Due to limitations on social gatherings because of the Coronavirus, SCMA Meetings are being held virtually online via Zoom until further notice.
To join us, you must be a member of the SCMA Group Email List to receive invitations to the meetings. Click on THIS LINK to be added to the email list.
We are also holding informal weekly get-togethers online via Zoom every Wednesday night at 7:00 PM.
Palo Alto Mayor Tom DuBois said Friday (Jan. 8) that the police department’s move to encrypting its radio transmissions was a mistake.
Palo Alto police began encrypting their radio transmissions Tuesday (Jan. 5) to stop transmitting personally identifiable information over the airwaves because of a policy memo from the state Department of Justice last October.
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One person was killed in a fiery crash at the end of a pursuit in North Hills, it was reported Friday morning, January 12, 2021.
The crash occurred about 11:40 p.m. Thursday on the Roscoe Boulevard off-ramp from the northbound 405 Freeway, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The suspect was killed, ABC7 reported, adding a CHP officer was injured, but the extent of the injury was unknown.
The fire from the crash ignited some nearby trees and was quickly extinguished.
Details of what prompted the pursuit and the name of the victim were not immediately available.
Sources: City News Service, Los Angeles Daily News, WOW Media Youtube Channel
A 4.5% pay raise scheduled for Los Angeles city firefighters would be delayed by 18 months, under a tentative labor agreement reached with the city in order to avoid potential layoffs or other cuts due to an anticipated $675 million shortfall in the city budget.
Continue readingThe LAPD has instructed all of the department’s officers to be in uniform and prepared to be deployed in the days leading up to the presidential inauguration scheduled for next week.
An LAPD spokesperson confirmed to CBSLA a report Thursday from the New York Times which stated that while there was no specific threat to the city, LAPD Chief Michel Moore has told officers – nearly 10,000 in total – to be “ready to be deployed at a moment’s notice” as early as Monday.
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A 22-year-old Hollywood man pleaded guilty Thursday to recklessly operating a drone that crashed into a Los Angeles Police Department helicopter in what’s considered the nation’s first use of the federal criminal charge.
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The International Space Station cost more than $100 billion. A ham radio set can be had for a few hundred bucks.
Perhaps that explains, in part, the appeal of having one of humankind’s greatest scientific inventions communicate with Earth via technology that’s more than 100 years old. But perhaps there’s a simpler explanation for why astronauts and ham radio operators have been talking, and talking, for years.
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As cyber threats continue to grow, so does the reality that digital satellite communications can be degraded and denied either through digital or electromagnetic means. If these capabilities are compromised, however, high frequency radio provides a means to continue communicating even beyond the line of sight by leveraging the ionosphere to refract radio signals back to earth.
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Public-safety and business-industrial licensees with LMR systems on T-Band spectrum would be able to continue operating those networks, thanks to a scheduled auction of the airwaves being repealed as part of the massive federal funding legislation passed yesterday by Congress.
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A firefighter was nearly engulfed in flames while battling a blaze in Sherman Oaks late Monday night.
The fire began in a one-story commercial building shortly before midnight in the 13400 block of West Ventura Boulevard, the Los Angeles Fire Department stated in a news alert.
About 35 firefighters arrived at the scene to find flames and smoke coming from the structure.
Video from the scene showed a firefighter with a circular saw attempting to cut into the burning building when his uniform caught fire.
The firefighter was nearly engulfed before colleagues managed to douse the flames with water from their hoses.
The firefighter was not injured, according to reports from the scene.
The crew also managed to extinguish the burning building in about 24 minutes, according to the Fire Department.
A search of the structure turned up no patients or injuries.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
Sources: pathofex.com, RMG News, KTLA
Many of us scanner users like to listen to the news media, and especially to their helicopters, to find out what is happening when news breaks. You might be interested in this news from Tim Lynn’s Facebook post:
In June 1972 I graduated from high school and 18 days later entered the United States Coast Guard, that’s where my journey began. After 4 enlistments and a very long 14 months at the University of California Police Department LA, I joined the Culver City Police Department, transferred to Huntington Beach Police Department, where I retired with a total of 30 years in law enforcement to begin a new career in media.
After 16 years of working for Angel City Air assigned to CBS, Kcal and KTLA helicopters, it is time to “hang up my spurs”. This coming Wednesday will be my last day as your P.M. KTLA Sky 5 Pilot Reporter. It has been a fun ride from the day I walked out of high school until now. I’ve worked with and met some amazing people and have experienced things that most don’t. It has been exciting to fly News, not knowing what was going to happen or where you were going to end up on a shift. The excitement of the pursuit, major fires, or incidents is what kept me going. The five day a week, 10.5 hour days, and 110-mile commute broke me.
I used to joke, “I will retire when my walker doesn’t fit in the helicopter”. After the arrival of my grandchildren that all changed, it’s time for me to enjoy life and not to be tied to a schedule.
Don’t get me wrong, I still will be flying a helicopter now and then, because severe side effects do occur would you suddenly stop!
Thank you again for the opportunity to fly and say “that’s the latest from overhead, let me send it back to you in the studio”
Source: Tim Lynn on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Sky5Tim
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