New SC21 Talkgroups 8616 8617 Metro East (T301)

[Starcom21]

Hearing new Public Safety talkgroups on site 301 Madison County Simulcast

RIDS:
8917 829782 "18, traffic, sparta?", 837099
8916 837091 (29, talking about Barnes Jewish West County),

 

[nick1427d]

MEDSTAR ambulance. They are moving to STARCOM. I believe 8917 is Randolph county and 8916 is St. Clair county. Watching RIDs I’m also seeing same IDs between 8906 - 8917 so I imagine they will have a few talkgroups.

“18” and “29” are Randolph county trucks. Seems like the Randolph co TG is the most active so far.

 

[nick1427d]

8913 sounds like Unit to hospital reports. Terry, I think they have a decent block of Talkgroups. I'm going to wait a few days before I submit to RR to confirm but I'm picking up traffic and TG affiliations from 8906 to 8921

 

[scanman1958]

I believe MedStar has been on a private company trunked system for a long time. They only had two listed TG's that I have seen. I am guessing that their radio coverage was quite spotty. Might be nice to track them for a while.

 

[nick1427d]

Yes they were on the old Wireless USA 900mhz analog system. When WirelessUSA upgraded the old analog to DMR MEDSTAR didn't move to DMR and I BELIEVE went to a 900mhz repeater located at the Fairview Heights Site. On the old 900mhz analog trunked system it actually worked very well for them but I think you're right, when they went to the repeater they started to have a lot of issues. I know that Fairview site doesn't reach well south of the site because of the topography. This of course was mostly the St. Clair County trucks as the Randolph and Clinton County trucks were all on VHF.

What's really interesting about MEDSTAR is even with all those different systems in different transmitting locations they were all dispatched out of Sparta (Headquarters). I know the Clinton county trucks are dispatched by Clinton County (sometimes or all the time? don't know) but they still talked to MEDSTAR dispatch somehow down in Sparta.

If you searched Medstar FCC licenses they used to maintain several different frequencies of VHF, UHF (MED channels), and 900. I imagine going to STARCOM they can abandon all of those.

I have it on good authority that the migration to STARCOM will be all trucks, supervisors, and admin regardless of county. Some ENC on specific Talkgroups but Dispatch SHOULD be all clear. Each county will have it's own talkgroup. So a St. Clair County TG, Randolph, and Clinton County. I have no idea if those will be sub divided by region like Belleville, East St. Louis, etc. If all the St. Clair County trucks have one talk group, I can assure you that TG will never be quiet. I hope they tweak the dispatchers audio because the trucks sound great but the dispatchers right now seem to have a lot of background noise and it's hard for me to understand them. Might be them not using headsets and using desktop mics during migration as I think at times they're using new and old to dispatch for right now.

 

[Starcom21]

Metatarsal has been using 900mhz conventional repeaters with DCS072. I've confirmed used on the East Saint Louis side and the Centralia site. I've monitored the Fairview Heights site and never received anything when I'm in the area. St Louis site gets out really well. There was also an active talk group already on starcom21.

 

[nick1427d]

Terry, noticed this title thread says 8616, 8617 and the medstar talkgroups added to database show that as well. They should be 8916, and 8917.

sorry to be picky but I know a lot of folks import to scanners via the database.

 

[Starcom21]

Ugh. Thanks.

 

[scanman1958]

I live in southwest city and could never hear Medstar in most parts of the city even though they make frequent trips to almost all the St Louis hospitals. I could hear them once I crossed the river though.

BTW. Even though Abbott MO/IL (AMR) have gone to mostly computer dispatching without radios (unless computer is down) the IL units are being dispatched via radio (462.950) on all emergencies. They are then responding by electronic means.

I have thought it would be great if they went to Starcom but I belive it is a cost thing, even though their Effingham units are dispatched on Starcom by Effingham PD.

 

[llzel]

Is Medstar the only 911 ambulance service for St Clair Monroe and Madison counties?

 

[Starcom21]

Last I knew, MedStar serves as the primary Ems for some Saint Clair county municipalities. Abbott EMS for the other half. Many municipalities have their own service. Madison County most municipalities have their own service but Abbott is back up to many. Alton Memorial Hospital Ambulance Service out of Christian Hospital Northeast provides Ems for Northwestern and Northern Madison County.

LifeStar ambulance out of Alton also serves a portion of Northwestern Madison County

Is Medstar the only 911 ambulance service for St Clair Monroe and Madison counties?

 

[Starcom21]

On another note, while in Carbondale the other day, I heard both talk groups being broadcast on a Tower down there for some reason

 

[scanman1958]

Abbott/AMR and Medstar are the bigger EMS agencies in the metro IL area. I believe Abbott has shrunk a bit in size (hasn't everyone?) but maintains a solid foothold on contracted areas of St Clair and Madison counties.

 

[frankdrebbin]

Monroe County has its own county-owned ambulance service. Ambulances stationed in Waterloo and Columbia. There was talk of the county disbanding its' service and contracting it out last year but the county board squished that after an outcry from residents.

 

[scanman1958]

Is the Columbia unit marked as Columbia EMS and not Monroe Co? Just asking.

 

[frankdrebbin]

Is the Columbia unit marked as Columbia EMS and not Monroe Co? Just asking.

Yeah I forgot Columbia owns its ambulance service, but they cover MoCo down here a lot because MoCo runs 2 units that sometimes are tied up. They call MoCo trucks 4 Edward whatever number.

 

[scanman1958]

Thanks

 

[nick1427d]

Yeah I forgot Columbia owns its ambulance service, but they cover MoCo down here a lot because MoCo runs 2 units that sometimes are tied up. They call MoCo trucks 4 Edward whatever number.

fyi all of the Medstar truck numbers you hear are just their IDPH region designated number minus the 4C("Charles). All IL EMS transport units have a unique identifier with the date. First number is region, letter is county, number after that can be anything really but they're usually grouped. Even if a department calls their truck something else, it's guaranteed to have a IDPH region identifier. So a medstar truck based out of St. Clair County is 4C##. 4 is region 4, C=St. Clair. Monroe County is 4E, Clinton 4D etc. I'll probably update the wiki as it's been awhile since I've been able to hear MEDSTAR but most medstar trucks have bases and run specific areas, example "78" or 4C78 is the Cahokia ALS truck. 100 series trucks with MEDSTAR are BLS/Transfer trucks.

Most EMS in this area runs mutual aid just like fire. Dupo will assist Columbia or Medstar, in Cahokia area, and vice versa. Medstar's Red Bud truck assists Monroe County occasionally at the southern end of the county.

 

[nick1427d]

On another note, while in Carbondale the other day, I heard both talk groups being broadcast on a Tower down there for some reason

My guess is a MEDSTAR truck, was running a transfer, and happened to be down there. Radio affiliated with that tower. Someone up here has a radio parked on Abbott Effingham (probably Abbott dispatch) because you hear that talkgroup on the Columbia tower constantly.

 

[Starcom21]

can you add this info to the WIKI please?

Thanks!

fyi all of the Medstar truck numbers you hear are just their IDPH region designated number minus the 4C("Charles). All IL EMS transport units have a unique identifier with the date. First number is region, letter is county, number after that can be anything really but they're usually grouped. Even if a department calls their truck something else, it's guaranteed to have a IDPH region identifier. So a medstar truck based out of St. Clair County is 4C##. 4 is region 4, C=St. Clair. Monroe County is 4E, Clinton 4D etc. I'll probably update the wiki as it's been awhile since I've been able to hear MEDSTAR but most medstar trucks have bases and run specific areas, example "78" or 4C78 is the Cahokia ALS truck. 100 series trucks with MEDSTAR are BLS/Transfer trucks.

Most EMS in this area runs mutual aid just like fire. Dupo will assist Columbia or Medstar, in Cahokia area, and vice versa. Medstar's Red Bud truck assists Monroe County occasionally at the southern end of the county.