St Clair County

[weis_01]

Hi everyone, I am very new at this so im just working on getting the basics right now. I have a BC 245XLT. Anyway I live in Mascoutah which is in St. Clair County and i was wondering if anyone has any good frequencies to listen to. Thanks Brandon

 

[Thunderbolt]

Most of the really good public safety activity will be switching over to the new 800 MHz., digital system in the next few months. All of the police, fire and EMS in St. Clair County will make the move to the new system when it comes online and you WILL need a digital scanner that will decode the 9600 baud Project 25 (Motorola) data channel. The BC-245XLT will not help you in listening to the new system.

However, for now, you can go to the main database here and find several of the regular channels under St. Clair County that are still in use.


73's

Ron

 

[fireusaf]

Now is that St. Clair County MO or St. Clair County :lol: IL? I, too am in the process of picking out a new scanner but I dont know if I should stay with analog or go all out and spend even the lint in my pocket for a digital. Can anyone help?

 

[N9JIG]

That would be St. Clair County IL.

The new TRS that Ron spoke of will be tied into the StarCom21 system, allowing access over a wide area (If StarCom ever actually gets built...)

 

[fireusaf]

So now I ask this, what scanner will scan the 9600 baud channels?

 

[N9JIG]

The current BC796 (Desktop/mobile) and BC296 (HH) as well as the Radio Shack Pro96. Upcoming is the Radio Shack Pro2096 desktop/mobile version of the Pro96.

 

[fireusaf]

Isnt the BC796 outdated? Is there going to be a new updated scaner about to hit the market?

 

[N9JIG]

So far the BC796 is the top of the line Uniden scanner. It handles 9600 baud APCO25 trunking, where as the BC785 only handles 3600 baud and the older 780 only does analog. The BC296 is quite similar to the 796 in a handheld package.

The R/S Pro96 is the top of the line Radio Shack scanner, soon to be joined by the PRO2096. These handle both 9600 and 3600 like the BC796 and 296.

The upcoming BC396T is supposed to handle a similar range of trunking styles as the 796/296.

 

[pdp4405]

Concerning this new trunked system that st clair county is going to, the fire and ems are not going to it. The funds were not approved by the tax payers.
There is alot of concern that it is against NFPA standard to use a trunked system on fireground operation


Mike

 

[N9JIG]

There is alot of concern that it is against NFPA standard to use a trunked system on fireground operation

QUITE TRUE! This is a huge problem, as often portables on trunked systems have difficulties within buildings etc. Some agencies have taken to using the ITAC channels in simplex mode (not real proper use of these...) for fireground use, others have made other arrangements with 800 MHz. freqs or carry sepearate radios.

At a recent communications conference several of us cornered some manufacturers reps from Motorola, Ma-Com/Tyco/Ericsson?GE (or whatever they are called this week...) Vertex/Standard and Kenwood and asked/begged/pleaded for dual or multi-band public safety portable radios. We explained that simplex is required by communications guidelines for fireground operations, and use of the TRS is a waste of resources. The multi-band radios were requested to allow VHF users (which include most FD's around here) to communicate with UHF users (most PD's around here) as well as the 800 MHz. users (more and more agencies all the time).

Interoperability is defined differently by different people, we defined it as being able to talk to thier radio with ours with no additional equipment. Venders want to sell you whiz-bang technology that costs big bucks and needs an engineer to operate. I guess multi-band radios are too simple. Hams have been doing it for decades...

 

[AndrewGeil]

I've never understood (aside from the profit factor) why the manufacturs haven't come up with a good, solid, dual band public safety radio.