MTS2000 Wrong Talkgroups

[candrist]

I am on our statewide 800mhz trunking system. The radio works fine, but I would like to use the radio for duties with my local FD and my local PD, because my local FD pays the bill they will not program PD talkgroups in the radio.

Is there a way to add talkgroups to the radio without having the keys?

I can read a PD MTS2000. Can I load the PD's code plug into my radio? The PD Talkgroups are most important?

[desperado]

The short answer is no.

[thebigphish]

...and buy a scanner.

[candrist]

I have a scanner. My local Fire Department pays for me to be on the trunking system, I just wish they would let me use 1 radio to do 2 functions within the county.

[MTS2000des]

I know it's annoying, but this is one of the downsides to trunking systems. The system owners give you what they want you to have. Circumventing this can lead to serious legal problems, and has ended careers.

The best advice I can offer is try to go through your agency to get approval to get the talkgroups programmed you want. Risking a career doing anything outside the scope of your authorization with their radios or systems can be hazardous to your career, if you get what I am saying.

[KF5LSC]

I have a scanner. My local Fire Department pays for me to be on the trunking system, I just wish they would let me use 1 radio to do 2 functions within the county.

You've heard that the road to hell is paved with good intentions, right? This is one of those situations.

Sure, it makes sense to have one radio to do two jobs. After all, why should County X spend double the resources when the same job can be done with one radio? Makes sense. Yes and no. Here is where liability comes into play. Say you get your FD radio programmed for your PD talkgroups. You're working one night, end up having to take a guy to jail and as you go to affect an arrest the bad guy books on you. You chase him, and you catch him (good haul!), but somewhere along the way your radio fell into a puddle and drowned. Or fell off your belt and got ran over (happens- I had a brand new xts5k get smushed by a transit bus once...oops). Since that was FD's radio, are they gonna pay to replace it, since you weren't doing FD business when it got broken? Or is that on you? Could you face discipline from your FD for using FD equipment outside of authorized use?

That's child's play compared to what could happen. A few years back, there were a few fire/ems types that had similar good intentions. Forgive me if I screw some of the details up (I can't find any of the article links- maybe somebody else can chime in), but the gist was that they wanted to program PD and county talkgroups into their FD radios so they could know what was going on. You can never have enough SA, right? Good intentions, no doubt. Until the county that owned those radios and the radio system found out- and those same public servants got fired and charged with unauthorized access of computer systems. They were looking at serious jail time- I can't recall what the outcome was but they did all end up losing their jobs.

Then there's the worst of the worst. You get wrapped up in a situation where things go south (or you bit off more than you can chew...it happens). You really want your only lifeline to your backup to be a radio that you hacked so you could dual purpose it? I'm pretty adventurous myself but that's a bit too much risk for me.

The big take away from this is that it really isn't a good idea to play with agency-owned equipment, especially when said agency pays your bills and puts food on your table. Deal with having to take care of two radios and be happy that you work for agencies that are funded enough to actually issue you reliable, public safety grade communications tools (some guys aren't so lucky).

[candrist]

Thanks Guys! Not what I wanted to hear, but you are 100% right.

[escomm]

I know it's annoying, but this is one of the downsides to trunking systems.

I'll submit it's one of the upsides to trunking systems. If you're not authorized to be on the system, or certain talkgroups on the system, you should not be able to take the initiative to circumvent the policies in place keeping you from that system.

One could argue this is unauthorized access of a computer system, e.g. a felony in most forward-thinking states. And yes, the comments about buying a scanner remain as true today as they did several years ago.

[MTS2000des]

That's child's play compared to what could happen. A few years back, there were a few fire/ems types that had similar good intentions. Forgive me if I screw some of the details up (I can't find any of the article links- maybe somebody else can chime in), but the gist was that they wanted to program PD and county talkgroups into their FD radios so they could know what was going on. You can never have enough SA, right? Good intentions, no doubt. Until the county that owned those radios and the radio system found out- and those same public servants got fired and charged with unauthorized access of computer systems. They were looking at serious jail time- I can't recall what the outcome was but they did all end up losing their jobs.

You must be referring to the Walton county, GA firefighters who got fired and brought up on computer network trespass charges for unauthorized reprogramming of their county owned radios. In his own words, one of the accused tells his story of how it all went down for him on RadioReference a few years ago when someone else asked about getting their personal radios programmed on local TRS'es:

http://forums.radioreference.com/georgi ... post729378

Ultimately, the charges were dropped. But the careers are over. Was it worth it?