Racom Cedar Rapids

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mikeydcg2003

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Dallas Center, IA
I know Racom has 2 towers in cedar rapids. The last time i was out there, i kinda programmed them in on the fly. I did hear some traffic, but it sounded like those towers dont' have much on them. Was wanting to know what all you can hear on them so i know if it is worth it to program them in the next time i go for a visit. If there are any towers out there that might have Polk Co Sheriff's or any of the DSM traffic that would be cool. Didn't know if the IA city tower or the Coralville tower broadcasted those and whether or not they are strong enough to get in CR.
 

w0fg

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Any RACOM system anywhere can receive and transmit any traffic from anywhere else on the network, but as a general rule most talkgoups are only pushed to a few designated systems. If a unit from one of those talkgroups is in another part of the state, e.g. a DM unit mobile in CR, then the DM traffic will be pushed to the CR system that the DM unit has affiliated with. Aircare, IDPH TAC, and such are the exceptions. They are pushed to most, if not all, of the network all the time.
 

mikeydcg2003

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I guess i must of had it programmed wrong. I will try to reprogram it with the pc before i go out there instead of on the fly. Maybe that will help out
 

w0fg

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The greater Cedar Rapids area has very little local RACOM public service traffic except for the air ambulances or the transient out-of-area unit as described above. Linn county is mostly Motorola, with a smattering of EFJ systems, as opposed to Blackhawk county which is almost all RACOM MA/COM.
 

Signal3and2

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I never heard any traffic on either of the 2 RACOM towers in the 2 years I had them in my scanner before I moved out of the area.
 

timkilbride

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Linn Co Iowa
I monitor the South CR tower from time to time. I have heard Waterloo fire, not on a continuious basis however. Hear the air ambulances all the time. Haven't heard any other PS traffic on it otherwise. The Vinton tower appears to carry a lot of Black Hawk county traffic.
 

bar422

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Dec 27, 2003
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I was told once that the Black Hawk County radio traffic is forced to the Vinton site. If that is true you should hear them all the time by what I understand.
 

w0fg

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Some of the Blackhawk Co/Waterloo talk groups are forced to Vinton System 12, but not necessarily all of them nor is it all the time. After the Parkersburg tornado most of them were taken off System 12 for a week or so. None of the BHCO groups are automatically forced to CR 9 or 13. As I understand it, what goes where can be altered at any time from Marshalltown.
 

splash1

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I have been monitoring both CR sites 1109 and 1113 for about 10 to 15 days now. Here is what i have logged . These hits are not recorded hits but just what i have been able to write down as i here them , an hour here and hour there.

1109

Iowa Cap 02-057
Blackhawk cc Fire 13-123
Aircare DSP 14-142
Blackhawk co Jail 13-151
Polk co link 14-012
Lifenet 14-141
Buchanan County Sheriff Ops (Linked to 154.845) 15-087
Uilicorp United - Energy One 02-113
Unknown 02-006
03-004
10-060
04-060

1113
04-022 Health Reg 6 Alerts - Region 6 Hospitals (Eastern Iowa
15-090 Oelwein PD Ops Ops channel (linked to 153.905)
10-131 Command Law Tac Iowa - Polk County Sheriff
13-121 BH Law Ops 1 Sheriff 1 Countywide Dispatch - Black Hawk County Sheriff
13-123 Fire Dispatch - Black Hawk County Fire/EMS
09-087 Sheriff Dispatch 1 Scott County Sheriff
02-113 Uilicorp United - Energy One
15-075 LEIN Ops LEIN Ops Iowa - L.E.I.N.
15-087 Buchanan County Sheriff Ops (Linked to 154.845)
14-141 Life Net Air Evac EMS (Norfolk) EMS Dispatch Nebraska
02-107 Midwest Ambulance Service Polk County
14-012 Link (460.500 patch) Polk County Sheriff
14-142 Aircare Dis Lifenet Aircare Helicopter Dispatch
13-151 Jail Black Hawk County Sheriff
12-101 Sheriff 1 Dubuque County
13-126 Rural Fire Dispatch Black Hawk County Fire/EMS
10-046 unknown
04-060 unknown
03-004 unknown

Rick
 

mrdinks

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Mar 4, 2008
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Iowa
I need some help with the Racom system. I am near Vinton, can I enter the vinton site or do I need more than that? Do I need some Primary channels. If I start at the top and copy and paste it enters it but I dont want more than I can listen to.

I know this is clear as mud.
 

n2mdk

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Ames, IA
Just enter the Vinton site frequencies, there really are nor primary channels since it's an EDACS system all the frequencies must be programmed in and in proper LCN order.
 

bar422

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Dec 27, 2003
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Why would they have to take talkgroups off of System 12 after the Parkersburg tornado when that site isn't even in Butler County? However, I have been told that Black Hawk's talkgroups are forced to the Allison site (System 10) as well so I could see them taking some of them off that site. Last I knew (and checked) most of Black Hawk's main talkgroup's were still forced to the Vinton site but maybe not now. Just curious if there have been some changes going on.
 

burner50

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NC Iowa
I have been monitoring both CR sites 1109 and 1113 for about 10 to 15 days now. Here is what i have logged . These hits are not recorded hits but just what i have been able to write down as i here them , an hour here and hour there.

1109

Iowa Cap 02-057
Blackhawk cc Fire 13-123
Aircare DSP 14-142
Blackhawk co Jail 13-151
Polk co link 14-012
Lifenet 14-141
Buchanan County Sheriff Ops (Linked to 154.845) 15-087
Uilicorp United - Energy One 02-113
Unknown 02-006
03-004
10-060
04-060

1113
04-022 Health Reg 6 Alerts - Region 6 Hospitals (Eastern Iowa
15-090 Oelwein PD Ops Ops channel (linked to 153.905)
10-131 Command Law Tac Iowa - Polk County Sheriff
13-121 BH Law Ops 1 Sheriff 1 Countywide Dispatch - Black Hawk County Sheriff
13-123 Fire Dispatch - Black Hawk County Fire/EMS
09-087 Sheriff Dispatch 1 Scott County Sheriff
02-113 Uilicorp United - Energy One
15-075 LEIN Ops LEIN Ops Iowa - L.E.I.N.
15-087 Buchanan County Sheriff Ops (Linked to 154.845)
14-141 Life Net Air Evac EMS (Norfolk) EMS Dispatch Nebraska
02-107 Midwest Ambulance Service Polk County
14-012 Link (460.500 patch) Polk County Sheriff
14-142 Aircare Dis Lifenet Aircare Helicopter Dispatch
13-151 Jail Black Hawk County Sheriff
12-101 Sheriff 1 Dubuque County
13-126 Rural Fire Dispatch Black Hawk County Fire/EMS
10-046 unknown
04-060 unknown
03-004 unknown

Rick



I'm hearing the 04-060 from the fort dodge site.

"MWA to Cedar Rapids base" Something about being "at ADM reference number ???? he will be on break at 3 o'clock so I will have to wait for a bit."

Closest I can tell would be Metro Waste authority

http://www.mwatoday.com/links.asp

EDIT: Also I'm not too sure that 14-141 Lifenet Air Evac EMS is limited to norfolk county nebraska. I heard them talking about landing at methodist in Des Moines...

If anybody has any better information I can change it, just lemme know!
 
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burner50

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04-060 was used heavily during the ICE raid in Postville and the events in Waterloo.
http://www.radioreference.com/forums/showthread.php?t=105472
I don't think it is a waste company unless they are just rental/trial radios that go from user to user.

I would move the 14-141 talkgroup into the Medevac subcategory. I don't know the exact usage, but I do know it isn't limited to NE.

Well I heard further transmissions, it may still be ICE, but they were in Cedar Rapids...
 

mws72

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Mar 30, 2002
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Quad-Cities (IA-IL) USA
You should hear EMS groups out of Black Hawk Co as ground ambulances go to and from Iowa City. Scott County Sheriff as they visited Linn Co Jail (not now of course). So you can hear almost anything or nothing just depends. Here in the Quad-Cities depending on the tower we can also almost hear anything and we have heard a lot of a lot of the groups from the other parts of the state over the years. The best one I heard was the electrician in Nebraska who mis-dialed his buddy's radio LID and got a Blue Grass PD Officer instead. Both were rather surprised.
 

timkilbride

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Linn Co Iowa
I was wondering if someone could explain this to me:

I'm hearing 13-127, Black Hawk county sheriff secondary channel, on a daily basis on the Cedar Rapids South side, but no other Black Hawk county PS traffic. I understand that the system follows a user around ect... Why am I hearing only this one TG from BHCO?
 

w0fg

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Decorah, IA
One possibility is that if the itinerant radio is not scanning the only TG being forced is the one that it's tuned to.
 
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