Idot sc21

[VASCAR2]

I heard Effingham DOT on Starcom 21 this morning checking on road conditions in DOT dist 7 counties. They were on TG 7779. I haven't heard any traffic during this storm on VHF low band. I was curious if all the trucks have gotten Starcom radios or just the Supervisors. I read on here where some DOT trucks in the Bloomington area had 800 Starcom radios installed. I know the Supervisors pickup trucks had Starcom radios installed a few years ago.

When plans were being made to implement Starcom DOT didn't want to kick in any money. This is one of the reasons Illinois is leasing the system instead of buying out right.

[gewecke]

Originally Posted by VASCAR2

I heard Effingham DOT on Starcom 21 this morning checking on road conditions in DOT dist 7 counties. They were on TG 7779. I haven't heard any traffic during this storm on VHF low band. I was curious if all the trucks have gotten Starcom radios or just the Supervisors. I read on here where some DOT trucks in the Bloomington area had 800 Starcom radios installed. I know the Supervisors pickup trucks had Starcom radios installed a few years ago.

When plans were being made to implement Starcom DOT didn't want to kick in any money. This is one of the reasons Illinois is leasing the system instead of buying out right.

True. Tg 4480 is the IDOT district 5 tg for this area. The RR database shows the low band channels here no longer used.
They sound good on the system too, much better than on low band.

73,
n9zas

[VASCAR2]

I did hear a couple of IDOT trucks on low band this morning talking truck to truck around 4 AM. We really got dumped on here. I really don't know how much snow we got but on the corner of the house by my satellite dish was waiste deep. The dish was covered with about a foot of snow.

[cifn2]

I haven't heard them on Starcom before, but I know Low band has been unreliable if the supervisor is out in the truck in an area they are unreachable, and miss the call for their road reports. Did you happen to catch whether or not radio traffic was being handled through Effingham or was it some where else?

I do know the supervisors have IREACH, because I have heard conversations on IREACH with the local supervisors normally a single digit number such as 1, advising a law enforcement agency of accidents, or IDOT taking care of something.

[gewecke]

I did hear dispatch talking to bloomington and clinton trucks, but was not able to tell where the dispatch was at.

73,
n9zas

[VASCAR2]

Originally Posted by cifn2

I haven't heard them on Starcom before, but I know Low band has been unreliable if the supervisor is out in the truck in an area they are unreachable, and miss the call for their road reports. Did you happen to catch whether or not radio traffic was being handled through Effingham or was it some where else?

I do know the supervisors have IREACH, because I have heard conversations on IREACH with the local supervisors normally a single digit number such as 1, advising a law enforcement agency of accidents, or IDOT taking care of something.

There has been traffic between several units (snow plows & Supervisors) plus with Effingham DOT taking condition reports. The traffic is similar to what you used to hear on low band. Other than poor coverage areas the SC 21 really works better in inclement weather. Lightening in thunderstorms and skip used to really hamper operations on VHF hi and low band.

The thing that bothers me the most about SC 21 is that there are well known coverage problems throughout the state. Some of the problems could be remedied by properly aiming directional antennas. If the State owned the system the ISP Tech's would've ironed out the problems. Since Motorola owns the system and is getting paid its a non issue. They probably are meeting the 95% coverage but that 5% loss of coverage areas maybe some where you spend a lot of time and need service. Just like everything else there are pros and cons to any system. I just don't like spending that much money and having so little say.

[cifn2]

Ah, so are you hearing anything on the old DOT low band HF channels? Or do you believe they switched that equipment out now?

Speaking of the state of Illinois, I noticed some recent grants in Clay/Richland Co, for IDNR on VHF analog frequencies. I guess the state stands behind the stability and reliability of the VHF system with towers which have a wide area coverage.

[VASCAR2]

IDOT still have trucks/plows with VHF low Band in my area. I heard two plows talking back and forth about conditions the night we got 12" of snow. These two trucks were in Lawrence Co. I've since heard Effingham DOT (base/yard) talking to another truck on low band. I think this truck was in Clay Co but I can't remember the unit number.

[cifn2]

I was just wondering, since I havent monitored much lately. Didn't know if I was going to have to toss the analog for the digital. I guess the digital will monitor both either way.