[FedCom] Where Has Customs Gone?

[OHIOSCAN]

> As someone who deals with many of these Federal agencies from time-time in
> my F/T job, I have only seen the migration to Nextel as an Alternative to
> Verizon and CellularOne in the Major Metro Areas.
>
> The agencies are still maintaining and using their Normal VHF and UHF
Radio
> equipment, however the Nextel does make it a little easier for the
Cellular
> as well as the Direct Connect features at times, but Alas we have no fear
> (atleast in Boston, from my perspective) of loosing the ability to monitor
> our Favorite Alphabet Soups.
>
> ASTRO is a different issue.
>
> Bill Dunn N1/KUG
> Official Scanner Guides
> http://home.earthlink.net/~ecps92/
>
>
   I can confirm NEXTEL are not supposed to be used for operational
comms. I talked with a relative and according to his directives they
are to use SABRES for their ops and NEXTEL is not there future comms
device. Not that direct connect is not used its just not what they
are supposed to use. A friend who works for the same agency in Fl in 99
showed me his ASTROS programmed for the same freqs they been using for
years. I forgot to ask my relative if they are issued ASTROS also up
here in Ohio. His theory why they have vanished is simplex is used 95%
of the time during ops and the admin chat we used to hear on rptr's is
now going over Nextel or Cellular. They also are using local PD's radios
since most ops are joint deals and they bail out once finished with there
part. He also mentioned the war going on for spectrum and with the
new Home Land Defense Agency sucking up his and others agencies the
radio situation is in chaos. The FBI is trying to grab whatever they
can regardless of the ramifications on smaller budget tight agencies.


Mike