Subject: [NEXTEL-1] The Phili Radio System- Just In Case Someone Missed it-

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 23:46:33 -0500

The Phili Radio System
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City's new communications system creating jobs and headaches

By: Alex Lloyd Gross / Senior Correspondent

12/18/2002

The Northeast Police Division is now employing the much-ballyhooed $51 million 800 megahertz communications system. Local police officers last week began using the new equipment.

How can the Average Joe tell? Those who listen to police radio calls probably noticed the difference in voice quality.
However, that difference will be short-lived.
The new voice quality is digital. This means that currently the city is cross- patching the transmissions from the new system to the old system. Once they "cut the patch," to use a techno-phrase, your scanner will transmit nothing but buzzing.
Do not fret, however, since Uniden Electronics is scheduled to release a scanner that is capable of deciphering the new system. More about that later.

The new system
The new radio system is actually two separate systems that utilize trunking technology. Trunking simply means that the transmissions are assigned different frequencies to use. The end user is totally unaware of this. One system, using 15 channels, is for the police only. The other is for municipal services such as Fire, Water, Public Property, Fleet Management, License and Inspections, to name a few. Both systems are assigned 15 frequencies.
Each radio system uses its own control channel, which means that 14 frequencies are left open for communication. Currently, experts say, this poses a problem for the police.
Each group (such as the Northeast Police Division) are assigned a talk group. The control channel tells every radio on that talk group to go to a specific frequency . The police have well over 40 different talk groups that could be requesting a channel. With only 14 places to go, some transmissions will not be heard say, if more than 14 units want to transmit at the same time.
Every police unit, experts say, is an important one. For instance, the narcotics unit needs to transmit that the person reaching into the bag is actually carrying popcorn, not narcotics, before that person is arrested and the cover is exposed.
Even now, police officers in the South Division are saying, the system is experiencing some busy signals. And it is not yet fully implemented throughout the city.
The voice quality, however, is superb. Standing outside the 7th Police District in Bustleton, the voice quality transmitting over the new radio from a police officer at the other end of the district was as clear as if the officer was standing there in person.
With ten radio towers, that same excellent audio quality will be experienced by all city units conversing from across the street to across the city.
Different municipalities have had problems with the audio quality of these systems, especially inside buildings. That does not appear to be the case here, although it is too early to gauge the operability of these radios from inside buildings.
The biggest change to the police department is the operation of only portable radios.       There are no radios inside police vehicles. Only one officer can talk at a time. Every one else gets a busy signal when they key the mic. This restores order to the chaotic chatter of the police and fire bands.
In the event of an emergency, however, someone using the new system can employ an orange-colored "preempt" button that sends an emergency signal to the dispatch center. This locks up the air for a short period of time to give that person the opportunity to talk.

Encryption controversy
The Philadelphia Fire Department is using encryption technology that makes the conversation impossible to monitor by anyone else for fireground transmissions. They are the only fire department in the country to do this. Philadelphia police also utilize this technology for some of their transmissions.
Each responding fire unit is assigned a channel to operate on. There are six encrypted fireground channels in the city. Also the Hazardous Materials Unit and Heavy Rescue Unit have their own talkgroups, which too are encrypted.
With encryption comes controversy. Two fire department officials who requested anonymity termed encryption "a tremendous waste of taxpayers' money."
There is nothing operationally that needs to be secret on fireground communications, they said. It is believed the encryption process cost about $1 million, sources said.
Deputy Fire Commissioner James McGrath said encryption is used to protect sensitive information, and called it "necessary under homeland security."
Fire officials concede language can be a bit salty on a fireground, however, most departments have successfully dealt with the problem.
Moreover, some firefighters believe encryption of fireground transmissions is dangerous. The transmission needs to be perfect. If it is not, it raises the possibility that a firefighter in danger may not be heard.
According to Deputy Police Commissioner Charles Brennan, the new police system for the most part is not encrypted.
"We have 600 radios that are encrypted; the rest of the stuff you should be able to hear," he said. "However if it were up to me, I would encrypt everything. The police do not exist for people's amusement."
On May 26, 1999 then-Procurement Commissioner Lou Applebaum told City Council the media would be given access to routine transmissions after City Councilman Frank Rizzo asked about it. Currently, the city has no policy on the media. When asked, Deputy Commissioner Brennan referred all calls to city Managing Director Estelle Richman. She has not returned phone calls seeking comment.
John James, deputy commissioner of public property said, "No policy has been made yet."
The system has been developed by Motorola. The radios used for the most part are the XTS3000 portables. With these radios that police and fire personnel have, they can scan the entire city yet return to their home band for each and every call.
"The city should have done this for us years ago, this is great," said one traffic officer. "I can hear everything." Other fire officers like the idea of being on a fire scene and be able to talk to the chief who is still in route.
The frequencies licensed to the city can be found on the Internet. It is a possibility that some of the frequencies assigned to the municipal band will be taken over by the police system to reduce system load.
Uniden has introduced two scanners that will decipher the new system. For scanner buffs, these units, named 250D and 785D, cannot be sold in stores quickly enough.
The downside to these new scanners are two-fold. First, the complexity of using them. Most scanner users are used to simple steps of program-bank-enter 453.400 for Far Northeast police, for example. The new scanners are far more complex. Uniden has gone so far as to post instruction manuals for them on their website.
The second drawback is the price. They are retailing for about $800. To monitor the Philadelphia systems, you will need to purchase a digital conversion card that is placed inside the scanner.
Will the price tag be cost prohibitive to the Average Joe? Scott Carpenter, product manager for Uniden, said most scanner listeners are law abiding people. "Most people who buy our products will help the police if they see something, These two units are designed for use by everyone and will be able to monitor all non-encrypted systems".
Persons interested in purchasing a new digital scanner will be pleased to know that they are en route to dealers and should be available for sale by late January. To monitor the Northeast Police Division, you will need to know they are on talk group 0048. Far Northeast will operate on 0016. You can use "Alpha Tagging" to mark what you are listening to.

©News Gleaner 2002

Reader Opinions

Post your opinion and share your thoughts with other readers!

Name: Jeff Liberman

Date: Dec, 19 2002

You have one correction I will have these scanners as a UNIDEN dealer RETAIL will be 659 and that is either scanner and the decoder card NOT the 800 you print.
Thanks
The ham Station
Evansville,In

Number of Opinions: 1

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