digital change over

[centralcoastscanman]

I'm going to chime in here as well

If you don't know what you are doing and are wanting to program a radio capable of TX/RX your an idiot as odds on your going to do it wrong and tx on a freq to which you are not licensed for.

If you know what you are doing then you already know how to find this stuff

If your going to tx on freq's your not licensed to, go and bugger off as you are one of the reasons why emergency services are encrypting their channels(there are many others but don't have time to list the ones i am aware of)

I know when I went to Albury last year I had no idea what the local police channels were, i took my scanner and took my XTS5K.

I figured out all the channels I needed and programmed them as RX Only.. I set the TX as disable which if you know anything about programming radio's is very easy

[ivahri]

The problem is that too many people think they know how these modern radios work, very few truly do. I've been working on an APX series profile over the past week & honestly it is doing my head in... and I've been writing radio profiles professionally for 20+ years. They are complex and if you miss a tick box, or misunderstand what it does, you can get in the poo. Hobbyists should NOT be programming them, indeed many pros shouldn't be either.

My view is simple- if I find someone with my agency's licenced frequencies in a radio capable of transmitting I alert the ACMA. I want them confiscated because I'm tired of people who think they don't interfere, or at least delude themselves to think that, causing legitimate radios to deaffiliate... And you are absolutely right- many I know in government would ban all scanners & make the hobby illegal (if they could)... and that is because of the pests.

Cheers,

Richard

[matthewn1983]

I think eBay is a prime suspect for this problem, allowing the selling of radios pre programmed with 'RFS' or the local police in them. The purchaser who in 99% of cases has no idea about radios, no idea about the potential damage they can cause, with the seller not being held liable. If it was a commercial seller, selling a radio with 'RFS' or the local police channels, im sure ACMA would be around there at crackers knocking on the door.

I think there was evidence as well in the past month or so of someone playing silly buggers on a certain P25 clear channel in the city, abusing the users over the air etc, idiots like this will cause the channel to become secure, and unable to be monitored.

Theres been cases on eBay of people trying to sell Poker machines of all things, various models, old pull arms up to the recent models (that are being imported from elsewhere and sold locally) within an hour of the ad being placed, its usually removed and the user warned for posting illegal and unlicensed material.

on the other matter.. comes back to the article spoken about recently on other forums.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/ ... y-20110805

Johannesburg - The Boksburg Magistrate's Court on Friday found planespotter Julian Swift guilty of illegally possessing a radio receiver and using it to listen to air traffic communications, the editor of the SA Flyer magazine said.

"He was found guilty on the two charges...and ordered to pay R5 000 or spend 10 months in jail," Guy Leitch said.

Swift, 52, was arrested at OR Tambo International Airport in February last year after officials saw him taking photos of landing planes.

He was found with a radio receiver that cannot transmit but is still illegal without a radio license under the Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-Related Information Act.

[news]

The problem is that too many people think they know how these modern radios work, very few truly do. I've been working on an APX series profile over the past week & honestly it is doing my head in... and I've been writing radio profiles professionally for 20+ years. They are complex and if you miss a tick box, or misunderstand what it does, you can get in the poo. Hobbyists should NOT be programming them, indeed many pros shouldn't be either..

Cheers,

Richard

Would you like a training session Richard ?

[ivahri]

If I only had the time...

[rustynswrail]

Did anyone see tonights 9 News?

Rolled out the old interoperability or lack of it chestnut again. Complaining that the RFS could not talk to FRNSW who could not talk to ASNSW and of course the police who doesn't want to talk to anyone.

Usual grabs from residents (in this case Menai) who are angry that no one can talk to anyone after the fire a few years ago - why they need to remains to main question in my mind?

Also introduced evidence from the enquiries in Victoria about failed radio communications - no relevance of course but it makes for a good story.

Part of the story was also about how the feds (ACMA) are forcing various NSW departments to introduce new radio systems and how the feds should pay for it. As usual two unrelated stories rolled into one. Would be nice if the media could stick to one story and not stray off track, but I suppose they are media ... never letting the facts get in the way etc.

Russell

[Bigfella237]

Somebody call MediaWatch!

I didn't see it myself but what you describe, as anyone who has visited this forum would know, is nothing but propaganda.

There's many different options available for agency interoperability, from ESO liaison channels and talkgroups, to the incident control vehicles that most agencies have now fitted with multi agency radios.

I also know that most RFS Fire Control Centres have FRNSW radios installed, I've seen many of them testing on the GRN (the one at Lake George in particular has been responsible for at least two instances of major disruption to the FRNSW talkgroup that I've personally seen, but that's another story).

The exception to all this being the police, who seem to want access to other agency's systems but not allow them access to their own, although I can understand their point of view (every bloke and his dog seemed to have access to the old analog systems, from marine rescue, to SES, to RSPCA, to Fisheries, and the list goes on, I have even heard a tow truck in the Snowy Mountains call up VKG once! I'm sure they wish NOT to repeat that mistake with their digital channels).

And anyway, the public really has no idea of the chaos that would ensue if every emergency worker on the ground had access to every other regardless of agency, the different protocols used, people rabbiting on about crap when urgent messages need to be passed etc., there's a good reason why only incident management teams are the only ones with multi agency access!

Andrew

[matthewn1983]

Sydney Catchment Authority (SCA) -> GRN Radios with RFS talkgroup Access
National Parks and Wildlife (NPWS) -> Have been heard on ESO and RFS Talkgroups (both OPS and normal talkgroup) using RFS GRN radios.
Aerial Firefighting (Various) -> Every related channel known to man in their radios
RTA/RMS -> Have heard NSWPF (City Central, Rocks, Surry Hills, Redfern) with these radios in the past for CBD Operations, Have heard Tow Companies with loaned RTA radios for clearway operations during major events such as Anzac Day)
Maritime -> Have heard NSWPF Marine Area Command come up on Maritime talkgroups.
FRNSW and the ARFF
NSW Health (Hospital/ER) and the Ambulance Service of NSW, with their disaster management plans. (2 talkgroups in Sydney)
NSWPF -> Various Medical and Surveying Aircraft (Airpat, Childflight, Careflight)
Ambulance Service of NSW and the ACT Ambulance Service
NSW SES have access to ACT SES talkgroups
RFS have access to ACT RFS talkgroups
FRNSW and the SA CFS etc, mentioned here i think it was Broken Hill

even the GRN techs have dedicated interop talkgroups to the MMR in melbourne.

interoperability ? then there is the mobile phone......

[ivahri]

Did anyone see tonights 9 News?

Rolled out the old interoperability or lack of it chestnut again. Complaining that the RFS could not talk to FRNSW who could not talk to ASNSW and of course the police who doesn't want to talk to anyone.

Usual grabs from residents (in this case Menai) who are angry that no one can talk to anyone after the fire a few years ago - why they need to remains to main question in my mind?

Also introduced evidence from the enquiries in Victoria about failed radio communications - no relevance of course but it makes for a good story.

Part of the story was also about how the feds (ACMA) are forcing various NSW departments to introduce new radio systems and how the feds should pay for it. As usual two unrelated stories rolled into one. Would be nice if the media could stick to one story and not stray off track, but I suppose they are media ... never letting the facts get in the way etc.

Russell

And the saddest part Rusty is that they never interview the people who know what they are talking about...

We know it is cr@p- all the agencies can talk to each other. Inter agency talkgroups have been a compulsory feature for more than a decade.

But the last comment sounds like a "mole" in a certain government agency that refuses to put up realistic funding submissions because they want someone else to provide them with new radio networks... and you are right, these are two different issues but maybe someone is trying to exploit the media's desire to never let facts get in the road of a good story.

Cheers,

Richard

[ivahri]

Hi Matt,

Quite a comprehensive list! You can add FRNSW to ACT Fire...

But I just have to laugh at all this- I've used the ESO's to talk to RFS, SES, NSWAS, NSW Police... how much more interoperability can you get!

Cheers,


Richard