DuPage Fire and OHSEM Frequencies

[EMSheriff]

I have been listening to DuPage fire through DUCOMM, ACDC, and IFERN frequencies in my scanner (analog). I have seen that some FDs, FPDs, and municipalities have their own fire frequencies (e.g. Darien-Woodridge FPD has 154.95500 Fireground[CH13], Clarendon Hills has 154.25000 Fire: Coordination with Pleasantview others, etc.). Do these frequencies ever get much or any use? Second question is do any of the DuPage OHSEM analog frequencies ever get used?

Thanks in advance

 

[JKD]

I have been listening to DuPage fire through DUCOMM, ACDC, and IFERN frequencies in my scanner (analog). I have seen that some FDs, FPDs, and municipalities have their own fire frequencies (e.g. Darien-Woodridge FPD has 154.95500 Fireground[CH13], Clarendon Hills has 154.25000 Fire: Coordination with Pleasantview others, etc.). Do these frequencies ever get much or any use? Second question is do any of the DuPage OHSEM analog frequencies ever get used?

Thanks in advance

154.2500 is the primary dispatch frequency for a bunch of communities to the east of Clarendon Hills (Western Springs, Lagrange, Lagrange Park, Brookfield, Riverside, Lyons, McCook). Clarendon Hills is in the same MABAS division as those departments so they use that frequency when responding for mutual aid.

 

[EMSheriff]

JKD, thanks for the help; I probably should have cross referenced that one with the Cook frequencies first.

 

[Awesomeman92]

Second question is do any of the DuPage OHSEM analog frequencies ever get used?

Yes. The main OHSEM VHF high frequency is used for paging every once in a while, I forget now for who, maybe Hanover Township. The VHF low band DCERN is maintained as a backup and is tested regularly, with some voice inversion in use but mostly clear. Most routine things will be on STARCOM though. Last I had heard - granted this was several years and a couple coordinators ago, but after the county switched to STARCOM fully - they had no plans to abandon VHF low because it works well and is the best way to get out to the whole county should STARCOM go down.

 

[EMSheriff]

Yes. The main OHSEM VHF high frequency is used for paging every once in a while, I forget now for who, maybe Hanover Township. The VHF low band DCERN is maintained as a backup and is tested regularly, with some voice inversion in use but mostly clear. Most routine things will be on STARCOM though. Last I had heard - granted this was several years and a couple coordinators ago, but after the county switched to STARCOM fully - they had no plans to abandon VHF low because it works well and is the best way to get out to the whole county should STARCOM go down.

Awesomeman92, thank you for the great info, I appreciate it.

 

[W9WSS]

Clarendon Hills has 154.25000 Fire: Coordination with Pleasantview others, etc.

Clarendon Hills still uses 153.635 (input 150.805) PL 146.2 as Police and Fire tactical operations. All public works units have this repeater which is single-site. It used to be the main fire dispatch channel utilized by Clarendon Hills, Oak Brook, and Hinsdale. For a short period of time, Westmont Fire was on it until they went to Downers Grove dispatch and used 155.7075 (input 153.8525) PL 67.0 which had been patched to Starcom21 TG 2710. Now all those entities are on Starcom21, dispatched by DU-COMM.

 

[EMSheriff]

Clarendon Hills still uses 153.635 (input 150.805) PL 146.2 as Police and Fire tactical operations. All public works units have this repeater which is single-site. It used to be the main fire dispatch channel utilized by Clarendon Hills, Oak Brook, and Hinsdale. For a short period of time, Westmont Fire was on it until they went to Downers Grove dispatch and used 155.7075 (input 153.8525) PL 67.0 which had been patched to Starcom21 TG 2710. Now all those entities are on Starcom21, dispatched by DU-COMM.

Thank you, W9WSS. Do you know when or how often Clarendon Hills uses 153.635 as opposed to IFERN firegroud channels?

 

[W9WSS]

Thank you, W9WSS. Do you know when or how often Clarendon Hills uses 153.635 as opposed to IFERN fireground channels?

I would say more for practical exercises than routine fire or tone-out calls (you shouldn't hear any tones on 153.635). Even though DU-COMM dispatches for the Village of Clarendon Hills, I am not sure if they have a module on any of their consoles for that special channel. And, to the best of my knowledge, there is no corresponding Starcom21 talk group associated with it.

All the Village-owned vehicles and portable radios have this VHF repeater channel in them.

If you need any more particulars, please let me know.

 

[EMSheriff]

W9WSS, I really appreciate the great information. I'm trying to expand the depth that I scan fire communications, as I have predominantly just had the dispatch center frequencies and IFERN. Since my scanner has a somewhat limited number of channels I wanted to check these other fire channels to see if they get traffic - so I can minimize idle channels taking up bank space.

 

[W9WSS]

EMSheriff, enjoy Starcom21, namely DU-COMM and ACDC talk groups that are present in the clear. There could be encryption coming along in the future. I can't say because I don't know exactly when it will occur, but when it does, all law enforcement talk groups will be encrypted, but the fire/ems will remain the clear, at least with their companion VHF frequencies that are currently multi-cast on Starcom21. All I can say is, "Stay Tuned."

 

[officerdave]

What I am seeing now , looks like DEDIRS agencies will go encryption with upgraded radios. Fire will have capability to run encryption on the PD channels for interops. Thinking Fire will stay in the clear on their main dispatch channels to interface with incoming mutual aid towns outside of DEDIRS.

 

[werinshades]

What I am seeing now , looks like DEDIRS agencies will go encryption with upgraded radios. Fire will have capability to run encryption on the PD channels for interops. Thinking Fire will stay in the clear on their main dispatch channels to interface with incoming mutual aid towns outside of DEDIRS.

Did you hear of the reason for this?