StarCom21 2020 Official Thread

[kevino]

I check them every couple of days to see if I can hear a control channel or anything but so far have heard nothing.

In August, the Sheriff reported to the county public safety committee that Minonk was just needing a connection from AT&T which was supposed to happen by the end of August. Cazenovia was waiting on a similar connection and the Sheriff was hoping to get the SO on it by the end of this month. There was no update given at the Sep. meeting last Tuesday. I know the Iowa derecho tied up tower crews for a while and delayed installation of the antennas for our county EMA and amateur 2-meter repeaters but they were installed at Cazenovia last week. I would speculate there may be similar delays on AT&T crews as well. (At least that's what I tell myself)

I keep waiting.

A listener in the Bloomington-Normal area says that Site 229 at ISU is reporting a new neighbor - Site 259, with a control channel of 857.0875. This frequency is licensed (WRDF445) at Minonk. N9LOB - could you give that site a listen and see if it's active now?

 

[n9lob]

I made a road trip and here is what I found using pro96com.

854.5875 a
857.0875 c
858.0875 a

I was in range about 20 minutes and got no hits, no affils, although it reports connected. I could not get a lock on it until around Benson. They are licensed for two other frequencies at that site but they didn't show up. I still hear nothing from the Cazenovia site and I should be able to hear that from home.

 

[kevino]

I made a road trip and here is what I found using pro96com.

854.5875 a
857.0875 c
858.0875 a

I was in range about 20 minutes and got no hits, no affils, although it reports connected. I could not get a lock on it until around Benson. They are licensed for two other frequencies at that site but they didn't show up. I still hear nothing from the Cazenovia site and I should be able to hear that from home.

Site 259 (Minonk) has been added to the RR SC21 database. Thanks for taking the road trip, N9LOB!

 

[n9lob]

It was a fun trip but something strange happened which I don't understand. I used a pro106 to run pro96com and I run it unsquleched so I hear the continuous digital roar in every other instance I've used it. This trip was different, when I got close enough for my scanner to decode the data, the speaker muted. It only does this when it's getting a TDMA signal and of course can't decode it. Pro96com showed all frequencies as single channel with no time slots. The scanner did the same thing this morning when I drove by Cazenovia to see if anything was happening there (there wasn't). The scanner shows the system data on the bottom of the display but no audio. (Kevino it showed a NAC of 140)

I did some reading online and know there can be such a thing as a TDMA control channel but I don't know how a non TDMA capable scanner could decode anything. Are there any SC21 sites that are TDMA only? Is there another explanation that I'm missing?

 

[YoShep69]

This trip was different, when I got close enough for my scanner to decode the data, the speaker muted. It only does this when it's getting a TDMA signal and of course can't decode it. Pro96com showed all frequencies as single channel with no time slots.

I'm getting tg5806 as P2 in McLean Co.

 

[n9lob]

All of the Woodford county subscribers are P2. If TG5806 is active this scanner (Pro106) stops and displays but the speaker mutes as it can't decode it. I'm not talking about voice traffic in this case. What I'm asking about is the actual control channel for the Minonk site. That is what is acting like a P2 transmission muting the speaker even though pro96com doesn't show the control channel to be time-slotted as a P2 signal would be.

When using this radio set on the control channel I hear the continuous data stream through the speaker on every other SC21 site but this one. That is what does not make sense to me.

 

[YoShep69]

What I'm asking about is the actual control channel for the Minonk site.

Ok, I misunderstood what you were asking.

I had to go that way earlier today. Add 854.0125 as the id channel.

"00-0481","i",854.01250,"00-0481",809.01250,0,3

 

[n9lob]

Ok, I misunderstood what you were asking.

I had to go that way earlier today. Add 854.0125 as the id channel.

"00-0481","i",854.01250,"00-0481",809.01250,0,3

That's one of the two frequencies that didn't show up for me Thursday. That leaves 859.0875 as the only one licensed that hasn't shown up yet.

 

[apco25]

The control channel doesn't really change with Phase 2. Still 9600 baud P25 Smartzone 7xxx

 

[sgtmatt]

I live in Platteville Wi, and actualy got lucky with my Unication G5 this week off of the Galena Site, I managed to find a spot on the window sill where I'm able to get a couple of bars off of it regularly. But anyway my question is, anyone framiliar with Whiteside County in District 1, does anyone see Whiteside County or Carroll County agencies swiching to SC21 anytime in the near future. My guess is if they do they will most likley not be using the Galena site. But I go down there on a semi regular basis (at least prior to covid) so i'd hear them anyway. My uncle is ex ISP retired, old car 1-4! He retired as a M/SGT

 

[lu81fitter]

Does anyone else think that the Woodford County radios sound terrible compared to ISP? I have heard other phase 2 traffic on my 996P2 up in the Joliet area, and it sounds fine. My Woodford County reception is pretty bad.

 

[n9lob]

I have wondered that myself. Both the sheriff and EMA phase 2 traffic I've heard both sound 'muddier' than the phase 1 traffic. I thought maybe that was a normal P1 vs. P2 difference. TG5806 is just a straight patch from 453.55 and sounds horrible. 5807 sounds better but still has less clarity than other SC21 traffic. The EMA TG5817 sounds the same but when they use a group that falls back to P1 (Region 7B) they sound fine.

 

[cubn]

I'm getting reports from Bloomington Normal that TG 5889 and 5891 are encrypted. These are listed in the wiki as active since at least 2017. Don't know what RIDs were in use.

 

[MikeyC]

I'm getting reports from Bloomington Normal that TG 5889 and 5891 are encrypted. These are listed in the wiki as active since at least 2017. Don't know what RIDs were in use.

I've logged those talkgroups intermittently since 2017 and all of the traffic has been encrypted. The radios are in the 466xxx range on most of the talkgroups around those too. (The app is something I wrote to do something with all these logs)

 

[YoShep69]

Bloomington Normal that TG 5889 and 5891 are encrypted

I thought this was updated awhile back, but I see it wasn't.
TG 5886-5893 are public works. They were initially encrypted because of language.

 

[kevino]

I thought this was updated awhile back, but I see it wasn't.
TG 5886-5893 are public works. They were initially encrypted because of language.

Any idea which PW agency is using these TGs? Eight different talkgroups seems to be a lot for one PW agency to use.

 

[dbljack]

Illinois DNR Units. I have been hearing a handful of 8F-XX units the last few weeks. I know they are Conservation units but there isn’t a Region 8 For DNR. Does anyone know any specifics about them? Investigators?

 

[cubn]

Any idea which PW agency is using these TGs? Eight different talkgroups seems to be a lot for one PW agency to use.

I found the original message from 2016. It said all Bloomington city services (including water) are on Starcom21 and encrypted: 2016-Starcom21 Thread Sites/Talkgroups

 

[kevino]

In the FCC grants and modifications last week, there were a few updates made to the licenses (WQDC314 and WQDB973) for STARCOM21 Site 135 in Pecatonica (ISP District 16 headquarters at US Route 20 and Pecatonica Road). The emission code for P25 Phase II was added, ERP was increased from 53 watts to 210 watts, repeaters on 853.2125 and 853.6125 were added and the repeater on 853.0625 (shown as the control channel in the Radio Reference database) was deleted. Is there anyone in that area who could check these things out? Site NAC is listed as 146 in the database - could this have changed as well?

 

[YoShep69]

Any idea which PW agency is using these TGs? Eight different talkgroups seems to be a lot for one PW agency to use.

I’ve never listened to them before, but I believe it was a Passport LTR system. I would guess it’s the same users, garbage trucks, snowplows, street repair, etc.