Ohio Marcs Private Calls

[Scannerhead1983]

Does anyone know if the administration monitors private calls between users? I see through reading on here that they can be monitored by certain uniden scanners, I'm just curious to see if the administration monitors these calls, As I am sure there are probably all kinds of chatter between users.

 

[mdulrich]

What administration?

Mike

 

[Scannerhead1983]

Down in Columbus, I know they monitor certain talkgroups, I was just curious if they tuned into the private calls too. I am thinking not, as there are more than likely hundreds that are going on daily. But I wanted to get input from others.

 

[radioscan]

Private Calls on MARCS are very rare. There are not hundreds going on daily. As to whether DAS monitors them I do not know.

 

[a388sig2]

Would the system record them? Could recordings of private calls on MARCS be accessed as public record or discovery in a court proceeding?

 

[Scannerhead1983]

Thats what i am wondering, i am just curious to see... I wonder how many cases where people have said the wrong things over a I-call and wond up with there butts in a vice. I think that with the volume of radios out there that can be used in a private call, that recording and monitoring of them all would take a lot of system resources. I doubt that they do monitor/record them... But was wondering if anyone actually knew. They can be monitored by the uniden BC-396XLT's But the user has to configure the scanner to recieve them. And since they do not actually transmit across a talkgroup only the individuals radio id's will show up. And the Id's will only show up on the scanner if the users are affiliated with that tower. If someone ic PC'ng another user say down in Columbus, You will only hear the users radio closest to the towers in your area.

 

[wa8pyr]

Would the system record them? Could recordings of private calls on MARCS be accessed as public record or discovery in a court proceeding?

On most systems recording of radio transmissions of any kind is generally left to individual departments. A good quality basic logging recorder with a modest amount of disk space suitable for recording a dozen or so audio channels typically goes for at least $30k, and for MARCS to record any audio transmissions or radio traffic at the system level would require a vast amount of expensive equipment on top of the system hardware; to the best of my knowledge they do not do so.

If you have a legitimate reason to request audio recordings, you might try the originating department. Without a legitimate reason and a very specific request, though, there's a very good chance they'll turn you down, and at the moment case law and court rulings are on their side.

 

[a388sig2]

Private Calls on MARCS are very rare. There are not hundreds going on daily. As to whether DAS monitors them I do not know.

I agree with MARCS private calls being very rare. Seems many users don't even know how to initiate a call. Many departments only allow dispatch and supervisors to initiate them, blocking most users access to initiate them on the radio, and it's just easier for them to use a personal mobile phone.

 

[Scannerhead1983]

Very true on most users not knowing how to use the private call feature. Here in Hancock county most of the Fire/Ems use the model 2 xts 2500's which can not initiate a private call unless the users ID they wish to call is stored in the radio. However for those of us who have the model 3's can make a private call to any radio so long as the users ID is known.

 

[a388sig2]

Anyone know if for local departments looking to buy in to MARCS if there's an additional charge for access to private call features? Could every radio from a department be programmed to initiate private calls?

My only exposure has been to OSP radios that blocked private call initiation to only allow dispatch and supervisor's cars and portables private call initiation ability at the time.

 

[Scannerhead1983]

I am pretty sure that most agencies can use this feature, so long as the programmer has allowed this feature to be initiated through the radios. For users who have the Model 2 XTS 2500's the only way a I-call or a page can be made with their radio is if the other users radio ID is programmed into the call list. And since the I-call feature is enabled in the system I don't see why there would be an additional charge. Radio's can also be paged through the system as well, The same process is done using individual radio Id's. But for users with the model 3 series radios, Any users radio ID can be selected by keying it in through the radio. These calls can also be monitored using a uniden BC-396XTL scanner with the I-call feature enabled. The scanner also has to be set to ID search mode, and not ID scan. This would be in comparison to radioshacks (wildcard) search. From what I have read though it seems that only the Uniden scanners allow this to be done. And you will only hear traffic from which the users radio has affiliated with. If someone is down in columbus and is talking to another user in your local area, you will only pick up half of the convorsation. From what I have listened to it seems that the private call's are used more than most people think. But with the capabilities of mobile phones most users just assume to use them, Which makes sence since making a call that way is secure.

 

[TheDrifter]

TheDrifter

Can you get cell phones on a PRO106? I have an old PRO 39 that I use to pick up cell's on before they changed it. Now that was fun. e-mail me @ jkd50@fuse.net

 

[Scannerhead1983]

Cellphones can not be monitored by any scanning device at this time. Years ago when they still ran on strictly 800mhz freq's you could listen to them, But it's completely out of the question now, Plus it's illegal unless you work for the NSA.

 

[wa8pyr]

I am pretty sure that most agencies can use this feature, so long as the programmer has allowed this feature to be initiated through the radios.

Actually, private call (and telephone interconnect, which MARCS does not use) must be enabled in the system controller as well as in the radio; if either feature is not enabled at the system level, it won't work no matter what the radio is set up to do. This is true for any system. In most systems private call and telephone interconnect are enabled by default, but it's left up to the individual department as to whether a user gets the capability.

However, it seems more and more often these days that those capabilities are being limited at the system level in order to conserve resources (aka, channels). Contrary to popular belief, radio and talkgroup priority levels on trunked systems do not knock an active conversation off the air when there are users waiting in the busy queue; a higher priority level simply gives a talkgroup or radio higher priority in the busy queue, but they still have to wait their turn. As such, channel resources become especially precious when you have a lot of activity and only a few channels, and when private or interconnect calls go on for a long time, a significant portion of the capacity at a site is lost until it's over (ie, someone lets the channel drop).