yes your not only one carrying 2 sets BTP in london LUL division also carry
one vhf set and an AIRWAVE as yet no AIRWAVE is working underground

also i have heard one recent incindent of many no doubt

4 officers went into a public toilet down some stairs on a station,a railway
workers analgoue radio worked ok,the AIRWAVE lost it,thats no good if an
offcier gets called to a location qand cant call for urgent assistance.

as for Metro lima TOCU units yes the system uses all the old traffic
talkgroups and also some other talkgrpoups in METRADIO trunking network plus
as you say AIRWAVE.

but very few in Met use AIRWAVE as yet and its been delayed time and time
again and now delayed yet again,specialist squads are better off using there
Cougarnet military style secure radios[which can go analogue if needed] they
have proved relaible for many years now.

Firearms teams across UK certainly dont like using AIRWAVE on actual
operations or siege situations and are preferring to use there old analogue
channels,where there single freq back to back is more reliable.

ok speaking as a scanner user ok will be sad to lose my Met police
scanning,currently trunk tracking scanners do the job real well,but i also
aknowledge some security in both terms of data protection act and doing
persons checks and so on,which i have always felt wong to be done on an open
channel,and also officer safety there has to be a secure system in use but
switchable would be better,go secure if needed,this is perfectly possible

go to an amercian airbase,one minute you hear on there base coms analgouge
speeach,then one says "go green" and press of a button coversation is now
secure.

thats whats needed,some stuff for public domain as the original post
said,some of us scannerists in UK but more so in USA have heleped police in
past,full digital then thats all gone.

regards,Paul