RED Center New P25 System

[ILjim]

Note to DB Admins:

It's probably a good idea to update the Lake County DB to reflect these changes considering that several FD's in that county are also dispatched by RED.

 

[werinshades]

Was anyone else logging Radio ID's

 

[remedy44]

Was anyone else logging Radio ID's

Yes

 

[ILjim]

Is there a Wiki page or anything of the sort where we can share our RID findings other than this thread? I've also been logging RIDs, and would be nice if we had one central place to put our findings...

 

[werinshades]

Question...I heard a test page go out to Buffalo Grove Tower 25 on the North P25 frequency. According to the database, they're dispatched by NWCD. Does Red Center have/had the capabilities to dispatch directly to towns where they're not the primary dispatch center? Does it "open up" the speaker in the firehouse in Buffalo Grove or does NWCD do the actual "dispatch"?

 

[Awesomeman92]

Question...I heard a test page go out to Buffalo Grove Tower 25 on the North P25 frequency. According to the database, they're dispatched by NWCD. Does Red Center have/had the capabilities to dispatch directly to towns where they're not the primary dispatch center? Does it "open up" the speaker in the firehouse in Buffalo Grove or does NWCD do the actual "dispatch"?

RED and NWCDS are backup centers for each other, so they would need to have the ability to tone them out in the event NWCDS goes down for whatever reason. Why that wouldn't take place on SC21 like normal, I have no idea. But yes, RED has the capability, just never really a reason to do it.

NWCDS had a radio on the RED system during testing, not sure if it was a console or a portable.

 

[werinshades]

RED and NWCDS are backup centers for each other, so they would need to have the ability to tone them out in the event NWCDS goes down for whatever reason. Why that wouldn't take place on SC21 like normal, I have no idea. But yes, RED has the capability, just never really a reason to do it.

NWCDS had a radio on the RED system during testing, not sure if it was a console or a portable.

Has there ever been an occasion where the Red Center dispatched a fire department from another dispatch center on their now "old" analog frequencies? Maybe it also went out on the the trunking talkgroups too, but I wasn't listening at the time.

 

[Awesomeman92]

Has there ever been an occasion where the Red Center dispatched a fire department from another dispatch center on their now "old" analog frequencies? Maybe it also went out on the the trunking talkgroups too, but I wasn't listening at the time.

Not that I know of, but maybe someone who listens to RED more regularly than I do can speak to that one. NWCDS does include outside agencies on their pages if applicable, but I believe these would still be paged out by their normal method and are just for information, not actually dispatched by them.

 

[ILjim]

Is there a Wiki page or anything of the sort where we can share our RID findings other than this thread? I've also been logging RIDs, and would be nice if we had one central place to put our findings...

I guess the answer is no.

Anyhow, I do notice a pattern with many RIDs where the first 1 or 2 digits corresponds to the Station number (ie Wilmette FD will come through as 26xx and 27xx). Also, for those unfamiliar with the Station numberings, this list will come in handy when logging in these RIDs.

 

[N9JIG]

You can add them to the Wiki at RED Center - The RadioReference Wiki

 

[kk9h]

You can add them to the Wiki at RED Center - The RadioReference Wiki

In looking at the Wiki, it appears that a fair amount of updating is needed. For example 156.135 is listed as repeater inputs when it is now the output for the south repeater. I don’t feel qualified to do any updating myself, but I’m sure that some of you on this thread are more that well qualified to do it.

 

[RoninJoliet]

I can receive the south frequency here in Joliet very well 156.135 NAC47B , I cannot hear the north,.....Has four bars ,

 

[kevino]

Note to DB Admins:

It's probably a good idea to update the Lake County DB to reflect these changes considering that several FD's in that county are also dispatched by RED.

I don't listen to RED Center, but I've updated their subcategory listings in the Cook and Lake County database pages to the best of my ability. If anyone has any further information, PLEASE submit it to these database pages!

 

[Andy2712]

Question...I heard a test page go out to Buffalo Grove Tower 25 on the North P25 frequency. According to the database, they're dispatched by NWCD. Does Red Center have/had the capabilities to dispatch directly to towns where they're not the primary dispatch center? Does it "open up" the speaker in the firehouse in Buffalo Grove or does NWCD do the actual "dispatch"?

Yes, RED has the ability to directly dispatch BG companies. The two-tone page goes over the North Ops frequency whenever a BG company is due to a RED town. It opens the speakers in the BG stations and helps cut down the time delay with the call being relayed then to NWCD.

Similarly, NWCD does the same thing for a few town (Long Grove, P Heights) on the NWC Fire North and South frequencies.

 

[raymondjtoth]

I just saw Des Plaines Engine 62 at the food store. They have a small yellow radio on the shoulder attached to a bigger one, what is that?

 

[N9JIG]

I just saw Des Plaines Engine 62 at the food store. They have a small yellow radio on the shoulder attached to a bigger one, what is that?

It was probably the remote speaker mic for the APX series radio. Some of them are connected by a cable and some are connected via Bluetooth. The remote speaker mic does look like a radio as they have controls and a display in some models.

 

[WO9X]

Picking up the P25 north and south sites well. I am curious as to the transmission sites. When I look in the database, and click the callsign (WRTP258 - same call for the north and the south) it lists a bunch of tower sites, are these all the same for North and South? Someone here said they heard the south one but not the north one.
Lenny WO9X

 

[N9JIG]

Picking up the P25 north and south sites well. I am curious as to the transmission sites. When I look in the database, and click the callsign (WRTP258 - same call for the north and the south) it lists a bunch of tower sites, are these all the same for North and South? Someone here said they heard the south one but not the north one.
Lenny WO9X

They are supposed to be simulcast from multiple sites. I don't know if all are activated all the time or if they use some sort of transmitter steering.

 

[WO9X]

Thanks Rich.

 

[Andy2712]

It's a 16 site simulcast system. All 16 sites carry both the North and South channels, so if you can hear one, you can hear the other.