TRACY, Calif. — It's been years in the making, and they finally flipped the switch about a month ago, much to the dismay of many local residents who have made a hobby of listening to local police channels.
The Tracy Police Department has switched its dispatch frequency from an analog to a digital system, allowing for communication over greater distances and with more flexibility, Lt. Dave Sant said.
The decision to upgrade to digital signals was made several years ago, and equipment required to make the transition has been purchased as older equipment needed replacing. When the department added a second channel recently, requiring the reprogramming of all the radios in police vehicles, the call was made to switch to digital, Sant said.
"It was the perfect time to do it,'' Sant said. "This gives us a cleaner and stronger signal. You can do things you can't do with analog "... It can handle both voice and data on the same signal.''
He said the new system — capable of handling upwards of 16,000 channels — can still communicate with analog signals, allowing for communications with other jurisdictions.
He said the radios were programmed with frequencies from San Joaquin, Stanislaus, eastern Alameda and Contra Costa counties, in addition to several California Highway Patrol and local fire channels.
Sant said a department volunteer, on a trip to Auburn, was able to hear dispatchers, and officers from the Traffic Bureau were able to hear signals at a riding school in Carson City, Nev.
Rex Osborn, a spokesman for the Manteca Police Department, said that department switched to digital about six months ago.
He said the new system provides much greater clarity over greater distance and the opportunity to encrypt their communications.
"It's not encrypted all the time, only when we want it to be,'' Osborn said. "If we go out on a critical incident or a sensitive call where the criminal element might have a scanner, we can encrypt our communications.''
Sant and Osborn said anyone who wants to listen to their communications just needs to get a new scanner, which can be ordered at Radio Shack. The devices are not cheap, however.
"Quite a few people have come in asking about them,'' Krysta Page, an associate at the Tracy Radio Shack said. "Once they see the $499 (price), they walk away.''
The Tracy Police Department has switched its dispatch frequency from an analog to a digital system, allowing for communication over greater distances and with more flexibility, Lt. Dave Sant said.
The decision to upgrade to digital signals was made several years ago, and equipment required to make the transition has been purchased as older equipment needed replacing. When the department added a second channel recently, requiring the reprogramming of all the radios in police vehicles, the call was made to switch to digital, Sant said.
"It was the perfect time to do it,'' Sant said. "This gives us a cleaner and stronger signal. You can do things you can't do with analog "... It can handle both voice and data on the same signal.''
He said the new system — capable of handling upwards of 16,000 channels — can still communicate with analog signals, allowing for communications with other jurisdictions.
He said the radios were programmed with frequencies from San Joaquin, Stanislaus, eastern Alameda and Contra Costa counties, in addition to several California Highway Patrol and local fire channels.
Sant said a department volunteer, on a trip to Auburn, was able to hear dispatchers, and officers from the Traffic Bureau were able to hear signals at a riding school in Carson City, Nev.
Rex Osborn, a spokesman for the Manteca Police Department, said that department switched to digital about six months ago.
He said the new system provides much greater clarity over greater distance and the opportunity to encrypt their communications.
"It's not encrypted all the time, only when we want it to be,'' Osborn said. "If we go out on a critical incident or a sensitive call where the criminal element might have a scanner, we can encrypt our communications.''
Sant and Osborn said anyone who wants to listen to their communications just needs to get a new scanner, which can be ordered at Radio Shack. The devices are not cheap, however.
"Quite a few people have come in asking about them,'' Krysta Page, an associate at the Tracy Radio Shack said. "Once they see the $499 (price), they walk away.''
