LEBANON, Maine — The Lebanon Rescue Department is asking for the public’s help in determining the individual or group of people responsible for “covering” over communications between emergency workers on radio scanners.
“Covering” radio communication between emergency workers in emergency situations has become an increased problem not only in Lebanon but in other towns using the Sanford Regional Communications Center, according to a press release from Lebanon Rescue.
The most recent incident occurred on Sunday morning when calls requesting “advanced life support and additional manpower” were covered, requiring emergency crews to leave the affected patient to make phone calls outside the home for emergency services.
According to Jason Cole, assistant chief with Lebanon Rescue, the problem of covering is widespread in southern Maine, with Lebanon police and fire communications being hit especially hard for years.
The act of covering stopped a couple of years ago when the FCC visited the region to curb the activity, but started up once again after the federal organization left.
According to Cole, Lebanon is in the process of setting up sensors that will detect covering activity in the area. If an individual is caught, it is possible he or she would spend time in federal prison if convicted, according to Cole.
While Southern Maine Communications, the county radio vendor, is working to find those involved, Lebanon Rescue will be filing a formal complaint with the FCC on Monday about the issue.
Anyone with information on who may be involved is encouraged to call the local police department. A reward will be given to anyone who provides information that leads to a prosecution of those involved.
© 2012 the Foster’s Daily Democrat
Distributed by MCT Information Services
Excellent explanation of what ‘covering’ is in this report…
It’s when an individual holds up large sheets of cardboard wrapped in tinfoil to deflect the sent signal back to the sender, there fore “covering” the other stations response.
Agreed. A description of ‘covering’ and how it can be done would sure make the article more complete.
I also agree. Since I have no clue what “covering” is the article becomes almost incomprehensible to me. I ended up googling it and still didn’t really find a satisfactory explanation. The best I could find was something that said that someone with a more powerful type of radio keys it up to cover the transmissions of weaker ones. Not perfect but better than nothing, folks. Hope it helps.
I’d be willing to bet there are amateur operators in the area who have the equipment needed to start tracking.
For all they know they are covering each other…
I think this used to be called “jamming”. It’s not done with scanners. You need to have a transmitter.