Please use this thread for discussing the StarCom21 system in 2020.
Hearing traffic on ISP District Chicago Channel D (TG 9008), possibly South Expressway Patrol?
I think I've answered my own question. It appears that the "George Sam" units are security guards and the "Paul Sam" units are sworn officers.Heard a "George Sam" unit on ISP District Chicago Detail C (TG 9029). Anyone know which units these are? "Paul Sam" units (security at the James R. Thompson Center in Chicago) also use this talk group.
ISP RIDs - see STARCOM21 Statewide Illinois-RID 30 - The RadioReference Wiki .I've been seeing RID's in the 13000xx series being used by ISP District-Chicago recently. In the WiKi Morton Grove has previously been ID'd in this range.
When I programmed my local STARCOM21 sites into a Favorites list in my SDS100, I included all of the freqs listed in the Radio Reference database for each site. When holding on a single site and watching the detailed version of the display, I noticed at times that the scanner would lose the control channel (indicated by the loss of the "DATA" indicator in the display) and start slowly to step through all the site's programmed freqs in search of the control channel. While this was happening, the scanner was not tracking the site properly and I would hear nothing. That's when I remembered something I heard years ago - you only need to program the control channel and alternate control channels (shown in the Radio Reference database in red and blue respectively) for P25 trunked systems.
I proceeded to delete all voice-only freqs for this site and immediately noticed that the scanner was receiving as it should. Lesson learned!
The units I'm seeing are patrol units. C-233-1300058/ C-240-1300059...and about 4-5 others. I'll monitor if these are pool cars or new mobile installations as I have a letter designation next to them on my list.
Typically the "utility cars" in each district have their mobile radio IDs set to <zone>3<district><car ID> so 1317203 is utility car from Dist 17. I've logged a handful of radios over the years in the 13000xx range but don't have IDs associated with them other than 1300005 who IDed as "FBI Unit Downtown" at some point. I wonder if the radio tech put the numbers in wrong or if this is a new set of cars?
36972 | 906c | D | OLREC Police | Oak Lawn Regional Emergency Communications: Alsip-3 |