Thorny41587
Member
Does anyone think in the next decade, the more interesting thing to listen to will be the garbage trucks? Meaning, do you think there will come a time when scanners cannot monitor public safety systems at all?
Public Safety Monitoring
- Thread starter Thorny41587
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Dude there will be not only PS to monitor for 10 years... but closer to 20.
There will be analog, conventional, unencrypted comms for at least 15 years in many locations.... and analog LTR TRS's for that long as well.. both Standard, and Passport. There will be unencrypted fire/ems comms for at least that long, most likely longer. Scanners will keep improving and keeping up with radio technologies. So keep your shoes on, relax,.. and enjoy... the hobby sure as hades ain't ending for a LONGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG time.
There will be analog, conventional, unencrypted comms for at least 15 years in many locations.... and analog LTR TRS's for that long as well.. both Standard, and Passport. There will be unencrypted fire/ems comms for at least that long, most likely longer. Scanners will keep improving and keeping up with radio technologies. So keep your shoes on, relax,.. and enjoy... the hobby sure as hades ain't ending for a LONGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG time.
JoeyC
Senior Member
How many times has this been discussed?
jbstahr
Member
milf said:
Not to mention the cost to go fully encrypted. Even with all of the Homeland Security grants and such, most departments don't have the budget to make that choice.
astrodanco
Member
Gee Milf, the guys over at Batlabs batboard are far more pessemistic than you are. They think it's going to happen FAST. I have to question my desire to buy a new mobile digital scanner based on their pessimism (or rather their perceived glee which is depressing to me). Also, 10-15 years doesn't seem like too long to me. It seems like I just bought my first scanner 15 years ago and that was just yesterday. Oh man am I getting old!milf said:
Hey Guys,
In my area of Tri-Cities Tn.-Va. the public safety departments use
their cell phones as walkie talkies. I just wonder why we wasted
so much tax payers dollars on a trunktracking system to be use
part of the time. Cell phones has hurt our hobby in this area. I
do not Know about other parts of the U.S.A.
Robert
In my area of Tri-Cities Tn.-Va. the public safety departments use
their cell phones as walkie talkies. I just wonder why we wasted
so much tax payers dollars on a trunktracking system to be use
part of the time. Cell phones has hurt our hobby in this area. I
do not Know about other parts of the U.S.A.
Robert
Hey Guys,
In my area of Tri-Cities Tn.-Va. the public safety departments use
their cell phones as walkie talkies. I just wonder why we wasted
so much tax payers dollars on a trunktracking system to be use
part of the time. Cell phones has hurt our hobby in this area. I
do not Know about other parts of the U.S.A.
Robert
In my area of Tri-Cities Tn.-Va. the public safety departments use
their cell phones as walkie talkies. I just wonder why we wasted
so much tax payers dollars on a trunktracking system to be use
part of the time. Cell phones has hurt our hobby in this area. I
do not Know about other parts of the U.S.A.
Robert
STiMULi
Member
JoeyC said:
349 times but lets do it again...
Do your research on SDR (software defined radio) once that becomes common place owning a radio will be an absolute trip.
You will see radio (software) hackers and encryption like you have never thought of before.
There will be new laws about who will be allowed to encrypt thier transmissions and who won't. There will be approved types of encryption and those that will be allowed for only federal agencies and the like.
Keys will be flying around as well as mode code and people trying to figure out what mode is that.
SDR is gunna be sooo wide open and sooo restrictive at the same time.
Will PS be scannable? Some will some won't. We will have to start now to apply presssure ahead of those that want to restrict observation of our public servants and continue to pass on what Ben Franklin said...
Those who give up liberty for the sake of security deserve neither liberty nor security.
jmp883
Member
Scanning......
The hobby of public safety scanning will never disappear completely. Yes, many agencies are switching to trunked systems or are going digital but (so far anyway) the scanner manufacturer's are keeping right up with the technology.
Remember, when trunk systems first hit the air everyone thought that that would be the demise of public safety monitoring for 2 main reasons. The first was that it was thought that most public safety agencies would go trunk and then the 2nd reason was that the cost of a trunk-capable scanner would be beyond the means of most scanner enthusiasts. Well here we are several years later and there are many agencies using trunk systems. However there are just as many departments still using conventional systems. In regard to the cost of the scanners, the original trunkers were high, but now anyone can buy a new trunk-capable scanner for around $200-$250.
Digital radios right now are a little out of the range of many scanner buffs, but like the trunk radios, they'll come down in time. In regard to agencies going digital, yes many will, but I feel just as many won't. It is a cost factor that many smaller agencies won't be able to afford. I dispatch for both a large agency full-time and a small agency part-time. We might go digital or trunk in the big agency, but IF we do it is years away from ever happening. It will probably never happen in the small agency.
Radio technology has been growing by leaps and bounds the last several years, but how many agencies will be willing to upgrade their entire system every few years just to keep pace? As an example, my parents live in Omaha, NE. Both Omaha PD and FD were conventional VHF-Hi until just recently when they switched to a digital system. They bypassed going to a trunked system completely. Of course I don't know why they didn't go trunk, nor do I know if they ever considered a trunked system. I also can't say if they had the foresight to see digital coming and had elected to wait for that system to become available. But, had they elected to go to a trunk system, then decided to go digital, they might have only gotten about 10-15 years out of the trunk system. Think of the cost of that: conventional to trunk to digital. Remember, the agencies are spending the money out of their budgets, but those budgets are filled with the taxpayers money. Even in this day and age (post 9-11-01) I think most taxpayers would question why a radio system is being upgraded or replaced every 10-15 years or so. As a dispatcher in a perfect world I would like to see our radio systems upgraded that frequently, fiscal realities ensure that that doesn't happen. My full-time job has a radio system that hasn't seen any major changes in the 13 years I've been associated with it. It was installed about 8-10 years before I was hired 13 years ago! The part-time job's equipment isn't much newer.
Oh well, just my ramblings........
Have fun and stay safe!
Joe P :shock:
Emergency Services Dispatcher
Volunteer Firefighter
Scanner Buff
The hobby of public safety scanning will never disappear completely. Yes, many agencies are switching to trunked systems or are going digital but (so far anyway) the scanner manufacturer's are keeping right up with the technology.
Remember, when trunk systems first hit the air everyone thought that that would be the demise of public safety monitoring for 2 main reasons. The first was that it was thought that most public safety agencies would go trunk and then the 2nd reason was that the cost of a trunk-capable scanner would be beyond the means of most scanner enthusiasts. Well here we are several years later and there are many agencies using trunk systems. However there are just as many departments still using conventional systems. In regard to the cost of the scanners, the original trunkers were high, but now anyone can buy a new trunk-capable scanner for around $200-$250.
Digital radios right now are a little out of the range of many scanner buffs, but like the trunk radios, they'll come down in time. In regard to agencies going digital, yes many will, but I feel just as many won't. It is a cost factor that many smaller agencies won't be able to afford. I dispatch for both a large agency full-time and a small agency part-time. We might go digital or trunk in the big agency, but IF we do it is years away from ever happening. It will probably never happen in the small agency.
Radio technology has been growing by leaps and bounds the last several years, but how many agencies will be willing to upgrade their entire system every few years just to keep pace? As an example, my parents live in Omaha, NE. Both Omaha PD and FD were conventional VHF-Hi until just recently when they switched to a digital system. They bypassed going to a trunked system completely. Of course I don't know why they didn't go trunk, nor do I know if they ever considered a trunked system. I also can't say if they had the foresight to see digital coming and had elected to wait for that system to become available. But, had they elected to go to a trunk system, then decided to go digital, they might have only gotten about 10-15 years out of the trunk system. Think of the cost of that: conventional to trunk to digital. Remember, the agencies are spending the money out of their budgets, but those budgets are filled with the taxpayers money. Even in this day and age (post 9-11-01) I think most taxpayers would question why a radio system is being upgraded or replaced every 10-15 years or so. As a dispatcher in a perfect world I would like to see our radio systems upgraded that frequently, fiscal realities ensure that that doesn't happen. My full-time job has a radio system that hasn't seen any major changes in the 13 years I've been associated with it. It was installed about 8-10 years before I was hired 13 years ago! The part-time job's equipment isn't much newer.
Oh well, just my ramblings........
Have fun and stay safe!
Joe P :shock:
Emergency Services Dispatcher
Volunteer Firefighter
Scanner Buff
STiMULi
Member
The SDR radios are a brick of stupid electronics. We will spend a reasonable amount of money on the brick but will cost the bucks will be the software that create the modes:
APCO-25
Spread Spectrum
NBFM
AM
SSB
POCSAG/FLEX (I know
)
Motorola this Provoice that
and so on...
And whatever else we want to scan
WFM
XM/Sirius
TV/SSTV/ATV/HDTV
again so on...
It would be basically buy the brick and build your own scanner.
My area just got a $10m bond approved for a Communications upgrade/consolidation I am hoping they go APCO-25 with little or no encryption. With us living so close to the border I doubt that there will be much that is NOT encrypted.
IMO we will soon have another attack of some sort and the reaction will be intense and it will travel through like shockwaves.
Although it will take years to implement, I see those with the capabilities immeadiately at hand to enrypt thier commuincations and those that don't will start the planning and implementation under Federal guidance.
From my discussions with one of the responsible parties for the $10M upgrade I am talking about, there are persons acting as unpaid consultants in the organizational process. They people are from various agencies within the Federal Government.
Again this is my uninformed opinion only (WAG - Wild AXX Guess)
APCO-25
Spread Spectrum
NBFM
AM
SSB
POCSAG/FLEX (I know
)Motorola this Provoice that
and so on...
And whatever else we want to scan
WFM
XM/Sirius
TV/SSTV/ATV/HDTV
again so on...
It would be basically buy the brick and build your own scanner.
My area just got a $10m bond approved for a Communications upgrade/consolidation I am hoping they go APCO-25 with little or no encryption. With us living so close to the border I doubt that there will be much that is NOT encrypted.
IMO we will soon have another attack of some sort and the reaction will be intense and it will travel through like shockwaves.
Although it will take years to implement, I see those with the capabilities immeadiately at hand to enrypt thier commuincations and those that don't will start the planning and implementation under Federal guidance.
From my discussions with one of the responsible parties for the $10M upgrade I am talking about, there are persons acting as unpaid consultants in the organizational process. They people are from various agencies within the Federal Government.
Again this is my uninformed opinion only (WAG - Wild AXX Guess)
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