http://www.rep-am.com/news/local/doc5048944797ec0219123833.txt I guess, no one can listen in to the conversation, including dispatch, officers, etc. sawheet!
Radio reception problems in that area come as no surprise. It's nearly as steep as WVa. It doesn't make sense to me why they would want encryption.
Encryption, latest rage. That way both the local ambulance chasers and perps with scanners won't know what's going on. Plus it keeps the general radio listen audience (scanner junkies) from knowing where they po po are.
This type of system has MAJOR drawbacks, in the real world.... SalesDroids are pushing these system on small CopShops where they Hire out all their Comms, because they can't afford an InHouse Comms Group. This is all funded, by Grants from the FEDs, as part of ObamaBucks. There are hundreds of these Comms Hucksters just looking to score a BIG Sale, on the Federal Teat, promising the world and delivering CRAP. All the while putting the Field Troops in real Jeopardy, due to failed Comms. .....
Causing the user to lose confidence in his digitally encrypted communications was one of the first things that we would try in the electronic warfare arena, to break them out of encryption, and back into plaintext. The idea wasn't to jam all of the signals, just enough that their sync would be lost, and cause them to retransmit. It would frustrate the devil out of them, trying to pass one stupid little message. Eventually, they would assume that their encryption was the problem, and go into plaintext to pass the message. They would pass their message in the clear, or try to talk around the subject, since they had no effective backup in place; and we would snicker to ourselves as we copied their message. Jamming plaintext analog comms was similar. If you jammed everything, they would immediately realize what was going on; and switch to an alternate frequency or method of communications. But if you only jammed one digit of a coordinate they were trying to pass, or one half of a sentence within an order, you could tie them up for hours chasing their tails. They would get frustrated, and initially blame each other. Then they would blame their gear, or sunspots, or other strange atmospherics. The bad guys wouldn't assume that they were being jammed, because ninety percent of their comms were getting through; and that was good for us, because artillery shells often come looking for jamming signals. Jamming is best done from a moving vehicle. The guys in this article are just encountering problems caused by terrain, and noise within their bandwidth; but the lessons learned from their difficulties are worth taking a look at. It may be that at some future time, one or more of us might desire that government radios not work as the users intend them to.
