More and more public safety agencies have moved to SC21 in the past 6 months, with more to follow in the coming years. Eventually, all Madison County Public Safety "should" be using SC21, but I'm sure there will be some hold-outs, like Alton Police and Fire.
Current sites for simulcast are: Godfrey, Edwardsville, Maryville, Granite City, Alton. These serve population centers, but miss out on some more rural areas.
The Madison County simulcast has 2 new FCC Modifications/Applications this week. Overall with frequencies, it DOES NOT ADD ANY ADDITIONAL frequencies. It does delete 852.775 and replaces it with 853.275 at all locations.
Madison County FCC Application 0011494451 adds simulcast sites at (852.1375, 852.3, 852.5375, 853.0875, 853.275, 853.6625)
- West Alton MO (St Charles County, just across the river from Alton, East Alton, Wood River, Hartford, Roxana, South Roxana. This will help for Fire/Police in those cities to make the move to SC21 in the future. The VHF Repeater system for Police was recently upgraded and Fire is slowly moving to DMR VHF, it appears. This may also aid coverage for pursuits, etc in the St Louis/St Charles County areas nearby.
- Bethalto (currently all on VHF; Police and Fire were previously on SC21, but went back to VHF) This will also assist with covering northern Madison County and southeast/southern Macoupin County. (Meadowbrook, Cottage Hills, Fosterburg, Bethalto, etc.)
- Edwardsville (mailing), although more located at Holiday Shores. This will also assist with the northern part of the county into southern Macoupin. (Holiday Shores, Dorsey, Bunker Hill and surrounding areas, even towards the Worden, Hamel areas)
- Highland (Police currently dispatched by Sheriff on their SC21 TG, that is patched through to their silly P25 VHF encrypted local repeater). At this point, Highland and Highland Pierron Fire are using a newer VHF Repeater system, that does multicast onto a TG. MCAD (Hamel) EMS and some other agencies in the area may also use SC21. This site covers a long standing void in the EAST side of Madison County. Previously only being served by Mt Olive and Bond/Clinton County towers.
- Collinsville - Collinsville Police and Fire have been using SC21 for a while now, but their closest tower was the Maryville simulcast, or would often bounce off of T359, St Clair County Simulcast. This will also assist with State Park Fire, just west of Collinsville off of I-55. Pontoon Beach's southern areas will also get better coverage, including Long Lake Fire, who recently switched to SC21 along with Mitchell Fire
Illinois State FCC Application 0011494448 adds simulcast sites at same locations (851.35, 851.875)
Other current licenses have been modified to delete 852.775 and replace it with 853.275 at all locations.
For years, site 301 Madison County was just 6 frequencies, with 5 voice channels. There were CONSTANT issues with system overload and calls being rejected. I fought for a couple years to get more voice channels, working with Madison County EMA. 2 voice channels were added in the recent past.
But in my opinion this is going to need 2 MORE voice channels, unless a considerable number of radios/agencies move to P25 Phase II (TDMA), where they can operate 2 talkgroups at a time on one frequency.
So, basically for the average scanner user, this doesn't end up meaning much. Probably nothing noticeable will change (unless they move some TGs to Phase II)
Current sites for simulcast are: Godfrey, Edwardsville, Maryville, Granite City, Alton. These serve population centers, but miss out on some more rural areas.
The Madison County simulcast has 2 new FCC Modifications/Applications this week. Overall with frequencies, it DOES NOT ADD ANY ADDITIONAL frequencies. It does delete 852.775 and replaces it with 853.275 at all locations.
Madison County FCC Application 0011494451 adds simulcast sites at (852.1375, 852.3, 852.5375, 853.0875, 853.275, 853.6625)
- West Alton MO (St Charles County, just across the river from Alton, East Alton, Wood River, Hartford, Roxana, South Roxana. This will help for Fire/Police in those cities to make the move to SC21 in the future. The VHF Repeater system for Police was recently upgraded and Fire is slowly moving to DMR VHF, it appears. This may also aid coverage for pursuits, etc in the St Louis/St Charles County areas nearby.
- Bethalto (currently all on VHF; Police and Fire were previously on SC21, but went back to VHF) This will also assist with covering northern Madison County and southeast/southern Macoupin County. (Meadowbrook, Cottage Hills, Fosterburg, Bethalto, etc.)
- Edwardsville (mailing), although more located at Holiday Shores. This will also assist with the northern part of the county into southern Macoupin. (Holiday Shores, Dorsey, Bunker Hill and surrounding areas, even towards the Worden, Hamel areas)
- Highland (Police currently dispatched by Sheriff on their SC21 TG, that is patched through to their silly P25 VHF encrypted local repeater). At this point, Highland and Highland Pierron Fire are using a newer VHF Repeater system, that does multicast onto a TG. MCAD (Hamel) EMS and some other agencies in the area may also use SC21. This site covers a long standing void in the EAST side of Madison County. Previously only being served by Mt Olive and Bond/Clinton County towers.
- Collinsville - Collinsville Police and Fire have been using SC21 for a while now, but their closest tower was the Maryville simulcast, or would often bounce off of T359, St Clair County Simulcast. This will also assist with State Park Fire, just west of Collinsville off of I-55. Pontoon Beach's southern areas will also get better coverage, including Long Lake Fire, who recently switched to SC21 along with Mitchell Fire
Illinois State FCC Application 0011494448 adds simulcast sites at same locations (851.35, 851.875)
Other current licenses have been modified to delete 852.775 and replace it with 853.275 at all locations.
For years, site 301 Madison County was just 6 frequencies, with 5 voice channels. There were CONSTANT issues with system overload and calls being rejected. I fought for a couple years to get more voice channels, working with Madison County EMA. 2 voice channels were added in the recent past.
But in my opinion this is going to need 2 MORE voice channels, unless a considerable number of radios/agencies move to P25 Phase II (TDMA), where they can operate 2 talkgroups at a time on one frequency.
So, basically for the average scanner user, this doesn't end up meaning much. Probably nothing noticeable will change (unless they move some TGs to Phase II)
