Roanoke Valley System Changes

[Listener1440]

Noticed the Roanoke Valley System is gaining more "Es". The Roanoke City Fire-EMS just received one on TAC7.

Interestingly enough, there has not been much traffic on several of their talkgroups, so wondering if they have already or will be going all the way eventually.

The Western Virginia Water Authority must be using some other way to communicate or maybe encryption there, because their talkgroup is been quiet as well.

If anyone has any insight, please share.

73s

 

[richardbritt]

Do you have a pro2096, pro96, or ws1040 by any chance? You could run pro96com and watch the controllers of trunk systems and see if they are encrypted or not. I watch 6 different sites when I am in Northeastern NC. It's a fun way to find little used talkgroups and watch radios affiliate and which talkgroups are encrypted or not.

 

[Listener1440]

Thanks for the response. Only Uniden BCD436HP, Homepatrol 2, and SDS100. Not sure if I can accomplish it with them.

 

[richardbritt]

Nope. Proscan might have the ability to report talkgroups as encrypted but I have never tried to figure that out. Can't hurt to watch the truck system on Proscan and see if anything shows up. Or try using discover mode. I know encrypted transmissions show up but you of course don't get any audio. But it will anything on the trunk tower will show up if it transmits

 

[sdabbey]

You can also use SDRTrunk to do this if you have a couple of cheap RTL-SDRs around.

 

[WX4JCW]

I am most likely moving to Roanoke next year, is there much to listen to or is it pretty much locked down

 

[BigLebowski]

I am most likely moving to Roanoke next year, is there much to listen to or is it pretty much locked down

Pretty much all law enforcement is encrypted, both on RVRS and STARS. Roanoke County Fire is encrypted, it sounds like city fire may be adding a few encrypted talkgroups. Salem Fire is still in the clear I believe.

You can listen to Botetourt, Montgomery, and Craig as well as the Blue Ridge Parkway and USFS. They are still in the clear for now.

Lots of railroad traffic if you are into that.

 

[WX4JCW]

Thank You

 

[motorcoachdoug]

Why in the world would a county encrypt fire coms? I can understand if a couple of talk groups are encrypted due how sensitive the rescue might be,example working in a federal office or building and the information inside is very restricted.

 

[BigEd1314]

Why in the world would a county encrypt fire coms? I can understand if a couple of talk groups are encrypted due how sensitive the rescue might be,example working in a federal office or building and the information inside is very restricted.

Probably a case of "because we can".

 

[vavolff]

Why in the world would a county encrypt fire coms? I can understand if a couple of talk groups are encrypted due how sensitive the rescue might be,example working in a federal office or building and the information inside is very restricted.

Sometimes, Fire/EMS has no choice and no say in encryption unfortunately. All of the firefighters/chief's Ive talked to are strongly against encryption as a whole and don't want it around. Most of the time, it's ignored and they loose out. There are some great examples out there of this situation.