El Cajon PD Callsign on RCS?

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brandon
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El Cajon PD Callsign on RCS?

Post by brandon »

Does anyone know why El Cajon PD ID's with KDA652 while on the RCS? They usually seem to do it after issueing a BOL or any other long transmission.

I thought this was the callsign for their VHF frequency (155.625).
jp186
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Joined: Thu Oct 28, 2004 8:23 pm

Post by jp186 »

Old habits die hard. Maybe nobody told the dispatchers to stop using it once the VHF channel was no longer used. Would that be a violation of FCC rules to use a callsign not assigned to the frequency you are using?
318
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Joined: Sat Oct 23, 2004 1:05 am

Post by 318 »

Well, technically yes, it would be a violation of FCC rules, however I don't believe it is hurting anyone. KDA652 still is (I believe) assigned to the city of El Cajon. They are identifying themselves with their own VHF callsign, instead of the 800Mhz callsign that is assigned to the county for the RCS. (The RCS callsignes are ID'd via CW every now and then from the radio sites themselves, off-system... you can't hear it unless you monitor one specific RCS assigned frequency out of trunked mode on your scanner.) I have heard police units in the field use the KDA652 callsign in the past as-well. Many of them have no idea how 'radio' works. All they know is they push the button on the side of this electronic device with an antenna, and they can talk to their co-workers. They also know that the darn thing keeps telling them what to do all day. Most don't know a thing about FCC IDing protocol, and don't really care either.

Until someone in government (and I'm sure this will happen one day...) steps up and says "Hey, you guys can't be IDing with your old VHF callsign anymore", they will continue the practice, as it is El Cajon Police BOL protocol.

Sean and I have had many conversations about this...

~318
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