HIRSC Team Statement Regarding Scanner Feed Outages
The HIRSC - Administration and Moderating Team releases a statement regarding scanner feed outages to help answer questions being raised by followers.
Published by: HIRSC - Administration and Moderating Team
info@hiradioscannercommunity.com
Here's a statement from our HIRSC - Administration and Moderating Team to help answer some questions on our security and also why outages were constantly happening in the past and why are they happening again.
So one of the issues we had at first was related to internet issues and the stability of bandwidth (it's an ongoing issue around the island), however, after much work with our provider, those have been resolved.
Related to the internet, was the host server used to constantly go offline and affect many others in the mainland US to go offline as well, the host has since upgraded equipment and the issue has been stabilized.
There were some cases where the host had shutdown our feed, should a complaint be received (in which we have received 5 related to items broadcasted/something someone posted on social media/internet) and be restored once we have satisfied the terms set by the host.
Another issue we have encountered was constant power outages/surges which would power down all the equipment used for the feed and need for a person to physically get everything back up. We have since installed backup equipment and have helped prevent those events from occurring again.
Another reason why we do scheduled outages is to help maintain our equipment and stay up to date on software updates, to prevent a sudden shutdown. In that sense, we have chosen the better route to get ahead of it and get done all one time in a controlled setting.
In relation to the security of equipment, we invested a lot of money into security, however, thieves do learn to adapt and find new ways to break in and steal items regardless, what it means to them, in their sense, all they can see is dollar signs. However, they don't understand the consequences it can cause to not only one person but sometimes an entire community. Initially, at first, we felt were safe and secure (in our sense) at the location being that it was a very low crime area, however, reality has finally hit us, and now having to keep our guard up. There are some that are lucky and nothing happens to them as often, unfortunately for us, outside factors came into play, many of which we never thought would ever happen to us, until now. Our team has personally invested a lot more out of pocket in the safety and security of equipment going forward.
In the recent event of antenna damage from an illegal aerial firework shell, we did not expect that too would happen to us, but it did. It was a new lesson learned for us and we learn to adapt and find preventative ways from it happening again.
Also, do have to remember, we don't get compensated in any way to broadcast (nor does anyone that broadcast on Broadcastify), strictly do it on a volunteer basis as a community service, and that host can terminate or walk away from it at any time.
These outages are not intentional in any way by our team but do our best to keep everyone up to date on our progress, why the outage occurred, and what our futures plans are for the feeds, like we said in the past, this a hobby for many of us, and doing our best to keep it alive as we can, while doing in a safe and ethical manner.
We apologize it's a long response, but we wanted to help clear the air and answer everyone's questions being asked.
Sincerely,
HIRSC - Administration and Moderating Team