NSFW - Open mic night at L.A. Sheriff's Dept.

[bigfug]

You certainly have more experience in the field than I.
I am not familiar with any kind of emergency button (seems to be what you're talking about).
I'm referring to the regular old "press right here to talk" button.
If the press right here to talk button should accidentally get pressed (by the officer or perhaps a female companion in close quarters), then an accidental transmission goes out over the airwaves until that button is released, I'm thinking.
That could possibly jam up the channel for some time, blocking anyone else's transmission from being heard, I believe.
Therefore, it makes sense *to me* that the dispatcher could override the accidental open mic (not override some kind of emergency button transmission) to tell the officer to fix his open mic, which occurred because the regular old press right here to talk button is depressed.
That's what I'm saying.

I understand what your saying, and you're correct in how they operate. I'm not saying it can't be done, or that there isn't an agency out there doing it, but there are as many or more reasons not to. Mics usually only accidentally get keyed up on a rare occasion, and usually only for a second or two. The situation you describe is almost unheard of, I dont know of a single incident of it happening. On our system, the radio keying up will also emit a tone so the operator knows he has the air. So an OCPD officer would hear a beep letting him know his transmit button is being pressed, so he would know if he accidentally pressed it. If another officer tries keying up while someone is on the air, they get a denied tone. The system can also be set up so the second officers transmission would be queued up and transmit once the air is clear, but thats not common either. If an officer had an open mic, dispatch would most likely send them a message via CAD that would pop up on his screen. The officer whose transmission is being blocked can also switch to another "channel" (channels arent actually used anymore, everything operates on one frequency) to get his message to dispatch, etc. In the case of an emergency, that officer could press the emergency button, because in addition to what I mentioned earlier, it will override all traffic to give him that 5 seconds of open mic. It's possible thats what the dispatcher in the story did. Emergency button always has priority on the system. I should also mention that everything now is IP based, radios are essentially like cell phones or handheld computers. We control acces, etc via something similar to the same way a company handles pc's on their network, via an active directory type interface. We can disable radios remotely, they must be programmed with a LID (logical identifier), and encryption key for certain talk groups, we can see when they keyed up, for how long, listen to the transmission, email it, allow radios to listen but not transmit, transmit and listen, etc.

ETA a pic of our current radios. We are now adding a second model that is similar in features but smaller and cheaper, but less than 10% of the radios on the system are the new style. The large black button idead center on the side is the PTT button, the two above are directional/multifeature buttons, and the emergency button is the red one on top. The two knobs are volume and channel knobs. We have 16 channels per talkgroup, and can create and run almost unlimited talkgroups. The arrows on the face allow you to select the talkgroup you want, and then the knob allows you to select the "channel". So you can go to OCPD1 talkgroup, and find Bricktown, Santa Fe, Springlake, mutual agencies etc as "channels", or go to OCFD talkgroup and find their "channels" etc

 

[Snattlerake]

Lol ... Of all the places I have done "it" in my life, the back of a patrol car is NOT on that list. That's REALLY dumb ...

Rookie mistake. That badge will get a lot of poontane but only one poontane will get the badge.

 

[bigfug]

Rookie mistake. That badge will get a lot of poontane but only one poontane will get the badge.

Very rookie. Remember you cant open the back doors on a patrol vehicle from the inside.

 

[THAT Gurl]

Rookie mistake. That badge will get a lot of poontane but only one poontane will get the badge.

Grumpy used to say that ALL the time!

 

[Snattlerake]

But the mic is off the air when the button is released? And since everything the dispatcher hears is going over the air, the other officers would hear and know everything the dispatcher hears and knows as well, all the traffic is on the same channel. When the emergency button is pressed, it will emit a tone prior to the mic going hot and keep the mic hot for 5 seconds without any buttons being held down. CAD (computer aided dispatching) will also provide an alert and location on all officers screens. The dispatcher also would likely have less info than the officer in distress, and could keep the officer from getting important info out over the air, such as direction of travel, location, suspect description, etc. I have worked in Public Safety Communication Support for 10 years, and the only time I am aware of a mic going hot was when a radio malfunctioned. I mean, there is an opportunity for anything to happen, but its just as likely for a dispatcher to cut off an important message as it is for the officers mic to be stuck hot. A lot of these feature sets come at an additional cost, and is a way for the companies to make more money off an agency.

Being old school here I can tell you first hand I have thrown a car radio mike back inside the vehicle and the mike stuck on as it was held down by the mike's weight. I have released the mike button and the mike button stuck open but I realized it because the Xmit light was still on. I have also accidently sat on the mike or had stuff piled on top that keyed it up. It could have been shoved into the seat cushions. Couldn't it also be possible California uses a system that transmits base stations on one freq and units are on another? I remember the Motorola Micore system was a sort of scanner than monitored about 5 different freqs with programmed priority channels that would override other channels. Who knows in today's technology.

 

[Snattlerake]

Grumpy used to say that ALL the time!

It's true. I've seen it happen. NOT, to me though, Ha! I have had my opportunities though

 

[THAT Gurl]

It's true. I've seen it happen. NOT, to me though, Ha! I have had my opportunities though

Rotflmao! It "could" have happened to him -- if I'd been so inclined. But he was just too stinking hawt in that uniform! And besides ... I've always had a thing for handcuffs ...

Eta: And I know a couple of Troopers who lost their pensions (WAY old enough to know better) cuz they couldn't resist ... Dumbest thing I've ever seen ... One was a 19-yr vet. IIRC the other guy had more than his 20 on ... Duh ...

 

[Snattlerake]

Rotflmao! It "could" have happened to him -- if I'd been so inclined. But he was just too stinking hawt in that uniform! And besides ... I've always had a thing for handcuffs ...

Eta: And I know a couple of Troopers who lost their pensions (WAY old enough to know better) cuz they couldn't resist ... Dumbest thing I've ever seen ... One was a 19-yr vet. IIRC the other guy had more than his 20 on ... Duh ...

Probably know the same ones. I think one was in Kingfisher County?

 

[bigfug]

Being old school here I can tell you first hand I have thrown a car radio mike back inside the vehicle and the mike stuck on as it was held down by the mike's weight. I have released the mike button and the mike button stuck open but I realized it because the Xmit light was still on. I have also accidently sat on the mike or had stuff piled on top that keyed it up. It could have been shoved into the seat cushions. Couldn't it also be possible California uses a system that transmits base stations on one freq and units are on another? I remember the Motorola Micore system was a sort of scanner than monitored about 5 different freqs with programmed priority channels that would override other channels. Who knows in today's technology.

No, the base systems transmit on the same frequency as the mobiles. Most base stations are actually mobiles installed into a console. Thats one reason its hard to over ride a transmission, as they are on the same frequency, you would have to kill the repeater it was hitting. Now a days it can be done as everything is on one frequency, and "channels" and talkgroups are used, with everything controlled by servers, pc's, etc. , all IP based. So technically a transmission could be over ridden, as the transmitting ID can be terminated by the controller.

In your case of the stuck button, equipment failure, which is the only time I have seen a mic stuck hot (less than a handful of times that I know of in a decade). Maybe keyed up repeatedly for a few seconds at at time, but not indefinitely hot. In that case, the dispatcher could only have the officer turn the radio off until they can come see us and we fix it, but again, because of redundancy, that message can be sent electronically via CAD. And trust me, you dont want to give dispatchers that ability. Most of our calls of "system issues" are actually operator (dispatcher) error.

Our system does something similar to the Micore system in that it can "scan" a handul of "channels". You basically program your favorite channels on your handheld or mobile (have to be in the same talkgroup) and you'll hear all the transmissions on those channels. Your home "channel/frequency" has priority if someone is transmitting on it as the same time as one of your other programmed channels. So frequencies dont necessarily "over ridden" so much as the radio picks which one to listen to. No matter the system, you can't listen or transmit on more than one frequency (channel) at a time, and no more than one radio at a time. We even have an app that allows a user to transmit and recieve on our system now. Mostly command staff, in the event they need to monitor traffic when out of town.

 

[Snattlerake]

No, the base systems transmit on the same frequency as the mobiles. Most base stations are actually mobiles installed into a console. Thats one reason its hard to over ride a transmission, as they are on the same frequency, you would have to kill the repeater it was hitting. Now a days it can be done as everything is on one frequency, and "channels" and talkgroups are used, with everything controlled by servers, pc's, etc. , all IP based. So technically a transmission could be over ridden, as the transmitting ID can be terminated by the controller.

In your case of the stuck button, equipment failure, which is the only time I have seen a mic stuck hot (less than a handful of times that I know of in a decade). Maybe keyed up repeatedly for a few seconds at at time, but not indefinitely hot. In that case, the dispatcher could only have the officer turn the radio off until they can come see us and we fix it, but again, because of redundancy, that message can be sent electronically via CAD. And trust me, you dont want to give dispatchers that ability. Most of our calls of "system issues" are actually operator (dispatcher) error.

Our system does something similar to the Micore system in that it can "scan" a handul of "channels". You basically program your favorite channels on your handheld or mobile (have to be in the same talkgroup) and you'll hear all the transmissions on those channels. Your home "channel/frequency" has priority if someone is transmitting on it as the same time as one of your other programmed channels. So frequencies dont necessarily "over ridden" so much as the radio picks which one to listen to. No matter the system, you can't listen or transmit on more than one frequency (channel) at a time, and no more than one radio at a time. We even have an app that allows a user to transmit and recieve on our system now. Mostly command staff, in the event they need to monitor traffic when out of town.

I'm sure glad the innovations of technology have greatly improved. The old GE mobile I had you could hear the transmitter wind up and whine and it was in the TRUNK. Not a radio trunking system, in the trunk of the car.