Washington Times- "Taxpayers float bill for defective first responder equipment"

[ResQguy]

You don't need the Nationwide Interops on a regular basis, if your normal Mutual Aid / Interop functions properly, which might explain the silence for you.

It's for when you have the "BIG ONE" and the resources are coming from outside of your Normal Mutual Aid / Interop networks

If you are south of line A and still call your interop channels ITAC, you're doing it wrong.

 

[ecps92]

Not every agency has the $$ to keep up with the naming standards and reprogram for every whim, wind change

Altho having a knowledgeable COML who can speak Old and New helps

And from what I keep reading, Sprint/NextHELL have not completed the 800 Rebanding everywhere.
So keeping those channels would have been smart, but then... I don't make those big $$

If you are south of line A and still call your interop channels ITAC, you're doing it wrong.

 

[James_Bond_007]

part of getting federal funds for these systems should be P25 or analog voice and encryption should be specifically barred on routine dispatch and mutual aid channels, requiring encryption be reserved for tac channels only and to make two neighboring systems tac encrypted channels interoperable they could mandate that neighboring systems have the capability to tie tac channels together between each other on demand to keep the sensitive stuff on an end to end encrypted link. this will address officers need for for sensitive communications while keeping things interoperable between neighboring communities. officeres will just need to pull their heads out of their collective rear ends and learn the basic skill of remembering to switch channels to an encrypted tac channel when warranted instead of being lazy and wanting to lock everyone out completely.

yes i know this statement will probably open a huge can of worms due to my mention of the E word.

 

[James_Bond_007]

also what NJ has done for the issue of resources coming from outside the mutual aid zone is the state and neighboring states have a host of conventional analog vhf / uhf simplex frequencies that vary based on the user ie; fire, ems, leo and these simplex frequencies are tied to the state and county TRS systems to their respective services such as fire, etc. to allow out of state or out of mutual aid territory resources to still have access on these systems for mutual aid.

at least when i left NJ years ago it was still that way.

 

[SCPD]

part of getting federal funds for these systems should be P25 or analog voice and encryption should be specifically barred on routine dispatch and mutual aid channels, requiring encryption be reserved for tac channels only and to make two neighboring systems tac encrypted channels interoperable they could mandate that neighboring systems have the capability to tie tac channels together between each other on demand to keep the sensitive stuff on an end to end encrypted link. this will address officers need for for sensitive communications while keeping things interoperable between neighboring communities. officeres will just need to pull their heads out of their collective rear ends and learn the basic skill of remembering to switch channels to an encrypted tac channel when warranted instead of being lazy and wanting to lock everyone out completely.

yes i know this statement will probably open a huge can of worms due to my mention of the E word.

Hear, hear.

Don't worry about the "E" word, it won't. I tried a few days ago to discuss this in another thread. Crickets.

Like you, I am all for selectable encryption.

As to why some scanner hobbyists are not more vocal about this issue on the local level, beats me. Maybe it is the social/political alienation that is so pervasive these days or just plain old laziness.

The aircraft spotting and railfan hobbyists have faced ever increasing hostility and they have answered it by becoming civil engaged and educating the LEO's and elected officials that question their right to participate in a hobby.

You either support transparency and accountability in government or you don't. Up to everyone of us to help define the public good.

 

[12dbsinad]

Interop. The big word that means "money, not the solution" Yet, millions of dollars get poured into this sinking boat with little or no interop outcome.

Analog. Yeah, the ancient technology that works. It's funny, around here a few agencies got sold M-trbo because they had to vacate their perfectly working analog system, because analog was going to go away soon! Yes, another narrowbanding down to 6.25 soon and no more analog! Yeah, ok. If analog just went away tomorrow, what do you think would happen? I don't see it happening anytime soon...

 

[jim202]

You keep seeing P25 being touted as a requirement for equipment being used for the big "INTEROPERABILITY" solution. The only ones that make out on this stand are the radio vendors. That's why they keep lobbying to have the radios required to have P25 for being eligible for federal grant money.

I tend to try to take a neutral stand on this. I work with many agencies on their radio systems and frequently get asked about the requirement of a P25 radio. A non P25 radio can be obtained for at least half of or even a quarter of what a P25 radio sells for.

 

[profiledescent]

Plenty of ITAC and ICALL repeaters here. And they have been silent for years on end.

As they should be, by design. They weren't put up for everyday traffic, but specific events.

 

[iamhere300]

You are just quoting names here, not everyone of these have their own comms plan.

Here's what's wrong with interoperability, as usual too much government does more harm than good:
We have...
Illinois' Statewide Communications Interoperability Plan
Illinois Emergency Management Agency
Illinois State Police (and their emergency radio network)
Illinois Terrorism Task Force
Illinois Emergency Services Management Association
Illinois Law Enforcement Alarm System
Emergency Management Assistance Compact
Mutual Aid Box Alarm System (which is great and mainly uses just one frequency, the nationwide one)
Illinois Telecommunicator Emergency Response Task Force
Emergency Management Network
ILEAS Agency Preparedness Program
Illinois Public Safety Agency Network
Illinois Public Safety Telecommunications Association
Illinois Transportable Emergency Communications System
Illinois Wireless Information Network
Law Enforcement Aviation Coalition
Law Enforcement Mutual Aid Agreement
then add to this...
National Domestic Preparedness Consortium
National Emergency Communications Plan
National Incident Management System
FEMA, and dozens more, all with their suggested interoperability plans .... You'd think this would have been sorted out 50 years ago.