll need to construct some sort of vetting process for those who desire access.
Current issues:
-SUNY Brockport Police not yet listed.
-Departments such as the Water Authority and RTA are severely neglected.
-Some outdated information from Radio Reference likely prevails. Each time information from Radio Reference is used "RR/NF2G" is listed in Notes, in part to give credit, in part to, essentially, say, "Hey, this may be completely wrong."
-Radio Reference information that has been confirmed is not distinguished from unconfirmed information.
-Codes and terminology are far from complete.
-Some call signs are unclear which department they belong to. For example, many SWAT call signs are shared between RPD and MCSO.
-Many K9 units aren't listed.
-It's highly likely some units were misheard.
Where do we go from here?
There will always be new information to be acquired, especially as the Monroe/Ontario System is still being developed, aside from that, call signs are ever changing (we need not look farther than the MCSO Adam and Baker units). However, this new information will always come in at varying rates. This rate is currently not high enough for me to justify keeping this guide private.
I'm still determining the best way to deploy this guide to the Wiki. I'm tempted to transfer all the information into the Wiki. This method gives us a backup to be used if needed, but this is, A. Absurdly time consuming, and B. Inconvenient, I would essentially have to update two databases at once whenever I receive even a small bit of new information. I'm currently leaning toward just linking the sheet on every relevant Wiki page, but this means I would be the only one with backups of the information if no one downloads it (which you are more than welcome to do).
For the next few years I'll be in Albany County most of the time. I can still listen to Monroe County though feeds like OpenMHz, but I have a new focus: Making a guide, pretty much just like this one, for Albany County.
How can you help?
Give me all the information that you can. Feel free to browse the guide, look for any incorrect information, give me new information, whatever you like. You can give it to me in this thread, or through private messages to preserve anonymity. Let me know how you would like to be credited, if at all (all anonymous credits will be listed in the Notes as "Contribution" to inform the view that the information wasn't discovered by me).
The Guide
For nearly two years I've been constructing a call sign guide with one simple goal: Log all radio call signs, private, local, state, and federal, that are used in Monroe County for the sake of historical record and assisting other listeners. Obviously, this goal is far from complete, and completion is likely impossible. However, it has gotten to a point where I feel comfortable releasing it for public viewing and input. As it stands, thousands of call signs are currently accounted for.
Organization:
The guide itself is quite simple: It's a Google sheet broken down into sections. Within each section, each department or company is listed. Larger agencies are broken down into divisions. The units are listed in order of call sign, next to it is what unit it is assigned to, and any notes that may be worth attaching in regard to the unit's usage. Occasionally, I'll have a note assigned to the department as a whole marked in green. Unknown talkgroups and radio codes are also listed in their own respective sections.
Encryption concerns:
Should this Guide be noticed by any agency we could move one step closer to encryption. Obviously, we move closer every day, but a guide like this could expedite the process. This is a sort of balancing act, distributing the information while ensuring that the information doesn't become completely useless. To eliminate as much risk as possible, I've removed all SWAT and Rescue Taskforce call signs (which are deployed to extract victims from mass shootings and other hostile situations). This information is backed up on a separate Google sheet that will be private. I would like to share this information where I can, but I'll need to construct some sort of vetting process for those who desire access.
Current issues:
-SUNY Brockport Police not yet listed.
-Departments such as the Water Authority and RTA are severely neglected.
-Some outdated information from Radio Reference likely prevails. Each time information from Radio Reference is used "RR/NF2G" is listed in Notes, in part to give credit, in part to, essentially, say, "Hey, this may be completely wrong."
-Radio Reference information that has been confirmed is not distinguished from unconfirmed information.
-Codes and terminology are far from complete.
-Some call signs are unclear which department they belong to. For example, many SWAT call signs are shared between RPD and MCSO.
-Many K9 units aren't listed.
-It's highly likely some units were misheard.
Where do we go from here?
There will always be new information to be acquired, especially as the Monroe/Ontario System is still being developed, aside from that, call signs are ever changing (we need not look farther than the MCSO Adam and Baker units). However, this new information will always come in at varying rates. This rate is currently not high enough for me to justify keeping this guide private.
I'm still determining the best way to deploy this guide to the Wiki. I'm tempted to transfer all the information into the Wiki. This method gives us a backup to be used if needed, but this is, A. Absurdly time consuming, and B. Inconvenient, I would essentially have to update two databases at once whenever I receive even a small bit of new information. I'm currently leaning toward just linking the sheet on every relevant Wiki page, but this means I would be the only one with backups of the information if no one downloads it (which you are more than welcome to do).
For the next few years I'll be in Albany County most of the time. I can still listen to Monroe County though feeds like OpenMHz, but I have a new focus: Making a guide, pretty much just like this one, for Albany County.
How can you help?
Give me all the information that you can. Feel free to browse the guide, look for any incorrect information, give me new information, whatever you like. You can give it to me in this thread, or through private messages to preserve anonymity. Let me know how you would like to be credited, if at all (all anonymous credits will be listed in the Notes as "Contribution" to inform the view that the information wasn't discovered by me).
The Guide
