Tinley Park PD has been noticeable quiet on the VHF frequency lately. Not hearing anything in Conventional P25 either. Hear anything @melvin1987 ?
Oak Forest 155.190MHZ P25
- Thread starter melvin1987
- Start date
Nothing on conventional, Trunked or interop that's in the open as of yet.
Looks like Tinley Park is now dispatched by Cook County encrypted according to a posting on the CARMA list....
Was there a talkgroup mentioned?
No
I ask because any dispatch changes usually appear here months in advance:
Recently, both the Cook Co and SC21 DB show that Tinley Park uses TG 25312 on the encrypted Cook Co Sheriff's node. I know this thread is about Oak Forest, but just putting out there in case you didn't see it.
Just happened to run in to a Tinley guy today. He said they are using a talkgroup on the Cook County Sheriff's radio system, but are still dispatched by themselves. According to him, switching to Cook County's radio system saved them a lot of money over building (or rebuilding) their own system.
Hearing some activity on Tinley Park's VHF freq (in analog mode, not P25 though).
@JKD, where are you getting your information from? According to the database, 151.2275 has been documented using a NAC 293 and is "supposedly" being used as a "back up". So if they're building out their analog system to a P25 conventional, how is that saving them money?
And according to this that I posted before:
This is pointing towards them using their current frequencies as P25 conventional, which they're now showing up as per another submission. It's very possible they had to take the system off line to convert all the sites to P25, and since it's not ready to go yet, only being used as a back up? Cicero did this but was licensed for a new frequency and the system had to be built out. I believe Oak Forest used a secondary channel until the P25 conventional system went on line.
@wereinshades - I just happened to run in to one of their recently retired bosses and asked him about it. That was what he told me - it sounded to me like they had coverage issues with their system or upgraded system and my impression was that it was starting to look like a money pit. It was a brief informal conversation, so I can't provide you specific costs or details as to what drove them to make the decision.
I did do some digging and found they bought 100 APX Next radios through the Cook County ETSB specifically for the purpose of going to the Cook County Radio Network in June 2023 (begins on page 41): https://cms6.revize.com/revize/tinl...Committee on whole/Agenda/2023/062023 COW.pdf
As far as cost savings, that seems like a lot of money up front for radios, but as far as I am aware if Cook County doesn't charge an agency if they have an agreement to use a talkgroup on their system as long as they dispatch for themselves since their radio system is funded by UASI grant money. The threat always being that if the grant money ever dries up they will have to start charging subscriber fees, which as far as I am aware, has not happened yet. If I was looking to escape the long term costs and headaches of maintaining a radio network, especially if you struggle with coverage issues, it would be a viable option to me to make a change like that. But again, I can't speak to the specific details or costs that drove the decision.
