Thunder Bay Police..anyone used a Provoice capable radio yet?

Status
Not open for further replies.

MetalCarnage

Member
Joined
May 12, 2005
Messages
735
Location
Ajax Ontario
Just curious if anyone who lives in Thunder Bay who has a MA/COM radio has tried to program in Thunder Bay Police to see if they are encrypted....i would like to find out if anyone is listening to them lately, havent been up there for a month or two now but i wanna plan for the future when i head back that way. If there is anything else new up there if u could post that would be cool too. Curious if anyone has picked up the new Zone 3 OPP towers....is the signal weaker/stronger? Lemme know
 

mikewazowski

Forums Manager/Global DB Admin
Staff member
Forums Manager
Joined
Jun 26, 2001
Messages
13,459
Location
Oot and Aboot
The OPP doesn't have any Zone 3 towers.

Bell Mobility Radio has a Zone 3 in their Fleetnet system. Is this what you are referring to?

I've picked up lots of Zone 3 towers. In some places they are stronger then the old OPP NOR system towers and in some places weaker.
 

acosell

Member
Joined
Jan 14, 2005
Messages
101
Will fleetnet zone 3 cover the district of Thunder Bay? It's not listed in the Db

(ONT-Sudbury ONT-Nipissing District ONT-Timiskaming ONT-Algoma)
 

mciupa

Database Admin
Moderator
Joined
Nov 5, 2002
Messages
8,301
acosell said:
Will fleetnet zone 3 cover the district of Thunder Bay? It's not listed in the Db

(ONT-Sudbury ONT-Nipissing District ONT-Timiskaming ONT-Algoma)

I think T Bay is in Zone 5 (NW) and the NE area is Zone 4. :confused:
 

acosell

Member
Joined
Jan 14, 2005
Messages
101
NE is covered under Zone 3, so maybe Thunder Bay and Kenora Districts are zone 4...?
 

MetalCarnage

Member
Joined
May 12, 2005
Messages
735
Location
Ajax Ontario
Mike_Oxlong said:
The OPP doesn't have any Zone 3 towers.

Bell Mobility Radio has a Zone 3 in their Fleetnet system. Is this what you are referring to?

I've picked up lots of Zone 3 towers. In some places they are stronger then the old OPP NOR system towers and in some places weaker.

ya ya, same thing, OPP resides on the Fleetnet system, blah blah...ANYWAYS, i was unaware there was Zone 4 and 5...i thought there would just be the 3 Fleetnet Zones.....kinda dumb that they would leave Thunder Bay out till so late, but i dunno, does anyone have an idea when all of ontario is going to be running on fleetnet?

EDIT: I jsut thought with all this talk about Zone 3 being done by August that it would include Thunder Bay Area, guess not....
 

mciupa

Database Admin
Moderator
Joined
Nov 5, 2002
Messages
8,301
I guess the Thunder Bay folks are too shy to respond , ( if there are any)... but you never know who lurks on these boards .

With that ProVoice radio , I guess if anyone has the inside scoop on it they could PM you if they are reluctant to admitting on a public forum of having one in their posession.
 

MetalCarnage

Member
Joined
May 12, 2005
Messages
735
Location
Ajax Ontario
mciupa said:
I guess the Thunder Bay folks are too shy to respond , ( if there are any)... but you never know who lurks on these boards .

With that ProVoice radio , I guess if anyone has the inside scoop on it they could PM you if they are reluctant to admitting on a public forum of having one in their posession.

True i guess, didnt know ppl were that paranoid though
 

jellotor

Member
Joined
Jan 6, 2004
Messages
1,077
Location
Hamilton, ON
MetalCarnage said:
True i guess, didnt know ppl were that paranoid though

Oh, why would anyone in possession of what is essentially an unauthorized (illegal?) radio have any reason to be paranoid?

I believe there was always 5 zones for Fleetnet...and I remember seeing a document somewhere that said Thunder Bay is part of the 4th or 5th zone. As with many things government-related, you can expect the northern and western most zones to be operational when they damn well please.
 

MetalCarnage

Member
Joined
May 12, 2005
Messages
735
Location
Ajax Ontario
jellotor said:
Oh, why would anyone in possession of what is essentially an unauthorized (illegal?) radio have any reason to be paranoid?

I believe there was always 5 zones for Fleetnet...and I remember seeing a document somewhere that said Thunder Bay is part of the 4th or 5th zone. As with many things government-related, you can expect the northern and western most zones to be operational when they damn well please.

Meh, most people do something illegal every day, lol
 

EJB

20 + year membership
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Oct 29, 2002
Messages
3,640
Location
Downtown Hamilton
True. We do illegal stuff every day BUT: There have gotta be coppers on here who are part of the boards and I doubt that they's like it if there radios with encryption are made available to anyone.
The motto is keep it quiet and enjoy. Do not cause undue attention to yourself and enjoy your scanner. If you get pulled over with a Pro voice police issue radio....

side to Graeme: Well be up north this weekend with a stop in the Sound, will get married this summer on the 'pen.

:)
Eric
 

rhutch

Member
Joined
Feb 5, 2005
Messages
569
Location
Ontario
EJB said:
True. We do illegal stuff every day BUT: There have gotta be coppers on here who are part of the boards and I doubt that they's like it if there radios with encryption are made available to anyone.
The motto is keep it quiet and enjoy. Do not cause undue attention to yourself and enjoy your scanner. If you get pulled over with a Pro voice police issue radio....

side to Graeme: Well be up north this weekend with a stop in the Sound, will get married this summer on the 'pen.

:)
Eric

If it's encrypted it doesn't matter cause I doubt you'll have the key. If it's just plain Provoice it's just a radio and there is nothing against the law of you having one aslong as you don't transmit on it so
 

MetalCarnage

Member
Joined
May 12, 2005
Messages
735
Location
Ajax Ontario
EJB said:
True. We do illegal stuff every day BUT: There have gotta be coppers on here who are part of the boards and I doubt that they's like it if there radios with encryption are made available to anyone.
The motto is keep it quiet and enjoy. Do not cause undue attention to yourself and enjoy your scanner. If you get pulled over with a Pro voice police issue radio....

side to Graeme: Well be up north this weekend with a stop in the Sound, will get married this summer on the 'pen.

:)
Eric

Why would the coppers care if people could listen to there encrypted transmissions, do they have something to hide from the public that they dont want anyone knowing about ;) he he
 

mciupa

Database Admin
Moderator
Joined
Nov 5, 2002
Messages
8,301
MetalCarnage said:
Why would the cops care if people could listen to their encrypted transmissions ?, do they have something to hide from the public that they dont want anyone knowing about ;) he he

Two things come to mind why they should "hide from the public":

If they are involved in surveillance , the subjects could get tipped off and flee . Perhaps they could catch the criminals "red-handed" and get a conviction if the criminals are unaware they are being watched.

But ,the worst-case scenario would be officers would walk in to an ambush and be killed as happened in Alberta last year.
 

MetalCarnage

Member
Joined
May 12, 2005
Messages
735
Location
Ajax Ontario
mciupa said:
Two things come to mind why they should "hide from the public":

If they are involved in surveillance , the subjects could get tipped off and flee . Perhaps they could catch the criminals "red-handed" and get a conviction if the criminals are unaware they are being watched.

But ,the worst-case scenario would be officers would walk in to an ambush and be killed as happened in Alberta last year.

Well obviously surveillance has to be encrypted, but TPS isnt encrypted and whens the last time you have heard them get ambushed....
 

DaveH

Member
Joined
Jul 29, 2001
Messages
3,287
Location
Ottawa, Ont.
MetalCarnage said:
Meh, most people do something illegal every day, lol

Not to get too philosophical, but personally I wouldn't push that line of reasoning.
Even if something's not technically illegal, it can net you the wrong attention from
the wrong people.

As far as the original question, some people on the Ottawa Yahoo group were
making noises a while ago about getting a ProVoice radio going. You may want
to go over and wake them up, heaven knows there are times it could do with some
useful discussion.

Dave
 

mciupa

Database Admin
Moderator
Joined
Nov 5, 2002
Messages
8,301
MetalCarnage said:
TPS isnt encrypted and when's the last time you have heard them get ambushed....?

Thankfully , never.
 

ve3fal

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Oct 6, 2006
Messages
16
Fleetnet Zone 4 is now up and running as far as Kenora area, and the new Comm center is also about ready to roll out the banner full throttle.
I have my 996T and still learning how to use it, but will help with any frequencies and finds as I get them.

Fred
Thunder Bay,Ontario
 

SCPD

QRT
Joined
Feb 24, 2001
Messages
0
Location
Virginia
FleetNet Zone 3 covers (approximately) northeastern Parry Sound District, Nipissing District, Timiskaming District, Sudbury District, City of Greater Sudbury, Algoma District & Cochrane District (excluding Mooseonee and the James Bay coast which is not on FleetNet). In other terms, the Highway 11 corridor from south of North Bay north and west through Hearst as well as the Highway 17 corridor from about Bissett Creek (east of Mattawa) west through White River.
FleetNet Zone 4 covers (approximately) southern Kenora District (northern limits are around Balmerton on Highway 105 and Pickle Lake / Central Patricia on Highway 599), Thunder Bay District & Rainy River District. Otherwise the Highway 11 corridor from east of Longlac west to Rainy River along with the Highway 17 corridor from east of Marathon west to the Manitoba border. Coverage in both zones does not reach the far northern portions of the province.

There is very little in the database for Zone 4 due to its recent implementation and the smaller number of scannists than in the southern part of the province, so please search the system and submit what you find for frequencies and talkgroups to RR.

There were originally supposed to be 5 zones; however, for some reason this was reworked into the current 4. Zones 1, 2 & 3 are fully transitioned. Zone 4 is underway with MOH fully switched and OPP underway. I'm not sure about the other agencies in Zone 4.
 

Forts

Mentor
Database Admin
Joined
Dec 19, 2002
Messages
6,688
Location
Ontario, Canada
rhutch said:
If it's just plain Provoice it's just a radio and there is nothing against the law of you having one aslong as you don't transmit on it so

That's always been a touchy subject. I see what you are saying, but at the same time you are talking about a hobbyist programming a professional radio that will essentially sit on a public safety radio system. To properly program the radio you need to assign certain parameters to it like like a unique radio #, talkgroups, affiliation settings etc etc. If these are setup improperly a lot of bad things could, in theory, happen. This isn't really the thread to discuss this though as it's been beaten to death many, many times in other discussions on here. Just my $0.02 :)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top