There are a few exceptions to that rule, mostly having to do with the ARRL _broadcasting_ Morse code practice sessions over-the-air. They are specifically called out in Part 97, but are very rare IRL.

Even local hams re-transmitting news programs, etc. have to pause during a half-hour screed for station ID by giving their call sign and pausing for any emergency break-in traffic.

Basically, one-way transmissions are illegal with the few exceptions for code practice and radio tuning over-the-air (generally a bad idea). You still are legally required to ID at the end of your (short) series of one-way transmissions.

Sadly, no. I have never been to the Spark Museum, but it sounds really interesting and fun. It has been about 40 years since I was last in WA state, sorry - it wasn't me.

No, that's not correct either. There is a switch dedicated to encryption on/off on the radios, but whether the radio honors it or not is based on the system policy set by the customer (the police or whoever owns it. There is no preference or default configuration, all the buttons on the radio are programmable and can be turned on or off or changed to give the operator more or less flexibility or capability, depending on the eventual application of the radio and the expected experience level of the end user.

Most of the systems that are "100% full-time encryption" on all talkgroups are making it mandatory via system policy, that's all. They could, as others do, just designate encrypted specific talk groups, like detectives, drug and SWAT ops be encrypted and everything else like fire and sewer ops in the clear. Then, they will still program the specific encrypted talk groups as strapped that way, but other channels can be in the clear or will use the switch to determine if encryption is needed in the opinion of the user.

As to how many, a LOT is the answer. Motorola is giving away basic RC4 encryption for free with new radio purchases, and charges if they need higher security (DES or AES), It's hard to say no to free!

Of course, Moto sends in the sales Droids and talks up system security and promotes it adding in a few lies and myths like it's harder to jam encryption, or it has better coverage, etc. and they easily dazzle the customers and usually convince them to order the encryption with their purchase.

Where I live (suburb of large city) the police are 100% encrypted except the state-police highway patrol system. Only fire dept. and public works traffic is in the clear. Some of the police agencies have a few delayed feeds of their channel's audio on Broadcastify, but not all. One or two suburban systems are in the clear but those are far-flung suburbs and they probably will be going to encryption next time they upgrade their radio hardware.

LA was special to Motorola. It was used to test the rollout of Moto's first digital attempt, ASTRO. It was basically P25 but but not quite, it used VSELP instead of IMBE vocoding and it was all swapped out a few years later with true P25 once the standard was finalized.

So, LA was kind of like Schaumburg, IL (Motorola HQ's back yard) in that it was a test bed for early digital systems and other Beta and test system deployments.

For varying values of "better".

The digital signal is narrower bandwidth, but crappier audio quality. Some contend digital has a little better usable range than analog, and narrow band signals seems to go a little further than wide band ones.

So, which is actually "better" depends on your yardstick, i.e. audio quality vs, occupied bandwidth vs. effective real-world range and reliability.

The smallest and the largest cities are the last to get encryption, and when they do, they go whole-hog and encrypt usually everything but fire traffic.

The first to get this were the well-funded suburban police, then the small towns started getting it, or hopping onto state-wide systems that are usually encrypted.

The big cities are the last to convert because they have large, expensive multi-site systems they have to retro-fit or replace and more complicated budgets to work out.

That's not true. FYI:

First, the digital repeaters don't care about whether the payload is encrypted or not, it's just a bit set in the headers.

Second, if the system subscribers and console are secure-strapped (preprogammed to ignore the switch) they CAN'T fall back to clear (non-encrypted) mode, ever.

You can still jam the system, but you need a +6dB signal advantage to guarantee FM capture.

Ham radio Motorola Quantar owner and retired Moto design engineer here.

This is just a proposed bill.

California is the only state that has real network neutrality and extremely strong online privacy laws.

It's a warning. The article is about cars, so anyone using car analogies will cause the thread to self-destruct and implode from being far to meta to possibly exist in the universe.

I loved the Atarisoft original PC version, very true to the arcade version. Or as close as you could get to it with a 16 color palette, and no sound hardware!

Only 1 person in the entire country was able to crack the PC self-booter!

Or even good shareware - Goldwave FTW!

www.goldwave.com

The biggest fool of them all of the one who just mindlessly opposes everything because they think that makes them look smart.

That's hardly indisputable, or else nobody would dispute it. On the contrary, I see a distributing tend towards authoritarianism from the American right. And so, for that matter, does everybody who knows enough history to have a right to an opinion.

I'm thinking more of using the food products to keep the doors propped open. Just in case you "forgot" where the items were! Stick a frozen pizza in every door and they will get the idea, eventually.

I think you've been watching too much shitty Netflix SciFi movies/series.

Didn't you know the Nazis already have a secret base on the dark side of the Moon?