Quandry

[jpnoll]

Hiya folks,
I just wanted to ask those more experienced than I (read: humble), a question that has been bothering me for quite some time now. So here goes:

I live in Orange County California and some time around 2000, I was told that the police departments were going with a new "digital" radio system. about 9/2001 my City of Orange freq hushed up and hasnt made a peep since. At the time Digital Scanners were not really out yet and I didnt know what to do. Fast forward to the present. I found the frequencies and the RS Pro-96 and am ready to get one, BUT! The Radio Reference page on Orange County Frequencies says this:

"All talkgroups/channels dedicated exclusively to law enforcement (RED talkgroup excluded) are encrypted (DES-OFB). Only radios equipped and programmed for encryption can transmit/receive on encrypted talkgroups/channels."

Here are my questions:

1) Can the RS Pro-96 or Pro-2096 decode this so-called "encryption"?
2) If not, is there a radio available to the public that can?
3) If the answer to the abovequestions is "no", am I asking the correct questions?

I am very interested in hearing what is going on during an emergency and will only use it for lawful purposes.

JPN

 

[flyingwolf]

If the transmissions are encrypted, then it looks like your out of luck.
the 96 cannot decode encryption, and neither can eny scanner out there.

As stated on the site

Only radios equipped and programmed for encryption can transmit/receive on encrypted talkgroups/channels.

So unless you happen to have one of thier radios, then nope, your SOL.

 

[jpnoll]

Thank you.

Flying wolf,

Thanks for the straight talk. I figured it would come down to this. BTW, has anyone really "confirmed" by experienced that this is truly the case? I mean I can see if it's smoke and mirrors to throw off the those "Non-data-ferrets" with a fast pitch slight of hand. Would like to hear from someone who has "first hand" experience.

jpnoll

"Your only as think as you good you are..."

 

[joetnymedic]

like wolf said, if the transmissions are encrypeted, unless you have one of their radios, no way, no how. now the question is, are all the transmissions really encrypted or are just some of them? some of our departments only encrypt the stuff the don't want people to hear, while other departments are encrypted 24/7. So the mission is to find out. If they aren't 24/7 then it may be worth investing in a scanner if they are then I'd say no. The only other thing that factors in, is are there any other departments that are digital and not encrypted that you want to listen to? If so, that's when you decide to buy or not to buy.

Joe

 

[SCPD]

It is not smoke and mirrors and hundreds, if not thousands of people have tried to receive encrypted Orange County transmissions. If a receiver could be obtained by anyone outside of the law enforcement agencies using encryption, would there be any point of going to the expense of encrypting the transmissions?

The need for encryption by law enforcement agencies versus the public's right to know what governement agenices are doing has been discussed in many different threads on this website many times. It is a bummer for the scanner listener no matter what the merits or demerits of encryption are. Some other agencies around the country are going to other types of trunking protocols that the manufacturers won't share with other companies making products such as scanners. I can't remember their exact names but "Open Sky" and "Pro Voice" come to mind. When someone's local agency uses such a system it might as well be encrypted also.

I see you are new to Radio Reference, or have only recently begun to post here. This is a great site to learn a great deal about radio and scanning in particular. I hope you stick with it.

 

[loumaag]

Would like to hear from someone who has "first hand" experience.

Well I don't have "first hand" experience, but consider this; the data in the RR database comes from users in the local areas. We don't just download data from other sites, we only accept submissions of things that people in the local area know to be true.

 

[jpnoll]

wow...

Gosh,
thanks for all the great info. I guess I am mentally stuck back in the day where you could buy a RS scanner, punch in the freq and away ya go. I started listeng to scanners back in 73-74' and even had one of the first Bearcat scanners, BC 210??

BTW, does that mean that the FIRE freqs are encypted aslo? It says "Law Enforcement"" but I guess I'm wondering about the other Public Safety freqs. It might be worth getting a RS Pro-96 if I can get them and other mutual aid freqs, reason being knowing what is going on during an emergency.

"To revolt or not to revolt, that is the question..but then again, some find me very revolting

 

[loumaag]

...BTW, does that mean that the FIRE freqs are encypted aslo? It says "Law Enforcement"" but I guess I'm wondering about the other Public Safety freqs. It might be worth getting a RS Pro-96 if I can get them and other mutual aid freqs, reason being knowing what is going on during an emergency.

You should look at the Orange, County of (CCCS - Public Safety) System page and look down through the talk groups for the agencies you are interested in and see what type of modulation is used on them. This can be found in the Mode column. Mouse over the Mode Column header and it will explain the codes used.

 

[jpnoll]

Cool Idea

I did D/L that section and it has all the codes
I also remembered that RS does have a good return policy if i'm not satisfied with the results

Thanks,

"When you are in space, which way is 'UP' ?" and on a planet, shouldnt it be called "out" instead of up? And why do we park on driveways and drive on parkways?"