New to this site.....

[wheelsrhot]

Hello,
I'm new to this site and wanted to know how many people are from Decatur, IL.
Please LMK......
Thanks.....

 

[timmer]

Hello Wheels, welcome. I hope you find this site as helpfull as I have. I'm not in Decatur, I'm in Springfield, hope you find some Decatur folks on here.

 

[daleduke17]

Currently I live in Bloomington, but, I grew up about 20 minutes NE of Decatur (near Lincoln).

Sometimes up here I can hear the county FD's get paged in 154.980, if I'm in my truck.

 

[kb9hgi]

Welcome Wheels to the forum. I'm in Quincy, IL

 

[jrs71]

I lived on E. Cleveland just NE of Eisenhower from '97 to '99. Now located about 40 minutes south of Decatur.

 

[bessiedawg]

jrs71: Small world ! I grew up on Cantrell St. near 16th. Graduated from EHS, but way back in 73.

Decatur police was on 155.25, County on 39.50 with all the other counties. Decatur Ambulance was on 33.02 with a funky soft alert tone that was heard at the beginning of EVERY microphone key. It was very distinctive.

 

[daleduke17]

jrs71: Small world ! I grew up on Cantrell St. near 16th. Graduated from EHS, but way back in 73.

Decatur police was on 155.25, County on 39.50 with all the other counties. Decatur Ambulance was on 33.02 with a funky soft alert tone that was heard at the beginning of EVERY microphone key. It was very distinctive.

Looking on Mapquest, is that near the Lost Bridge area? I think I've been down to St. Mary's maybe twice ever. Now, the other side of the lake (South Shores area) I'd go to a lot. Mainly for Farm and Fleet .

 

[bessiedawg]

Yup, just north of Lost Bridge and St. Mary's.

Lost Bridge got it's name when they ran out of money to finish the project on time one year. They left the bridge itself standing for awhile without any roads leading up to it. Thus the name "Lost Bridge". They just left that name with it once it opened.

 

[daleduke17]

I did not know that. That is too funny and sounds like something Decatur would do. (or the state, depending on who had that road at the time.

 

[jrs71]

jrs71: Small world ! I grew up on Cantrell St. near 16th. Graduated from EHS, but way back in 73.

Decatur police was on 155.25, County on 39.50 with all the other counties. Decatur Ambulance was on 33.02 with a funky soft alert tone that was heard at the beginning of EVERY microphone key. It was very distinctive.

Small world for sure!

Remember that big store at 16th & Cantrell? Eisner? Later became Jewel/Osco and now all that remains is Osco. My ex graduated from Lakeview in '73.

MCSO used 155.25 for a long time after DPD went to higher freqs. I still hear MCSO from time to time on 155.25....think they use it as an auxiliary channel occasionally

 

[cubn]

I'm interested in the historical frequency assignments in Macon County...this is a good topic!

Did Decatur PD switch from VHF directly to 800 MHz or did they go to UHF in between? When did Decatur PD, Decatur FD, and Macon Co Shf switch over to the TRS? Also, what did Decatur FD use before the TRS?

 

[jrs71]

Others correct me if I'm wrong but my recollection is that after 155.250, DPD went to UHF (460? MHz band) before switching to TRS in the early 90's. After 39.500, MCSO used 155.250 until joining the TRS. I think DFD used 154.98 prior to TRS?

 

[bessiedawg]

I left Decatur in 76, but returned frequently. I believe you are corrent in that DPD went to 400 UHF prior to 800 TRS. When DPD was on 155.25 they frequently would have skip interferrence from Kirkwood Missouri police. You would often hear DPD dispatch "Central" respond to a car with "10-9. You were covered by Kirkwood." I recall one time DPD was working some type of serious major incident when they actually hailed Kirkwood through the skip and asked them to keep their traffic to a minimum as they were causing so much interferrence to the DPD emergency. There also used to be a good deal of skip on county's 39.50 from Louisiana.

Decatur Ambulance went to 400 Mhz also. I believe they are now on a private TRS ???
When Decatur Ambualnce was on low band, they were using the old fashioned Cadillac station wagon ambulances. I remember the big low band whip antenna's on them.

 

[cubn]

The Scannermaster Illinois Communications Guide from 1993 lists...
460.025 as Shf Disp
155.250 as Rural PDs
460.100 old Decatur PD West
460.300 old Decatur PD East
153.890 Decatur Fire Dispatch

The Macon County CARMA profile lists 154.800 as the old Decatur PD dispatch channel

 

[bessiedawg]

Ok here's going way back. My guess is that this is too far back for anybody hereto remember. Cubn referenced the ScannerMaster guide back in 1993. Does anybody remember the CRB Research frequency guides. These were four page paper guides that usually focused on metro areas. I think they were $2 a piece by mail order. Even though there were only four pages, they had alot of information as to freq, callsigns, etc...