Iowa Check In

[K0MSM]

I made an initial reply to this thread back in 2011. Since then I moved back to Delaware for a little while, and we came back to Iowa in December of 2021. I'm up in Dana, in Greene County - the land of no trunked radio systems, it seems. I was listening to the local stuff on my Pro-197, but was frustrated that I couldn't listen to the trunked side, so I finally sprung for an SDS200. Love the scanner - but apparently, I wasn't missing much on the trunked side! Haven't picked up the first thing, and to be honest, it doesn't seem like there's much on ISICS out here anyway. Perhaps I'm just missing something, though. I figured at least I'd be able to find and listen to the State Patrol.

Being 2 blocks from the Tara subdivision on the UP, and with a UP tower right here in Dana, it's pretty darn easy to listen to trains. By far, that would be the busiest group of frequencies on the scanner. I have 3 now: the SDS200 is set aside for public safety; the Pro-197 will be for air & rail, and my old Pro-2096 is feeding the Greene County Fire Dispatch on Broadcastify.

Anyway, finally getting back into the forums - looking forward to seeing what everyone else is up to!

Sean - K0MSM

 

[mws72]

Here in the Quad-Cities we have three statewide trunked systems to listen to. ISICS for Iowa, Starcom21 for Illinois and SARA for the metro area.
While SARA is smoking at least till the E switch is thrown. ISICS and Starcom are pretty quiet comparative.
The RACOM system here is shutting down at Noon today.

 

[K0MSM]

I was wondering why I suddenly couldn't find any information on RACOM in the database! That's part of why I got the SDS200 - to be able to get the traffic on the RACOM system. I've got the ISICS programmed in, but out here in Greene County, there's (apparently) no tower in the county, and nobody is using it. Seems like the only tower I'm getting traffic from is the Woodware/Ames site.

 

[thatoneiowan]

I was wondering why I suddenly couldn't find any information on RACOM in the database! That's part of why I got the SDS200 - to be able to get the traffic on the RACOM system. I've got the ISICS programmed in, but out here in Greene County, there's (apparently) no tower in the county, and nobody is using it. Seems like the only tower I'm getting traffic from is the Woodware/Ames site.

I pick up Greene County law dispatch on that site over in Huxley

 

[K0MSM]

On the ISICS system? I didn't see anything on there for Greene County Sheriff, and I'm still listening to them on VHF. Or do you mean ISP? FOr them, all I've been able to find them on is the Woodward/Huxley site.

 

[thatoneiowan]

I just checked my Calls node and it looks like the Greene County Sheriff talkgroup is simulcast from their VHF frequency. I wouldn't rely on this too much since I've been having issues with my Woodward/Ames node uploading calls for some reason, but nevertheless... Law 1 - 153.800/Greene County Group Calls Live (broadcastify.com)

 

[bgtalkingdog]

I have an SDS100 and listen mostly to Clinton county police and fire on ISICS. Occasionally I tune in the Thomson, IL federal prison which uses P25 on their own 400 MHz system. Just over a week ago I caught the Iowa State Patrol running an aircraft assisted speed trap along Interstate 80 at Bettendorf, something I'd never heard on a scanner before. They caught a driver going 93 in a 65. Audio is in the link above.

 

[higday]

New listener in Ringgold County, "southern Iowa "using bcd996p2 and proscan.

 

[Cashanova48]

Hello from Fayette County

I am fairly green to radio. Using all Handhelds and HT's for First Responder scanning of Fayette County and Delaware County as well as CB and amateur radio scanning. Planning to start a feed for Independence public works.

 

[randyh57]

Hi there Im in Winneshiek here and Fayette seems to have gone dead to me,,Are they all using ISICS now??

 

[Cashanova48]

Not too sure, I'll have to check that. I haven't heard much recently but... There is a link in the Wiki for Fayette County that has Fire and EMS paging and is appears to still be being updated.

 

[randyh57]

Last i heard of them was 154.055 FMN mode so they must be switching.. Cant hit that Tower from here. Live in a unfriendly dead zone valley area here ne@ Decorah. But good luck and have fun with the hobby. About everyone is switching to Project 25 Phase II and many are using secure.

 

[Cashanova48]

Last i heard of them was 154.055 FMN mode so they must be switching.. Cant hit that Tower from here. Live in a unfriendly dead zone valley area here ne@ Decorah. But good luck and have fun with the hobby. About everyone is switching to Project 25 Phase II and many are using secure.

I was able to hear the Olwien tower fire paging yesterday, so I guess they are still on analog or paging is still analog.