Orange County CCCS P25 Update

[tsalmrsystemtech]

Most likely OCFA - METRO NET and Central NET Fire agencies will open up. As to Costa Mesa and Laguna Fire not sure. These two agencies have their own chiefs and dispatch centers. Those two agencies are probably on the fence. We just do not know what all the area chiefs have decided on. Sure would be interesting to know.

As to Green and Red talk-groups most likely absolutely NOT going to happen. Those talk-groups have been locked down for 20 year plus now except for RED which went silent two years ago.

 

[phipac]

There should be an open talkgroup for generalized alerts. Things like road closings, be on the lookouts, weather and other disasters.

These come through on the DSP-DSP talkgroup, 1700 (6a4).

 

[ScanFanEd]

These come through on the DSP-DSP talkgroup, 1700 (6a4).

Can anyone advise how much activity there typically is on DSP-DSP 1700? Is it used fairly regularly?

 

[phipac]

Can anyone advise how much activity there typically is on DSP-DSP 1700? Is it used fairly regularly?

There is usually not a lot of traffic on this talkgroup. It is generally used for inter-agency mutual aid, such as asking if a neighboring agency has a certain language speaker for translation, or a canine unit, etc.

 

[ScanFanEd]

So there is still a chance.

How are others feeling at this point about decryption of fire? Given the comment about three to eighteen months, are you still optimistic that it is still going to happen?

 

[smichaelhenny]

Bummed and depressed here in Huntington Beach. I hope and pray that decryption becomes a reality. Somewhat thankful though for the streaming feeds.

 

[marcotor]

How are others feeling at this point about decryption of fire?

I think it will happen. Not nearly as fast as anyone wants it to, but it will happen. And to beat a dead horse, because many seem to think this is just a "flip of the switch"...

EVERY.
RADIO.
IN THE COUNTY.
Must be touched by someone. And likely twice.

 

[ScanFanEd]

I think it will happen. Not nearly as fast as anyone wants it to, but it will happen. And to beat a dead horse, because many seem to think this is just a "flip of the switch"...

EVERY.
RADIO.
IN THE COUNTY.
Must be touched by someone. And likely twice.

Great to hear! As far as touching every radio potentially twice, yikes...

 

[Randyk4661]

I would think that by the end of this year we may start hearing something, maybe not the radios but some news about the change. I am glad for Broadcastify in the meantime.

 

[tsalmrsystemtech]

I believe it will happen in time. Just not on our dime. It's just a mess when COVID hit and the comm department is probably under staffed and still dealing with people getting sick and employee's being out of the office for long periods of time and vacations and everything.

Also, its probably not the most important task on their list to do since being told that every radio needs to be hand touched again. Think about being the tech or the techs that already hand touched it and have to hand touch it again. Demoralizing. Plus budget money that will need to be allocated for the work to be done too. Most likely when the radios are touched again a new codeplug will be made with OTAP and OTAR so they will never have to be hand touched again. So the back end or the back bone of the radio network will need to be in place and upgraded to handle the radios so they will never need to be hand touched again. Lessons learned.

Plus if the fire departments really wanted the encryption to be in full force they would never put radio feeds for all of those talkgroups on Broadcastify. At least for the time being comms are being streamed. Not the best way but its better than nothing I guess. Hopefully more information will be announced soon hopefully from the fire chiefs. Wonder if Laguna Beach and Costa Mesa Fire will join on the de-cryption too.

 

[fireinoc]

They are currently re-flashing radios county-wide. We can hope that time is coming!

 

[ScanFanEd]

They are currently re-flashing radios county-wide. We can hope that time is coming!

Wonderful! It would be great if we could get confirmation that this is in fact what we have been hoping for!
If this is the case, any guesses as to how long the process could take?

 

[d119]

Good for you guys. Years ago when I was dealing with OC Communications as a contractor, I found it to be a group of people driven by egos and attitudes, with a "good ol' boys" atmosphere and a lot of "career ham radio operators" working there, and lot of "hiring friends". Nice to see they've wound up with a little bit of their own medicine with regards to the fire departments.

You can bet that 99.9% of this encryption stuff is being driven by OC Communications, NOT the agencies themselves.

I appreciate the fact that Orange County is so tightly coordinated with their radio operations, but I would hate to deal with the "force feeding" that comes from OC Communications.

Don't miss that one bit.

 

[PrivatelyJeff]

Good for you guys. Years ago when I was dealing with OC Communications as a contractor, I found it to be a group of people driven by egos and attitudes, with a "good ol' boys" atmosphere and a lot of "career ham radio operators" working there, and lot of "hiring friends". Nice to see they've wound up with a little bit of their own medicine with regards to the fire departments.

You can bet that 99.9% of this encryption stuff is being driven by OC Communications, NOT the agencies themselves.

I appreciate the fact that Orange County is so tightly coordinated with their radio operations, but I would hate to deal with the "force feeding" that comes from OC Communications.

Don't miss that one bit.

I imagine some of that force feeding also comes from radio manufacturers, over exaggerating changes to laws and eventually convincing the powers that be that they must have some new tool to be in compliance with the law or some thing.

 

[techman210]

When you are “flashing” a radio, you are adding capabilities, such as Front Panel Programming OTAR, P25, and encryption, etc.

Loading a new code plug would be more logical by creating more talkgroups “in the clear” to make that transition.

And of course, after this is done, they have to hit all the radios again to eliminate all the old encrypted zones in each radio. Can’t do that by using OTAR/OTAP. It would take too long.

Hoping it will happen, but wouldn’t be surprised if encryption continues for a while.

 

[tsalmrsystemtech]

When you are “flashing” a radio, you are adding capabilities, such as Front Panel Programming OTAR, P25, and encryption, etc.

Loading a new code plug would be more logical by creating more talkgroups “in the clear” to make that transition.

And of course, after this is done, they have to hit all the radios again to eliminate all the old encrypted zones in each radio. Can’t do that by using OTAR/OTAP. It would take too long.

Hoping it will happen, but wouldn’t be surprised if encryption continues for a while.

Exactly what is happening with all of the radios right now. This is what they did when they re-programmed the radios on the last go around almost three years ago. They kept the old SmartZone Type II system as primary and added more zone for the NextGen P25 system with the encryption. But it looks like at that time the OTAP and OTAR was not in place or those radios would not have to be hand touched again.

Wonder if the whole countywide fleet of radios will be hand touched including all of the LE agencies so every radio will never be hand touched again. Most likely in time but it looks like FIRE is first. I bet all of Central Net and Metro Net agencies will come aboard too. Now would be really interested if Costa Mesa and Laguna Fire open up into the clear too. I bet OCFA Air Ops 5-A will stay encrypted which blows.

Sure would love to see the new fleet map

 

[ScanFanEd]

They are currently re-flashing radios county-wide. We can hope that time is coming!

Fireinoc, just curious if you have heard anything further about the re-flashing in the last few weeks? Hoping so!

 

[smichaelhenny]

I will invest in a better scanner if this happens….my trx-1 just doesn’t have the range it should….

 

[maus92]

I will invest in a better scanner if this happens….my trx-1 just doesn’t have the range it should….

TRX-1s don't do well with digital simulcast systems. There are relatively inexpensive software / sdr based solutions if you listen from a fixed position, and more expensive radios designed to receive digital P25 signaling.

 

[marcotor]

As an FYI, OCComms has several dozen open positions currently they would love to fill. Maybe some of you experts on how simple it is to operate and maintain a P25 multi-site system can get hired on and show them what they are doing wrong