Is there any possible way to program just three Illinois State police districts in the Uniden BCD536HP scanner without putting the whole star com 21 system in. I have tried to put in just the districts that I can hear without having to scan the whole state but to no avail. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Star com 21
- Thread starter n9owm
- Start date
- Status
yeah... its very easy.... Select your site, select your 3 ISP Districts TG, load. Boom done.
You can also check the counties that are covered by the districts you want to hear and program the sites that cover those counties. You may have to program a few sites but that will narrow the work down from the entire state.
usswood
Member
If Dist 13 dispatches for 22 you don't have to have 13 if you don't need it....The district 13 dispatcher uses the district 22 talkgroups.... just fyi ...
ok so select the towers closest to you if your scanner is fixed at its location...then select the talk-groups for your ISP district or local PD that you want to hear.... If you travel, select the towers for the areas you travel to and talkgroups for those areas... remember, not all traffic gets passed to all towers in an area unless they are simulcast towers.....however most ISP traffic is hardwire for most towers in the areas they cover so ISP traffic is hard to miss...Local traffic means a officer has to be connected to that tower for the traffic to pass on it... or someone on that talk-group does.... hope this helps
Last edited:
bcd536hp
All the forms that I bring up on the computer for this scanner, all not allowing me to enter the frequencies, talk groups or pertinent information needed to get the scanner to work like I want it to. Trunking is giving me a fit. No matter what I try, they whole star com 21 gets loaded into my favorites list.
All the forms that I bring up on the computer for this scanner, all not allowing me to enter the frequencies, talk groups or pertinent information needed to get the scanner to work like I want it to. Trunking is giving me a fit. No matter what I try, they whole star com 21 gets loaded into my favorites list.
You need to go into your programming and delete every STARCOM21 site that is not near you. What is the easiest way to figure this out? I'll help you. Punch in your zipcode. HOLD on STARCOM21. Look at which "SITES" are flashing on the screen. Go into Sentinel. Load your county STARCOM21. Then go in, and delete every site that is not THOSE SPECIFIC SITES. Then load it into your scanner. While you are scanning notice which site gives you the strongest signal. THIS IS THE ONLY SITE YOU NEED (unless you drive around town, then you might need one of the others). Go into the menu and AVOID the others. You'll be all set.
This is easier than it sounds.
This is easier than it sounds.
The easiest way I know to accomplish this is simply get out a pen and paper for notes and start building you own favorites lost from scratch. It may take a while longer than just importing it from the data base but you can program just the sites and dept's you want to hear and also you can assign quick keys as you see fit. I have never been a big fan of copy and pasting from the data base in sentinel. I always found it better to build out the favorites lists myself . If you would like some assistance shoot me a PM I am happy to help and may have a favorites list file already set up for most of the state but I am currently working just a ISP system list with just the districts I'd be happy to share with you once I finish it up tonight or tomorrow. Let me know if I can help.
Bob
Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk
Bob
Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk
Last edited:
Thanks Bob for the reply. I am not sure which way I want to go. Most of the areas here are ok. Starcom 21 has me stumped but I think I have figured it out for now. I live in Southern Illinois 30 miles north of Cairo. Not a whole lot of traffic here. Now I am trying to set up the wifi for the scanner.
Hi,
I'm pretty much in the same boat - loading the ISP districts I want downloads the entire Starcom21 list - but at least it scans and works - I can hear ISP districts and statewide channels.
However, when I delete anything in the list that I'm not going to listen to, or even place avoids in Sentinel, then reload the list to the scanner - it shows nothing to scan each time.
I checked that my location and range were correct, checked that the proper services were turned on, etc.
Loading the entire list works and I can hear the districts I'm after. Editing the list where only the two districts are left and sending to scanner ends up in the scanner showing "Nothing to scan"
Can someone share a working favorites file with just the Starcom21 ISP districts?
Never had any issues with Sentinel or the scanner until I wanted to set up a favorite for just the Starcom21 ISP channels.
I'm pretty much in the same boat - loading the ISP districts I want downloads the entire Starcom21 list - but at least it scans and works - I can hear ISP districts and statewide channels.
However, when I delete anything in the list that I'm not going to listen to, or even place avoids in Sentinel, then reload the list to the scanner - it shows nothing to scan each time.
I checked that my location and range were correct, checked that the proper services were turned on, etc.
Loading the entire list works and I can hear the districts I'm after. Editing the list where only the two districts are left and sending to scanner ends up in the scanner showing "Nothing to scan"
Can someone share a working favorites file with just the Starcom21 ISP districts?
Never had any issues with Sentinel or the scanner until I wanted to set up a favorite for just the Starcom21 ISP channels.
VASCAR2
Member
Where are you located uncouth? If you download the entire SC21 system you can lock out what you don’t want to listen to or monitor. The Uniden scanners have enough memory to contain most systems. I personally don’t use the programming software and just manually enter the tower frequencies and talk groups.
With the way the affiliation works on trunked systems you normally won’t receive any distant agencies or talk groups. Lock out all sites that are not local to you and scan as many local sites that interest you. I live on the Illinois Indiana border and can only receive three SC21 sites from my house. I can get five sites on the Indiana Safe-T P25 trunked system.
When I visit my Daughter in the Rockford area I just lock out the sites near my home and unlock the sites in the Rockford area.
I’m retired and willing to help any of the forum members in Illinois get their scanners programmed.
With the way the affiliation works on trunked systems you normally won’t receive any distant agencies or talk groups. Lock out all sites that are not local to you and scan as many local sites that interest you. I live on the Illinois Indiana border and can only receive three SC21 sites from my house. I can get five sites on the Indiana Safe-T P25 trunked system.
When I visit my Daughter in the Rockford area I just lock out the sites near my home and unlock the sites in the Rockford area.
I’m retired and willing to help any of the forum members in Illinois get their scanners programmed.
Thanks for the kind offer - through some trial and error I was able to figure out what I was doing wrong - I was inadvertently deleting all of the tower frequencies and only keeping the talk groups relevant to me - a rookie mistake if there ever was one. I'm finally able to receive the transmissions I was after.
As I start adding more and more items of interest I might need your help yet - stay tuned
VASCAR2
Member
Glad you got it sorted out. I sent you a personal message but you can disregard. There is definitely a learning curve to these newer scanners. They are more of a microprocessor that just has a radio receiver incorporated into the design than a stand alone reciever.
mistatecj
Member
Would there be any reason that you would want to add a neighboring counties site as well as my local site, or would it slow down scanning? I currently have my favorite lists set up by county, in my case McHenry is QK1 and Lake is QK2. So if I understand correctly and from looking at the site detail, I should only have "McHenry County - Simulcast" in my McHenry favorites list? During testing, I have noticed that McHenry Sheriff appears to show up on the Lake County Simulcast.
On another note, I am looking to listen to Flight for Life as well in this list. Since it shows up as statewide, it loads all sites as well. Would the some hold true for just using "McHenry County - Simulcast". Thank you again for the input, you are correct that there is a learning curve, even after all these years...
On another note, I am looking to listen to Flight for Life as well in this list. Since it shows up as statewide, it loads all sites as well. Would the some hold true for just using "McHenry County - Simulcast". Thank you again for the input, you are correct that there is a learning curve, even after all these years...
Last edited:
VASCAR2
Member
If you live close to the border between McHenry and Boone or Kane counties you might be able to hear talk groups which don’t affiliate with the McHenry County simulcast systems. By living in McHenry county your basically boxed in by other simulcast systems in Kane, Boone and Lake counties. When I visit my Daughter I listen to Boone County Simulcast which sometimes has McHenry County TG’s that have affiliated with the Boone sites. If I listen to Rockford Simulcast I can hear Stephenson County and Freeport PD plus ISP District 1 in Sterling.
With many Talk Groups being encrypted my scanner has no trouble going through at least three sites, S. Beloit, Rockford and Boone County. I also listen to WISCOM and Rock County on the same scanner. I don’t mind if I miss a little traffic on any of the agencies I monitor. I generally monitor WISCOM Sites Beloit and Kennosha.
I use ID search (Wildcard) on trunked systems so I can pickup any Talk Group that is not locked out. I have Flight For Life programmed into my Scanner but I don’t ever recall hearing any traffic. I’ve heard medical helo’s on WISCOM but haven’t heard many in northern Illinois. In Southern Illinois I hear Medical Helicopters the most on MERCY 155.340.
VASCAR2
Member
Im on tip of the listening edge of WISCOM and Indiana Project Hoosier SAFE-T.
When I’m home in Southeast Illinois I get more Indiana Safe-T sites than I do SC21. I will be venturing further north in Wisconsin on my next trip and just added DaneCom and the new Madison P-25 systems. Being DaneCom is VHF Hi Band trunked I might be able to pick it up from my Daughter’s house.
- Status
Similar threads
