[Scan-DC] Well written newspaper article, no?

Lee Williams leonzo at hotmail.com
Fri Sep 27 14:04:45 EDT 2013 

I was under the impression that P25 Phase 2 can be monitored by the GRE 800, am I incorrect? Or is Harris going to set their P25 Phase 2 up differently where it can't be monitored by scanners currently available and I assume that also means that there will be no inter-operability with say P25 Motorola system which is currently scannable (as long as the agency hasn't encrypted).



 
> Date: Fri, 27 Sep 2013 12:42:35 -0400
> To: alan at henney.com; Scan-DC at mailman.qth.net
> From: jeff at krauss.ws
> Subject: Re: [Scan-DC] Well written newspaper article, no?
> 
> Well balanced, but a lot of misinformation in the article.
> Since the vendor is Harris, which now owns the M/A-COM OpenSky 
> product, is there anything that says explicitly that the new radio 
> system will be P25 Phase 2, vs. possibly OpenSky?
> As we know, Phase 2 TDMA systems can be set up to operate in Phase 1 
> FDMA mode, if the Sheriff wants to maintain access for digital scanners.
> I don't see the word "encrypted" anywhere in the article, so that's 
> not the issue here.
> Channel 4612?  Really?
> An 800 MHz interoperability channel for Federal Homeland 
> Security?  Interoperability, yes.  Federal, no.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> At 02:52 AM 9/27/2013, Alan Henney wrote:
> 
> >The Batavian (New York)
> >
> >September 25, 2013 Wednesday
> >
> >It turns out, nobody currently makes scanners for the county's new 
> >emergency radio system
> >
> >BYLINE: Howard Owens
> >
> >SECTION: LOCAL
> >
> >LENGTH: 1018 words
> >
> >A $10.8 million upgrade to the county's emergency radio system is 
> >expected to greatly improve the reliability and efficiency of 
> >emergency communication, but the unintended consequence is that 
> >citizens, off-duty first responders and the media could all be in 
> >the dark for months or longer once the new system is fully operational.
> >
> >It's a bit of a surprise to everybody involved, but the new 
> >technology being installed by Rochester-based Harris RF is 
> >incompatible with even the most advanced consumer scanners currently 
> >on the market.
> >
> >And when new scanners are released -- perhaps as early as the first 
> >part of the year -- they are likely to cost as much as $500 to $600 each.
> >
> >Sheriff Gary Maha is a big believer in the idea that citizens with 
> >scanners help solve crimes. Clearly, when he spoke with The Batavian 
> >in the spring about the new radio system, he didn't anticipate the 
> >new technology would be incompatible with existing digital/trunking scanners.
> >
> >"We're few and far between out there," Maha said. "We need all the 
> >eyes we can possibly have. If we have a bank robbery, we put that 
> >information out over the air so some citizen down the road may see 
> >the vehicle we want and can call 9-1-1. It's a benefit to us to have 
> >the people out there watching. They're our eyes and ears out there."
> >
> >In recent weeks, we've had discussions with Maha about the situation 
> >and he said he's interested in finding a solution.
> >
> >Getting scanners into the hands of media outlets is one thing. One 
> >solution that's been used in other parts of the country is for local 
> >law enforcement to lease emergency radios, with the outgoing 
> >transmission capability disabled, to news outlets. These radios cost 
> >in the neighborhood of $4,000 each, so it's still an expensive solution.
> >
> >Another solution is putting streaming feeds of emergency 
> >transmissions from the P25 system on the county's Web site. But it's 
> >unclear at this point if the county has the available bandwidth or 
> >necessary technology to make this happen.
> >
> >A Web-based solution would help both media outlets and make 
> >transmissions available to all county residents who care to tune in.
> >
> >The Sheriff along with Undersheriff William Sheron met yesterday 
> >with executives at Harris.
> >
> >Sheron said that Harris indicated it's a problem beyond the scope of 
> >their work, but said they are aware of other jurisdictions doing 
> >exactly what the Sheriff is considering.
> >
> >"We're certainly aware of the issue and are interested in finding a 
> >solution," Sheron said.
> >
> >Genesee County isn't the only jurisdiction facing this issue, as 
> >more and more agencies switch to the new technology and 
> >RadioReference.com's forums are filled with discussions about the situation.
> >
> >What The Batavian has been able to piece together from the forum 
> >posts as well as interviewing Gerry Oliver, owner of G&G 
> >Communications in Le Roy, is that:
> >
> >* A company called GRE America made a radio that was designed to be 
> >compatible with Phase II technology, but the company went out of 
> >business. Its radio was imperfect technology and needed improvements 
> >and wouldn't necessarily work with Harris RF communication systems. 
> >BRS Phase II TDMA radios can be found on Ebay, but you take your 
> >chances buying one.
> >
> >* A company, The Whistler Group, Inc., has acquired GRE's 
> >intellectual property and is planning to enter into the scanner 
> >business. It didn't specifically announce a Phase II scanner, but 
> >presumably they'll bring one to market, perhaps before the end of March.
> >
> >* Representatives from Uniden have dropped hints in Radio Reference 
> >that the company -- which is the largest manufacturer of scanners -- 
> >is close to announcing a Phase II scanner. Estimates of when it will 
> >go to market range from fiscal Q1 2014 through the end of 2014.
> >
> >* Oliver believes that even after the switch-over, fire dispatch 
> >will remain on channel 4612, which means scanners currently 
> >programmed to pick up that channel will still be able to hear the 
> >fire dispatcher. There just won't be any chatter from emergency 
> >responders in the field answering the calls for people still 
> >listening on old scanners.
> >
> >  Radio Reference is an organization of ham radio operators and 
> > scanner enthusiasts. Through RF, volunteers from around the nation 
> > make their local emergency communications available on the 
> > radioreference.com Web site. Every smartphone app that allows 
> > people to listen to police and fire calls on their iPhones and 
> > Droids uses RR feeds, so if RR doesn't have working Phase II 
> > scanners, then those apps won't work for P25 jurisdictions.
> >
> >Harris officials would not comment for this story.
> >
> >The county has until March 1 to stop using one of its current 800 
> >mhz channel so that the bandwidth becomes available for an 
> >inter-operable communication channel for federal Homeland Security.
> >
> >Steven Sharpe, director of emergency communication, said 
> >installation begins next month, but current scanners will work on 
> >existing emergency channels until the P25 infrastructure is in place 
> >and operational.
> >
> >Migration to the new system for emergency users should begin in December.
> >
> >Beyond that the schedule of the transition depends on other factors 
> >-- from FCC licensing to tower crew availability -- though all 
> >equipment is scheduled to be installed by Feb. 1, giving the county 
> >one month to meet the 800 mhz channel deadline.
> >
> >What happens at that point largely depends on what the county can 
> >make available to citizens and media for monitoring emergency 
> >transmissions, and what Whistler and Uniden make commercially 
> >available for purchase.
> >
> >Oliver said there are a lot of people concerned about the issue, and 
> >people should be concerned.
> >
> >"This is a public safety issue and it's a public information issue," 
> >Oliver said. "There's the average listener who pays taxes and thinks 
> >they have a right to listen in, but there's also the issue of 
> >firemen, off-duty police officers and EMTs -- how are they going to listen?
> >
> >"I hope there's a solution for safety sake," he added. "Let's say 
> >I'm an (off duty) EMT and I live down the street from a call, a 
> >scanner might tell me, do I respond? What should I do if I hear 
> >nobody's responding? Those are the people who need scanners."
> >
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