South Suburbs And Phase 2 Listening

I want to do some phase 2 listening with my pro 668 and want to know of any agencies that use phase 2 that are in my area. (south suburbs of chicago). whats the best and most active agencies in this area that use phase 2? i can only seem to find mostly analog and p25 phase 1.

There are none, the system on the data base says Phase II but that's just its capability....T101,102,113,126 in this area south are all Phase I.....Only NWCD is TDMA part time.....

RoninJoliet said:

There are none, the system on the data base says Phase II but that's just its capability....T101,102,113,126 in this area south are all Phase I.....Only NWCD is TDMA part time.....

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Not true anymore, at least on that NWCD is the only agency using TDMA. There are quite a few sites statewide that are P2 capable, and I believe every Chicago area site and most by the bigger cities are. Cook County's site 501 is P2 capable and it is in use, albeit sporadically and only with one talkgroup - and encrypted, of course.

As far as what'll come through on the south suburban sites, you are correct that you won't get much of anything.

South Suburbs and Phase 2 listening

Awesomeman92 is correct. By Phase 2 listening and tower 501 we mean Starcom21 tower 501 and it's on this page http://wiki.radioreference.com/images/7/72/Starcom21_Site_Numbers_Map.jpg
The Orange color box means Phase 2 capable.

But for some reason It's not listed as such here ---->
Cook - North Simulcast Site Details (STARCOM21 Statewide Illinois P25)

Using the graphic it DOES show Phase 2 capabilities for that tower as well as 149 over by me up here in the north. Tower 149 is where NWCD has their talk-groups I listen to. YOU could always load site 149 and talk-groups, take a trip north to Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg IL *do some shopping for Blackhawks Championship gear* and listen for NWCD phase 2 traffic which shows up as D2 on your scanner. Those are mostly fireground talk-groups and citywide administration for the NW suburbs. Once and awhile they actually dispatch the automated voice in TDMA, but not lately.

As a matter of fact I was up there on fathers day with the family at Woodfield Mall area at the "Longhorn Steak House with my 396XT listening to T149 and TG2751 and 2753 the area FD's and they sounded great.....The District 5 tech lives here on my block, spoke to him about Phase II, said no one using it here yet as I mentioned due to severe budget restraints for the state of IL and what would be a high cost for Starcom users to purchase new radios or revise the radios....Looking at making changes in 2016....But now we have Phase II scanners which shocked him !!!!

The NWCD FDs that are Phase II capable tend to swing back and forth between TDMA and FDMA. Last weekend was all FDMA.

There is a post on CARMA group that T101-Dupage is now Phase II, im still able to copy most all TG's ??

Just looked at the CC for DuPage, it's still showing as Phase I. No TDMA traffic seen.

South Suburbs, Phase 2 Listening

I've seen recent updates to the Starcom21 towers and Phase 2 capabilities. This map
http://wiki.radioreference.com/images/7/72/Starcom21_Site_Numbers_Map.jpg

has been updated as of 6/25/15. There are a LOT more Phase 2 capable towers now, *Orange squares* DuPage County IS one of them. Looks like Tower 501 changed? it was Orange and Phase 2 capable at the date of my first post above up there. Today, 6/25/15 it's not. Anyway...DuPage County? Last I was down there all the talk-groups were still phase 1. Things are slowly changing, glad I got the WS1080 as my Pro96 is only phase 1.

Sure, someone updated the RR DB, doesn't mean it's right.

While the sites may be Phase II capable, this depends on all the radios affiliated with the site and talkgroup being Phase II capable and programmed for it. If only one radio affiliated to the site and talkgroup being used is not Phase II compliant then all the radios in the conversation revert to Phase I.

We will see more Phase II sites as time goes by, eventually all SC21 sites will be compliant. The problem is that no one wants to spend big money to replace all their radios. Most existing SC21 radios are perfectly fine but are not Phase II capable, Others are capable but need to be reprogrammed and flashed. This can cost up to several hundred dollars per radio. Imagine a city or county with 500 radios, at $300 each just to reprogram for Phase II you are looking at $150,000. If that same entity wants to buy new radios then you are looking at upwards of $2 Million or more.

Where you will see more Phase II operations are newcomers. Lake County will be Phase II since they will be buying all Phase II radios. Eventually SC21 will set up a drop-dead date that will force all users to have Phase II radios in order to operate on the system, that would likely be chosen based on the age of the newest Phase I only radios in the subscriber fleet's obsolescence date.

At sometime after the drop-dead date the system can be reprogrammed to only allow Phase II. Until then any Phase II site will remain Phase I compatible. Until all the radios are Phase II compliant then most activity will be Phase I.

"sixtytwo" is correct, the RReference Starcom data base should not have been P2 revised yet.....

I did notice Site 1-02 is listed as Phase 2, but was able to monitor it with my 396XT which is Phase 1 only capable. Should we not hold on to that listing until a Site is fully Phase 2 capable only?

It should remain as Phase 2 since if there are conversations in which all system radios are Phase 2 the conversation will be held in Phase 2. Remember, it only takes one Phase 1 radio to revert the conversation to Phase 1.

N9JIG said:

It should remain as Phase 2 since if there are conversations in which all system radios are Phase 2 the conversation will be held in Phase 2. Remember, it only takes one Phase 1 radio to revert the conversation to Phase 1.

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I think it just makes the database that much more confusing as it gives the listener they can't monitor this site unless they have a Phase 2 scanner, which is not true. This is the primary site I monitor and I have both a Phase 1 & 2 scanner and can monitor with both scanners.

I think the notification that some of these sites are to be converted to Phase 2 in the future should suffice. If you suddenly stop hearing traffic, their's a chance it's now converted to Phase 2.

With due respect I agree with "Werinshades", a source told me they have not changed over anything yet ....I also hear all traffic that I see on T102 , 113 and 125 Phase I.....

The new Lake County, IN Radio System and Consolidated Dispatch center will be Phase 2 when it goes online in the next few months.