Peeling the lid off the can of worms…again.

[zz0468]

...I remember on the EDACS network the dispatcher would also say a sentence followed by break... possibly to make sure unauthorized listeners would turn their radios off.

The break was to give the guy on the receiving end time to catch up with his note taking.

[CQPSK]

Ya, I doubt that was done to give people the opportunity to tune out

The radio traffic interception rules are probably irrelevant to you if you're doing crime in the first place.

[cvrules90]

Maybe just having a hard time broadcasting a mouthful of information on the air. It is public safety radio after all.

[zz0468]

Maybe just having a hard time broadcasting a mouthful of information on the air. It is public safety radio after all.

No, seriously. It's so the person receiving the dispatch has time to write what's being said.

A possible second reason would be that dispatchers are extreme multi-taskers, and if their phone rings in the middle of a dispatch, they might say "break" on the radio, answer the phone and tell the caller to hold, go back to the radio call and complete the transmission, then back to the phone. All without skipping a beat.

[cvrules90]

Yup! Dispatchers are amazing all right!

So then do RSO dispatchers take calls and dispatch at the same time? I saw the comm center at the old Palm Desert Station and there were A TON of dipsatchers.

[sp1989]

Breaking up long segments of info into small pieces with a space between is standard radio operating procedure. It not only gives the patrol officer time to write stuff down (in the old days) but more importantly does not tie up the air in case someone is trying to put out an 11-99 or similar emergency traffic.

[cvrules90]

Breaking up long segments of info into small pieces with a space between is standard radio operating procedure. It not only gives the patrol officer time to write stuff down (in the old days) but more importantly does not tie up the air in case someone is trying to put out an 11-99 or similar emergency traffic.

After all, trunked radio systems don't allow more than one person to transmit on the same TGID at the same time so it makes sense. The break lets an officer hit the emergency button if need be (which I believe is a red button).

[CQPSK]

An emergency trigger activation will go out regardless if anyone is talking or not and once activated will allow the subscriber declaring an emergency to key over anyone who is talking. (At least in trunking...... and some conventional systems have a dedicated trigger frequency.)

[cvrules90]

Well, I still have a lot to learn. Perhaps download some radio manuals.