Bartlett, IL Question

[Mike1094]

Hello to all!

First things first, I am relatively new to scanning, so please excuse me if I happen to sound like I am completely clueless, because I very well might be! So, apologies in advance! With that out of the way..

I am using a Uniden BC95XLT (not sure if that's important..) to scan my local Police and Fire frequencies. With the limited knowledge I have acquired, I have come to believe that the frequencies I monitor for this purpose cover Bartlett, Carol Stream, and Hanover park, Illinois. For the most part, everything seems to be working fine! The very night I got the scanner, I happened to be the first to hear that my neighbors car was engulfed in flames. Unfortunate for them, certainly, but a good test of the scanner. But I seem to have one problem..

I get Police dispatch, but I seem to be missing half the conversation.. It seems to be that when an officer is talking to another officer, I only hear one person talking. I will hear him respond to what the other officer says, but nothing from the other officer/s involved in the conversation.

So, my question is, does anyone know if I am missing a frequency for the area? I have the following frequencies programmed, which I found on the Database:

155.670 (Supposedly, according to the database, Police Car-to-Car, but I never hear anything on this channel..)
154.310 (Fire Dispatch)
151.295 (Public Works)
470.687 (This has the most use, and seems to be the only channel that I pick up Police activity on.)

I'm not sure if there would be anyone on these forums who monitors this particular area of Chicagoland, but if there is anyone who can help, it would be very appreciated!

Thanks in advance!
-Mike

 

[Awesomeman92]

First of all, welcome to the hobby! Second, one of my scanners is on HP/CS/Bartlett's DuComm channel, and I haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary on the channel. Only thing I would guess is they're using it as a car-to-car channel with a different PL tone than the repeater, which I wouldn't be able to catch up here in Hoffman Estates. I'll pop my good scanner on there for a while. It sounds like you're hearing a C2C channel, but if you're not hearing it on the dedicated C2C channel (155.670), I'm not exactly sure what's going on. Also, enjoy hearing whatever you can from DuComm in analog while you can, they're switching to Starcom21 P25 in January.

 

[FFPM571]

It looks correct. 470.6875 is Ducomm 1 west.

Here is a better reference to Bartlett and Dupage county

http://www.carmachicago.com/profiles/DuPageCounty.pdf

 

[Mike1094]

First of all, welcome to the hobby! Second, one of my scanners is on HP/CS/Bartlett's DuComm channel, and I haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary on the channel. Only thing I would guess is they're using it as a car-to-car channel with a different PL tone than the repeater, which I wouldn't be able to catch up here in Hoffman Estates. I'll pop my good scanner on there for a while. It sounds like you're hearing a C2C channel, but if you're not hearing it on the dedicated C2C channel (155.670), I'm not exactly sure what's going on. Also, enjoy hearing whatever you can from DuComm in analog while you can, they're switching to Starcom21 P25 in January.

Thank you, I'm enjoying it a lot!

And, I have been noticing it less, but maybe there is just something I am missing. The Uniden Scanner has a setting where I can have it hold on a channel for 2 extra seconds, to increase the chances of hearing a reply. Perhaps the reply is actually on a different channel, and the delay is causing me to miss it? Either way, I shut off the feature since I'm only scanning about 5 frequencies at a time.

And, sorry, but you have lost me there, haha. How will DuComm switching to Starcom21 P25 affect my ability to listen in?

It looks correct. 470.6875 is Ducomm 1 west.

Here is a better reference to Bartlett and Dupage county

http://www.carmachicago.com/profiles/DuPageCounty.pdf

Yeah, that channel is where I hear the majority of communications. It's the C2C channel which I never seem to hear anything on..

And, thanks a lot for that link, that is a fantastic reference for the area!


Thanks again to both of you!

 

[ilgrant]

What is more likely happening is that they are talking direct rather than going through the repeater. The direct channel is 470.6875 and the range is limited to a couple of blocks. When the radios go through the repeaters the radio is actually on 473.6875. The repeater re-broadcasts the message on 470.6875.

The other thing that could be happening is that one officer is on the direct channel and the other is on the repeater channel. You may be too far away or not able to hear the officer on direct because you are indoors.

 

[Awesomeman92]

And, sorry, but you have lost me there, haha. How will DuComm switching to Starcom21 P25 affect my ability to listen in?

Starcom21 is the Illinois statewide P25 digital trunking system, which is not monitorable on the BC95XLT, it requires a scanner like the Radio Shack Pro-197 (base) or 106 (mobile), or a Uniden BCD996XT or HomePatrol (base), or BCD396XT (handheld) to monitor. All the agencies using DuComm will be switching to it this January, leaving behind what you're able to hear now, their analog signals will be going quiet (except possibly the exception of the individual car-to-car channels, but all dispatch will be done on Starcom).

 

[Mike1094]

Starcom21 is the Illinois statewide P25 digital trunking system, which is not monitorable on the BC95XLT, it requires a scanner like the Radio Shack Pro-197 (base) or 106 (mobile), or a Uniden BCD996XT or HomePatrol (base), or BCD396XT (handheld) to monitor. All the agencies using DuComm will be switching to it this January, leaving behind what you're able to hear now, their analog signals will be going quiet (except possibly the exception of the individual car-to-car channels, but all dispatch will be done on Starcom).

Wow, that is a huge bummer. Regardless, thank you very much for the information, and the suggestions on what I should upgrade to!

Now to save a few hundred dollars, I guess..

 

[Awesomeman92]

Watch the Radio Shack ad, contrary to popular belief they do sometimes still sell radios. I got my Pro-197 for $299 last fall (after-Thanksgiving sales). I love it, it's got great audio decoding on it, and good flexibility. I'd recommend it to anyone. Can be a bit cumbersome to program by hand, especially at first, but with software it's not too bad.