Chicago DEA UHF frequencies - no longer in use?

[Squad10]

History:

Current - VHF P25 frequencies in use, NAC156, very active, and 100% encrypted.

Late 2013 - Last UHF in-the-clear surveillance I heard.

2000 to 2010 - Very little repeater traffic, most traffic on simplex frequencies.

1990s - Motorola Securenet encryption implemented. Fortunately, Securenet coded reception was so poor, most traffic was in-the-clear.

1980s - Heard my first Chicago UHF Channel 6 telephone interconnect patch with a drug interdiction aircraft working 18666 kHz. I believe ATLAS (Rockwell-Collins Comm facility, Cedar Rapids, IA) setup the patch.

1973 - Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNDD) BNDD was merged into the newly formed Drug Enforcement Administration. When BNDD was formed it did not have a radio system, but in 1971, the agency began installing a nationwide UHF radio system for operations. The DEA's radio system was installed in 1973. I began to monitor DEA.

40 years of monitoring, not a bad run.

 

[KampingAnthony1AolCo]

History:

Current - VHF P25 frequencies in use, NAC156, very active, and 100% encrypted.

Late 2013 - Last UHF in-the-clear surveillance I heard.

2000 to 2010 - Very little repeater traffic, most traffic on simplex frequencies.

1990s - Motorola Securenet encryption implemented. Fortunately, Securenet coded reception was so poor, most traffic was in-the-clear.

1980s - Heard my first Chicago UHF Channel 6 telephone interconnect patch with a drug interdiction aircraft working 18666 kHz. I believe ATLAS (Rockwell-Collins Comm facility, Cedar Rapids, IA) setup the patch.

1973 - Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNDD) BNDD was merged into the newly formed Drug Enforcement Administration. When BNDD was formed it did not have a radio system, but in 1971, the agency began installing a nationwide UHF radio system for operations. The DEA's radio system was installed in 1973. I began to monitor DEA.

40 years of monitoring, not a bad run.

Was it on 169.575?

 

[JnglMassiv]

...No longer in use?

I'd asked this same question in December and didn't hear otherwise. I live quite near I90/94 and used to pretty regularly hear a minute or two of surveillance tails as they went past but nothing in months. I've basically stopped scanning Fed UHF which is really too bad since it was about my favorite thing to monitor. You'd sometimes hear aircraft for miles but the simplex stuff on the ground was just The Best. It really opened my eyes as to some of the things were going on in the neighborhood. And the agents were... candid.

Fed VHF can have some good stuff from time to time, though. As always, patience pays.
I've often remarked at the hot and cold activity levels. Sometime, you barely hear a peep out of the whole band for a week, then a period of a couple hours where there's half a dozen active channels.

Of course, I think we all miss the CPD TRS. Marine and Mayor's Details can be interesting listening and all but it's not the gripping action we used to enjoy.