Category: Updates

Phase I Beginning

Posted on by ServerJeff

Phase 1 Begins

Welcome to the latest and first Enid Online Scanner Update!
 
First, I wanted to touch on a few things before we kick off the official update.
 
Things that have changed
  • The newsletter is now hosted on SendinBlue
    • We had an issue with some email clients (yahoo.com) tagging our emails as spam. We opted to use SendinBlue to manage this for us and keep us legal.
  • We have a Facebook Group.

Phase 1 Update

    • Currently, we are streaming Enid Police, Fire, EMS, Animal Control, EPD Ops1, and Garfield County Sheriff dispatch.
       
      Here is the issue with this. EMS and EPD Ops1 are encrypted channels and legally, we can not (nor would we want to) unencrypt these channels. They are used for private transmissions of sensitive data. With this, you as a listener will hear garbled communications and possibly miss dispatch traffic because the scanner is tied up on an encrypted channel.
       
      Q: Why can’t you auto skip encrypted channels?
       
      A: Because the Garfield County Dispatch is on a different system. So in order for us to hear Enid channels AND Garfield channels, we have to monitor all of Enid’s talk groups (including encrypted.)
       
      Q: What can you expect to see happening over the weekend and throughout the next week.
       
      A: Over the past week, I have been testing the new scanner system on a separate system and it has been operating very well. So, I believe it is ready to begin phase 1 of this process.
       
      • During this weekend, (Most likely during the daytime hours when traffic tends to be less active, with bad decision-makers, the scanner may be unavailable intermittently.
      • When it is fully implemented, you will begin hearing more uninterrupted traffic.
        • This new system allows us to quickly tune to station speaking vs scan a list of channels and miss much of the transmission.
      • We will set a priority to calls as follows
        • EMS will NO LONGER be heard.
          • These were encrypted and not legible anyways.
        • Enid PD OPS1 (or channel 3)
          • These were encrypted and not legible anyways.
        • FIRE Initial Dispatch (Radio ID 1) will take first priority over all other transmissions.. However regular dispatch conversations will be held as normal conversations and will not interrupt other stations talking.
        • Enid Police will hold normal priority.
        • Garfield County Sheriff
          • GCSO will be unavailable during Phase 1 (Coming in Phase 2)
       
      This will not affect anything on your end other than the occasional downtime.
       
      You can visit the Enid Scanner Update Planned Changes webpage for a full Phase 1 and Phase 2 explanation.
       
      Keep an eye on the Enid Scanner Update Catagory and Enid Online Scanner Facebook page for more frequent updates than you will receive here in your email (I don’t want to push the newsletter out too often)

So, What’s Next?

Phase 2 is going to be a little more in-depth for not only us but you the user! We have plans on creating short youtube videos with walk-through instructions to make sure you have the proper setup to listen uninterrupted! Please keep in mind, we can only support one phone app with training so we encourage you to download the apps listed on our webpage. They can be found here: Enid Scanner Suggested APPS

Support

If you need assistance with anything, please feel free to submit a help ticket on our website and we can walk you through personally to the best of our ability!
(yahoo.com mail users may be unable to submit a ticket at this time. We are working on the fix!)
 
While we 100% Support our first responders – Law Enforcement, Fire, and EMS – enidscanner.com is NOT officially affiliated with any government agency.
We are simply curious (ok maybe nosey) citizens who enjoy knowing what is going on in our city.
 
Please keep all comments positive on website posts and Facebook posts.

Planned Changes

Posted on by ServerJeff

Currently we are streaming Enid Police, Fire, EMS, Animal Control, EPD Ops1 and Garfield County Sheriff dispatch.

Here is the issue with this. EMS and EPD Ops1 are encrypted channels and legally, we can not (nor would we want to) unencrypt these channels. They are used for private transmissions of sensitive data. With this, you as a listener will hear garbled communications and possible miss dispatch traffic because scanner is tied up on an encrypted channel.

Q: Why can’t you auto skip encrypted channels?

A: Because the Garfield County Dispatch is on a different system. So in order for us to hear Enid channels AND Garfield channels, we have to monitor all of Enid’s talk groups (including encrypted.)

Our planned fix:

We currently are using one(1) frequancy monitor and actually using software to scan frequencies individually. So, to fix this issue we are going to go into phase updates

Phase 1:

We currently have 2 frequency monitors available. We will begin by putting monitor 1 on Enid control channel, this will allow us to block unwanted talkgroups, like EMS and Enid Ops1. This first monitor will also allow us to prioritize what we hear, example we can make all EPD dispatch calls override EFD dispatch and everything override Animal Control or Parking Compliance calls. At the same time we will install monitor 2 on a “floating” system, when monitor 1 sees a call coming in that we have chosen as a priority, it will tell monitor 2 to listen and decode that audio and play it to the online scanner. This will eliminate all missed transmissions we currently have and make for a much cleaner listening experience.

Phase 2

We have ordered a 3rd frequency monitor and it should be in the mail soon. Once Phase 1 is complete and working as intended we will install the 3rd monitor, which will be dedicated to Garfield County LE, they are on a single channel and therefore they do not need a control channel. This will allow our system to monitor all chosen Enid Channels and also all County channels.

Phase 2 Problems and Fixes

When we implement phase 2, this could become problematic for scanner listeners especially the newer listeners. Since Enid and County are on different systems which will be both running at the same time, into the same feed, you are going to hear County talking over Enid and vice versa. There is a simple fix for this. Our feed is broadcast in stereo. We will dedicate the Left channel to Enid communications and the Right channel to County communications. While you are listening to the scanner you will be able to move the slider farther to the left to hear more Enid and farther to the right to hear more County. It will work, I promise! Just hang in there and I will be here to support anyone as we work through this!

IMPORTANT:

With all the changes we have coming up, PLEASE sign-up so I can keep you updated as we work through the phases and update how to set up your app so you do not miss anything. I promise not to sell your information or use it for any purpose other than required by law or to facilitate updating you on this project.