New Lee County P25 Public Safety System

[K4IHS]

The News Press has said in several articles Cape Coral will be the first to move to the new P25 system. Right now I'm hearing Cape Coral FD and PD there plus some EMS TG's. The Lee Co Sheriff is probably the biggest user. The move for them is in the 2011 budget. After that... just a handful of local FD's left. Fort Myers PD and FD is is inter-connected. Because they'll all have to talk to each other... and that's really what the P25 system is all about... and again I'm guessing here that they will all end up on the new P25 system. That should take care of rebanding and narrow banding issues.

Lots of activity on the scanner today as a backhoe dug up a high pressure gas line that resulted in a big explosion. All the local TV stations when to live coverage and even CNN picked up the feed for awhile. One person was burned very badly and they flew him to the burn center in Tampa.

 

[K4IHS]

I forgot to add... digital doesn't mean encryption... just that the digital can be encrypted. No analog on a P25 system.

 

[CalebATC]

Defintley one HUGE migration... that is the biggest trunking system I have ever payed attention to.

Sucks that they are testing encryption... show your anger, Ralph! Call Wink and Fox and stir some crap with the Lee!

 

[K4IHS]

Folks will hate to hear me say this... but I think some sensitive TG's should be encrypted. The aps on these cell phones make it waaaaay too easy for the crooks to monitor the police. That's why I don't stream TAC, CID, SWAT, Warrants, etc... not just because it's against RR policy. I get in a sweat sometimes over this. One of these days... a police officer is going to get killed and somebody will say the perp was listening to a feed via an ap on a cell phone. A lawsuit will ensue and I don't have any money to fight something like that if I get named. It won't make any difference if it's against the law or lawful. It almost makes me want to go click off my PD feed jsut thinking about it... :-( ps: Did you know I take care of and program the scanners at WINK-TV?!

 

[CalebATC]

Wow, that's awesome that you program the scanners for Wink. That could really cause them a problem- maybe you should do a interview about it, and write something for the News-Press about it.

Now the phones and having scanner, I really disagree with that. I don't think it should be allowed. In fact, it should be against the law. Now Echolink on a phone, that's different, along with ATC, businesses and other non "threat able" feeds.

But yes, SWAT, CID and some of the major TAC's should be encrypted, that could cause an officer his/her life. But dispatch, EMS, seriously?

It makes me thing Wal-Mart is going to start encrypting because they don't want people to hear that Bill dropped his case of beer and needs a cleanup on isle 5.

You know what they say, technology has it's downfalls.

PS: I was listening to the feed, that has great quality.... won't be so great when it's encrypted though

 

[K4IHS]

Interesting story as to how I got hooked up with WINK. Way before I had streams here on RR... I had my streams on Shoutcast. In fact... I still have my SW Regional Airport ATC stream there. Anyway... I didn't know it at the time but WINK was using my stream somewhat uniquely. Shoutcast has about a 30 second to 2 minute delay from real time. WINK had my PD/FD/EMS stream going in the newsroom and when they heard something on their own scanners that they missed or didn't get the address... they quickly went to my stream for the replay.

They were looking to update the newsroom scanners and just gave me a call one day. I went over and took my PRO197. They had no idea you could "see" via the TG ID display what service you were listening to. It blew them away! They went out and bought 6 PRO197's and I programmed them a few days later. When they saw the WIN500 software going to work they were blown away again. I still get to go to the newsroom and tweak the TG's every once in awhile.

I also got the 25 cent tour and what a place to visit. Lots of electronic toys to look at. Great bunch of folks over there at WINK. I'll be going over again soon to update their scanners with the new P25 system. Just waiting now to get a few more TG's online and ID'ed.

I've also had calls from Fox4. They're looking to do a scanner update soon as they're aware of the new digital P25 system too.

Usually when a PD/FD/EMS service goes all encrypted... the local newsrooms are usually given the option to buy radios from the provider so they're kept in the loop. They're the same radios used by PD and FD but programmed not to transmit. I'd also bet a few TG's are not in the provided radios! Some states have laws to prevent citizens from carrying scanner radios. That's the way it is here in Florida. I have a ham license so I'm exempt. News gathering folks are also exempt from the law.

 

[gcr33]

Encryption is coming and it is cheap. Using ADP on digital keeps the scanner listener out of the monitoring business. I have said listen quietly but no, people kept posting stuff about their police and fire departments that were not complimentary and now with cell phone apps to listen more problems. What would you do if you were the Chief?

 

[CalebATC]

Sounds good, Ralph.

I wish they would do something like that for us Amateurs who actually listen as a hobby....

Anyway, encryption is becoming a killer. I would like to encrypt all of our Amateur transmissions and see what they do.......

 

[K4IHS]

News story about the system December 29, 2010...

Cape Police upgrading radio system - NBC-2.com WBBH News for Fort Myers, Cape Coral & Naples, Florida

 

[CalebATC]

News story about the system December 29, 2010...

Cape Police upgrading radio system - NBC-2.com WBBH News for Fort Myers, Cape Coral & Naples, Florida

And they think putting in a brand spankin' new radio system is going to solve all there problems?? I'm sure they will still have dead zones, maybe not as bad, but they will still be there.

If that is an 8 million dollar grant coming from the feds, where do they get all this money THAT THEY DON'T HAVE?!?!? What a freaking waste of money. Why don't they ship all of that 8 million over to the school system that is 69 MILLION DOLLARS in debt? Just a bunch of idiots.....

And the part about all being encrypted- that really ticks me off. That's just as bad as the little TSA pat downs.

Let's see here, just to name a few- our country is sexually assaulting us by patdowns, giving us cancer by all these body scanners that are also a waste of money, and taking away what we taxpayers pay for- there radio systems that DON'T EVEN NEED UPGRADED, that we can't even listen to anymore. For crying out loud, the county I moved to has 26 officers, and 3 VHF repeater systems for EOC, EMS, and sheriff dispatch.

Now, I can understand Atlanta, Charlotte, Miami, Tampa, Detroit, New York City, etc being encrypted on TAC and other sensitive channels, but really. Can you tell I am pissed!?!? Sorry to somewhat take it out on this form, but Ralph, I would be pissed if I was you! You have the absolute reason to be!!

 

[K4IHS]

I'm too old to get pissed about much. Certainly not scanner radio. There will always be something to listen to on a scanner. Spending all that money on a new radio system? That's a horse of a different color. From what I'm hearing so far... there are quite a few issues with the new P25 system. I'm sure for another million or two... they'll be able to work out the bugs. Like Cape Coral... the rest of the county will follow next year. And yes... I'm hearing more and more encrypted comms on the new system each day.

 

[CalebATC]

True, there will always be something to listen to. Even if it comes to the Rinker Concrete, or Wal-Mart

I think these people forget about adding an extra 1-7 million for tweeks. Recently, Charleston, SC had to do over a 7 million dollar repair for there brand new (2007) radio system that they said was going to be great, and it came out that it sucked. Well, I wonder if they get the grants, or that's a one time deal?

Anyway, I think it will be a very, very trial and error process for LCSO to have a migration as good as they expect. After watching that video, I never did know pineneedles absorbed RF energy. That's bad in my case then!

 

[jeremy55]

Unfortunate News...Boys and Girls...Cape Coral Update

Here is a news story that aired on NBC 2 news about a week ago. And now things are a little more clear why my BCD396T has been a little more quietly lately. Keep in mind I have the same 12 frequencies programmed in 3 different times. One for Fort Myers PD, one for Cape Coral PD, and one for Lee County Sheriff. This was I can fine tune exactly which department I want to listen to, and which division of which department I listen to. Sheriff and Fort Myers PD remain the same, as of right now.

Cape Police upgrading radio system - NBC-2.com WBBH News for Fort Myers, Cape Coral & Naples, Florida

 

[K4IHS]

jeremy55: Your BCD396T will do the new P25 that Cape Coral and the rest of Lee Co is switching to. The control channel for the new P25 system is 855.9625. You need only to program the control channel then set the talkgroup to wildcard. Cape Coral PD/FD/EMS and some Lee Co EMS can be heard on the new P25 system. It is very active with several additional talkgroupshave been added that can't be heard on the old analog system. Right now... most all of the Cape Coral talkgroups are being simulcast on the old Motorola type II system. If you use WIN500 I can send you the programming file. Otherwise look here ate the current Lee Co systems.
Lee County FL Public Safety Trunking System, Lee County, Florida - Scanner Frequencies
Lee County Public Safety (Project 25) System Trunking System, Fort Myers, Florida - Scanner Frequencies

 

[K4IHS]

I had a phone call today from Fox4 News in Fort Myers wanting me to do an interview about scanner radios. I'm in Tampa so I couldn't do the interview. Anyway... they received a letter from Cape Coral indicating that the Cape public safety radio system will go digital encrypted sometime over the next 2 week time period. The TV news folks have been given a web address to log into so they can listen to the police and fire communications... but with a 7 minute delay. I thought it might be coming to this because I'm hearing more and more encrypted communications this past week.

 

[CalebATC]

Sorry to hear about that, Alan.

It's a shame our government is doing that to us.

 

[K4IHS]

The news story as reported on Fox4 January 11...

Scanners In Cape Soon To Go Silent - FOX 4 News | Cape Coral-Fort Myers-Naples Florida - WFTX

 

[K4IHS]

I am streaming the new Cape Coral PD/FD new P25 system periodically. The link is here...

Lee County Incident Feed Live Scanner Audio Feed

 

[K4IHS]

Latest News: Chief Murphy said they've already transitioned their system over to digital, it's just a matter of "flipping the switch" to encrypt the transmissions. He said all fire and police traffic for the Cape as well as some other smaller agencies (including Sanibel) would all be completely encrypted no later then April 2011 but most likey sooner then that.

 

[Bolt21]

Is Lee County going to be encrypted as well?