IDOT Low Band

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Good evening I wanted to know if IDOT still uses low band or if all they use is Starcom21. I think I saw a low band antenna on a truck. Could someone confirm this for me.

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TGP

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Here in District 8 they made the switch to Starcom late last fall.
I know of No ISP or IDOT units on Low Band.
VHF yes, they have reinstalled some units with VHF and I believe UHF
Tom
 

cubn

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Saw District 3 trucks in Pontiac last winter still had low band antennas. Haven't heard any of the trucks stationed in Livingston County on Starcom21 yet.
 

RoninJoliet

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IDOT road work here in Will Co and Cook Co is all on digital UHF now except for the Toll Way guys who are on Starcom.....
 

MikeyC

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ISP District 3 is still on low band. I have heard units use UHF hand helds (on IDoC channels) when doing traffic control on bridges.
 

gewecke

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Re; low band

Tony, in northern Ill. 47.140 and .380 are still used by IDOT garages and at the Dist. 2 state garage here in Dixon, plus they use starcom21 when low band doesn't permit.
All this info is in the database. :cool:

73,

n9zas
 
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Tony, in northern Ill. 47.140 and .380 are still used by IDOT garages and at the Dist. 2 state garage here in Dixon, plus they use starcom21 when low band doesn't permit.
All this info is in the database. :cool:

73,

n9zas

How come I always heard them on Starcom21 doing plowing if they still use Low Band?
 

gewecke

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How come I always heard them on Starcom21 doing plowing if they still use Low Band?

Tony, it's better to have BOTH radios, than just one. It's called redundancy in communications.
In my area; Both are still used in part due to (I think) some trucks may not have a starcom radio, and others on a shift may.
IDOT has a large fleet of trucks and it may not be possible to have a starcom radio in every one of them. "Dead spots" in a zone might be a problem too, so if both radios are in a truck then there's double the chance of talking to their garage or other trucks.

73,
n9zas
 

kruser

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Very similar to Missouri's MOSWIN VHF statewide P25 system.
They left the old low band system in place and last I heard, they plan on keeping it and maitaining it. The old 42 MHz low band system is still used today by several of the troops when the troopers cannot be raised on Moswin.

I imagine IDOT has the same problems with Starcom so they keep the low band system for those times Starcom will not cut it.

I still have most of the low band frequencies from Illinois programmed in and I do hear traffic on them from time to time. I'm usually not logging the radio though nor looking at it so I can't say what frequencies or users it is that I hear.

Missouri is the same way but I know them by voice alone so don't usually need to log the radio to know who it was I just heard from across the room.
 
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Tony, it's better to have BOTH radios, than just one. It's called redundancy in communications.
In my area; Both are still used in part due to (I think) some trucks may not have a starcom radio, and others on a shift may.
IDOT has a large fleet of trucks and it may not be possible to have a starcom radio in every one of them. "Dead spots" in a zone might be a problem too, so if both radios are in a truck then there's double the chance of talking to their garage or other trucks.

73,
n9zas

So they have an XTL5000 and a CDM750 probley in the truck.
 

mws72

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Garages in Rock Island county still using low band. I did hear some snow plows last winter in Carroll County using their SC21 talkgroups.
 

gewecke

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So they have an XTL5000 and a CDM750 probley in the truck.

No idea what models, tony. I just know some trucks are equipped with low band and starcom. The districts still using low band are in the database. ;)

73,

n9zas
 
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