Just Visiting

[gg750]

Hi all,

I will be staying in Chicago (downtown area) the last week of June. I was considering programming on of the V-Scanner files on my Pro-96 with Chicago freqs to see how things are in a big city (I am from Traverse City, MI). After poking around RR for a while, it became obvious that programing even the "basics" would be a daunting task. I have computer software to speed up the process, but there is soooo much public safety information for the greater Chicago area that it's really overwhelming. I am mostly interested in local PD and FD listening, but I don't know where to start. Can anyone give me any recommendations? I found the page with CPD district freqs, and some fire freqs. But there are other EDACS and Motorola for other agencies around the area. I guess I need a little direction on where to start, or where not to start as I may well be getting WAY over me head here. Thanks again for any input. If it's easier, I can be e-mailed at ggarthe@mac.com.

Thanks again!
Geoff

 

[JnglMassiv]

I wrote a reply to a similar question here. Now that it's warmer, the Chicago trunked system (tactical/surveillence/stings/marine/special detail) is hopping. This is an easy one to program. I wouldn't bother programming the talkgroups. Just search ID's and take it from there. There's usually not nearly as much action as the quantity of talkgroups listed suggests.

As far as 'normal' CPD action, here's a map provided by CARMA, a Chicago-area scanner organization. You'll be in zone 4 during your stay downtown. The south and southwest neighborhoods tend to be a bit worse crime-wise but action can (and does) happen anywhere.

Both PD and FD conventional and TRS freqs and info are in the RR database. There's seldom a dull moment! I've really come to miss the ...unique character of Chicago dispatching and replies when I'm away.

Are you in town for business or pleasure? You should be around for some of the Taste of Chicago, a HUGE festival downtown on the lakefront featuring food and entertainment. Also, I recently visited Millenium Park for the first time and enjoyed it much more than I anticipated. It's also downtown on the lakefront.

 

[gg750]

I guess I'll just take a day and program till I can't program anymore. I won't have a lot of free time to actually listen, but I'm still curious.

I'll be visiting for pleasure purposes. Will be attending Pride and Taste of Chicago. I've been attending for several years, but this is the first year I'll have a scanner with me.

 

[PhilJSmith67]

A great (and simple) place to start is with Chicago's 460 MHz comms. Make sure you program 460.025 through 460.550 (every 25kHz) for police including 6 "citywide" channels. Grab 460.6, 460.625 and 460.65 too; I believe they're EMS.

 

[ILbandit]

Take a look at the Chicago Public Safety / Services System.
Heres the link... http://www.radioreference.com/modules.php?name=TRSDB&sid=581

The OCD, and NARC talk groups are pretty active every day.

Lots of fun to listen to, never a dull moment. A "must have" for the Chicago area.

 

[eyes00only]

The last time I was in Chicago was before trunking! I live in a large city (Denver) with approx. 10 adjacent suburbs. If my memory serves me well, Chicago has more dang suburbs than anywhere! This was a scanner nightmare back then. Has the metro area gone to a shared trunking system? Here in the Denver area, you can monitor 90% of the traffic with a digital scanner. Of course there's one city (Aurora), that's Provoice.

Jerry

 

[ILbandit]

The Chicago Police do run a Mot. II trunk system, mostly survelience, drug bust, Organized Crime, etc.
The Cook County Sheriffs run their own Mot II also.
The Chicago PD still use a ton of conventional freqs. though, There are a whole bunch of them. Alot in the 460.xxx range.
It is still kind of hard to get everything programmed in, a big mix of conventional, and trunked.
Most of the suburbs are still on conventional. there are a few that have a trunk set up. But not many.
The State police use a mixture of both also, They have an Edacs system that they use for the Chicagoland area only, split up between the north and south regions.

If my memory serves me well, Chicago has more dang suburbs than anywhere! This was a scanner nightmare back then.

LOL, It is still kinda a nightmare if you want to cover a BIG area, but there is always plenty to listen to.

 

[eyes00only]

Thanks for the info Joe.

Jerry

 

[JnglMassiv]

Just to clarify on what IlBandit wrote:
The Chicago PD trunked system is for tactical, surveillence, bodyguard detail, etc. Special use. Some days, you might not hear 10 key-ups on the entire system; other days, there might be 10 active talkgroups at once.

The normal CPD dispactching is completely conventional on 460MHz. Very, very busy.

I recommmend programming in the TRS and a couple of conventional PD channels. Go ahead with the FD channels too. Anymore is just likely to become too chaotic to listen to.