S.L.A.T.E.R. Questions...

[rbritton1201]

I'm in the process of programming St. Charles County, St. Louis County, and Jefferson County into individual favorites lists in my BCD436HP, so I can turn those favorites lists on and off as I travel through those Counties. I notice there's a large list of "INTEROP" talk groups in the Sentinel data base, especially within St. Louis County, and I also notice there's duplication of talk groups and frequencies between the three counties, as though they all share the S.L.A.T.E.R. network, but have different assigned talk groups according to agency. I assume having all of those "INTEROP" talk groups in the mix slows down the scan sequence, having to scan through all the talk groups that may not be active most of the time.

When I review the S.L.A.T.E.R. published materials, it seems there are quite a few more tower locations that form a network compared to what I see with respect to MOSWIN. I get the impression the S.L.A.T.E.R. towers are interconnected so all the agencies that are members of S.L.A.T.E.R. are able to communicate through these towers within the network, no matter where they may be traveling within the S.L.A.T.E.R. network, whether within their venues or outside their venues, provided they're within the proximity of a S.L.A.T.E.R. network tower.

Are all law enforcement agencies with these three Counties subscribed to the totality of the S.L.A.T.E.R. network?

If I'm only interested in monitoring the main dispatch channels and car to car traffic as I pass through those Counties, can I eliminate most of the "INTEROP" talk groups from programming?

Are S.L.A.T.E.R towers interconnected throughout the entire network? It seems I've heard that the BCD436HP isn't probably the best choice for Simulcast transmissions if the network is all interconnected.

Do the various towers become active as you enter their coverage areas, and do towers that are sometimes in close proximity to one another cause the BCD436HP to have difficulty decoding competing transmissions? The S.L.A.T.E.R. towers seem to have a much more limited range compared to MOSWIN towers, but there are more of them to form what seems to be a common network.

I'm just wanting to get a basic understanding of how the S.L.A.T.E.R. system works so I can program more effectively, and not have a lot of extra stuff programmed into the scanner that the scanner has to scan through, thereby missing more important traffic due to a latency issue (ie: time spent scanning INTEROP talk groups that aren't in use much other than under special circumstances.

 

[rbritton1201]

I realize that encryption is an issue with respect to St. Louis County and Jefferson County, but not sure about St. Charles County. There appears to be some municipalities that are not encrypted within those venues. I was able to hear Pevely PD (in Jeffco) from Union, Missouri last night. I know the West County municipalities are encrypted, Creve Coeur, Frontenac, and Town 'N Country, all of St. Louis County PD, St. Louis City, etc...Not sure about the municipalities on East Central Dispatch, but I believe they are all encrypted. Are there any of the municipalities that are within those Counties that are on S.L.A.T.E.R. that are not encrypted, or still on analog? Is St. Charles County PD, St. Charles City, and the municipalities within St. Charles County encrypted or not encrypted?

 

[scanman1958]

There are "multiple" towers located in each SLATER County. I think there are 16 alone in St Louis Co. There is a ton if intermod especially in StLCo. Good luck with all of it.

 

[rbritton1201]

Yeah, that's kind of how I figured it after reading up on S.L.A.T.E.R. I've been living outside St.Louis County for about 20+ years, so I allowed my knowledge to lapse with respect to how things have been changing. Due to not being able to monitor them intelligibly, I'll probably omit St. Louis County, and Jeffco from the favorites lists. I'm still not sure about St. Charles County. From Union, Missouri today, I picked up some dicey transmissions from Foristell/New Melle, but they were readable, just not a consistent signal due to distance. Until I get up into St. Charles County to test my programming, I won't be able to judge whether it's worth having St. Charles County PD and its municipalities in my favorites lists, unless somebody on the forum knows the score.

There are "multiple" towers located in each SLATER County. I think there are 16 alone in St Louis Co. There is a ton if intermod especially in StLCo. Good luck with all of it.

 

[ltginrage]

Here's a map of SLATER towers. I have yet to finish adding MOSWIN towers.

Missouri Systems Towers Map - Google My Maps

Any comments, questions, concerns, errors or to help create the map please email me at ib2491a@gmail.com SLATER - P25: 2-28-22 MOSWIN - P25: - 2-28-22

www.google.com

 

[kruser]

Here's a map of SLATER towers. I have yet to finish adding MOSWIN towers.

Missouri Systems Towers Map - Google My Maps

Any comments, questions, concerns, errors or to help create the map please email me at ib2491a@gmail.com SLATER - P25: 2-28-22 MOSWIN - P25: - 2-28-22

www.google.com

You may want to search for more licenses similar to those shown in the RRDB for Slater. I think one or more active licenses may be missing as there should be more towers than what your map shows.
I know there's active Slater signals at the old county EOC location just west of Ladue and Olive. I live very near there and the signal strength is off the charts. I think an antenna for the St Charles Slater system may be at that location and then at least one for either Slater North or South but not both.
The missing FCC callsigns may still be in the wiki for Slater also.
Be careful though as there were a few cancelled callsigns or licenses back in Slaters early days that may still show up.

 

[ltginrage]

You may want to search for more licenses similar to those shown in the RRDB for Slater. I think one or more active licenses may be missing as there should be more towers than what your map shows.
I know there's active Slater signals at the old county EOC location just west of Ladue and Olive. I live very near there and the signal strength is off the charts. I think an antenna for the St Charles Slater system may be at that location and then at least one for either Slater North or South but not both.
The missing FCC callsigns may still be in the wiki for Slater also.
Be careful though as there were a few cancelled callsigns or licenses back in Slaters early days that may still show up.

Ok Thanks I will look into that see what I can come up with

 

[rbritton1201]

I came across a S.L.A.T.E.R. sponsored website that detailed the locations of the towers in their system, but I can't seem to find it right now. I recall that there did appear to be quite a large number of sites in that publication. If I can run across it again, I'll post it.

 

[kruser]

I came across a S.L.A.T.E.R. sponsored website that detailed the locations of the towers in their system, but I can't seem to find it right now. I recall that there did appear to be quite a large number of sites in that publication. If I can run across it again, I'll post it.

That would be cool. I think I've seen that also but I'm pretty sure it may have shown some of the site locations for the licenses that were cancelled.
If you find it, run the callsigns through the FCC ULS site to determine if they are active or not.

 

[rbritton1201]

Brings back memories of the old EOC when I worked for St. Louis County PD back in the mid-seventies. All the backup radio systems for the PD were out there at that time. To what extent is that facility still functional these days? At least you don't have any reception issues being that close to a S.L.A.T.E.R. tower. But, I guess a lot of good it does with this "E-Cryptoniting" going on. Political pressure needs to be brought to bare or nothing's going to change. The public ithese days is cut out of the "accountability" factor, that coming from ex-law enforcement to boot.

I know there's active Slater signals at the old county EOC location just west of Ladue and Olive. I live very near there and the signal strength is off the charts...

 

[kruser]

To what extent is that facility still functional these days?

I'm not sure what's still there since they opened the new ECC down off of Big Bend on Hanna Rd.
The last time I was in the old EOC, it was still fully functional as a backup dispatch site with duplicate consoles of what was in Clayton back then.

The tower at the old EOC causes me simulcast issues with Slater South plus some radios have issues with the close spacing of the control channel and voice channel frequencies used by Slater.
Honestly, I wish it was not there! I think a transmitter may still be there for the counties storm warning sirens also. Probably as a backup I suspect. I'm pretty sure one of the CCE911 VHF transmitters is still on the old EOC tower which is used just for dispatch tone-outs today.
I'm not sure if the old amateur Skywarn station is still setup inside the bunker or not but I did see what appeared to be VHF and maybe UHF amateur antennas on one of the towers there.
I've also been told one of the St Charles county Slater sites are located there but I've not confirmed that. I'd almost say it's not there judging by needing to aim the yagi towards St Charles area to get a good copy from that Slater system. One of the counties active Slater FCC licenses does still list the old EOC as a location for a St Charles Slater site so who knows.

Below is a picture I snapped last month of the main county tower at the old EOC.
I'm not sure if any of the stuff on the cell tower also in the picture is related to the EOC or not.
There's also another cell tower out of the picture that has one or two tall omni type sticks mounted on it about mid height. I'm not certain but they could be amateur antennas depending on who owns the other cell tower. They appear to be fiberglass antennas. I kind of doubt they were used with the old Skywarn station in the bunker though as that tower would be a couple hundred feet or more from the bunkers building.
I know the old skywarn repeater on 146.940 was located at the EOC but I think it's gone since 146.94 stopped being the areas primary skywarn repeater. They also had a 460.xxx UHF EMWIN weather text broadcast station at the old EOC but it started having issues due to its 100% duty cycle so they decommissioned it at some point many years ago. I built a radio modem decoder that allowed me to view the WX data it pumped out.
I do get a very strong signal from the current 146.910 skywarn repeater so they could have an antenna located there.
When skywarn is active with severe weather, I never hear them mention the old EOC like they did back in the 146.94 though days so if there is a 146.910 transmitter there, it's probably all run remotely. The old 146.94 repeater could also be run for skywarn by one of the net operators from a home in Ballwin (I think) if they couldn't get to the EOC bunker. I often wonder if the 146.91 skywarn repeater has antennas at the new ECC in addition to a backup location.
When I took the picture, the old bunker buildings lot was padlocked shut. A few county looking vehicles were parked in the lot but no signs of human activity at all that day.
The building and lot did appear to be pretty well maintained however. I wonder if any of the counties old VHF stuff is still down in the bunker.
I think they used a microwave link between the old EOC and Clayton and could still have a link to the new ECC as well if there really are active Slater equipment and antennas at the old location.

 

[rbritton1201]

Cool photo...seems like it's still got quite a bit going on, but trying to get the specifics from government officials these days is a challenge.

 

[kruser]

Ok Thanks I will look into that see what I can come up with

Look under callsign WQTU327. It's an active license not shown for Slater St Louis County North site on the RRDB page.

FCC Callsign WQTU327 (St. Louis County Emergency Communications Commission)

FCC Callsign WQTU327 (St. Louis County Emergency Communications Commission)

www.radioreference.com

Look at location 2 which is the old EOC location at Ladue Rd and Olive St. That's one of the tower sites missing from your google map. I didn't look at the license very much to see if other tower sites for Slater Site 1-01 are also missing from the map but there may be. The call I think your map is based from is the one listed here in the RRDB which is WQTI897 which is also an active license for the Slater site 1-01 which is St Louis County North also.
I've never verified any of the other tower locations for the missing callsign license though except for the one on Ladue Bluffs Crossing Drive which is the tower at the old EOC. So I can't say if any of the other locations are actually active tower sites for site 1-01. The Slater tower at Ladue Bluffs Crossing has a very strong control channel signal at that tower location when I visited the tower not long ago.

I did search for missing licenses for the St Charles and the St Louis County South systems but everything I found was listed as as cancelled. So it looks like just the tower locations under the WQTU327 callsign may be the only ones missing from your map. I also didn't look for any missing Jefferson County site licenses but I don't think there were any when I last searched the FCC site for that county maybe a year ago.