StarCom21 2020 Official Thread

[techosupreme]

Someone, probably an ISP trooper from one of those districts, was in the area and their radio affiliated with the tower(s) in Kankakee County.

GTO_04

Interesting...
I was able to hear their dispatch communicating back though as well.
Would I need to program my scanner for those talkgroups and lock them out there?

 

[Awesomeman92]

If when it's scanning the site it says ID SEARCH, then press function and scan, it should switch to ID SCAN. Scan will only scan talkgroups you have programmed in, Search will scan anything it finds on the site whether it's programmed in or not. Not necessary to lock them out.

 

[ltginrage]

Is there any talk of any other nothern IL counties going to StarCom?

 

[Awesomeman92]

Is there any talk of any other nothern IL counties going to StarCom?

I believe, at least in the Chicago area, all that will switch over have already. Kane County would be the only one I could see doing it but I haven't heard anything about them moving from VHF. Kendall is going digital eventually but I don't believe they'd go SC21, conventional makes more sense for them.

 

[ltginrage]

Supposedly Kendall is set to move to digital by the end of this year with Yorkville (at least) being encrypted. Which is what I heard from someone else.

 

[Awesomeman92]

Supposedly Kendall is set to move to digital by the end of this year with Yorkville (at least) being encrypted. Which is what I heard from someone else.

Little off topic for the thread, but as of February the sheriff has stated encryption will only be used for tactical operations. Kendall Co. Sheriff Dwight Baird Briefs County Board on Radios and Encryption Whether that has changed or not since, who knows. I'd still expect it to be conventional P25 and not SC21.

 

[ltginrage]

Little off topic for the thread, but as of February the sheriff has stated encryption will only be used for tactical operations. Kendall Co. Sheriff Dwight Baird Briefs County Board on Radios and Encryption Whether that has changed or not since, who knows. I'd still expect it to be conventional P25 and not SC21.

Something like a one-freq trunk is what I think they would do. They have a car to car that is a P25 one freq trunk which makes me thing they would change all their channels to P25

 

[werinshades]

https://www2.illinois.gov/sites/statewide911/Forms/PlansWaivers/LTACC_Countryside%20Opt%20in_mod_20-M-269.pdf

Countryside opt in to LTACC filing. No official date as of yet. At least we know the LTACC talkgroup names:

PDDSP-1 (34481)
PDDSP-2 (34482?)

https://www2.illinois.gov/sites/statewide911/Forms/PlansWaivers/Southwest%20Central_Countryside%20Opt%20Out_Mod_20-M-270.pdf

The Southwest Central opt out filing.

Heard Countryside on ISPERN this afternoon using RID 189201. This coincides with other LTACC departments which are all in the 189xxx series.

 

[kevino]

Heard Countryside on ISPERN this afternoon using RID 189201. This coincides with other LTACC departments which are all in the 189xxx series.

I have previously logged Western Springs FD using 1892xx RIDs. Any chance it could have been 189301?

 

[werinshades]

I have previously logged Western Springs FD using 1892xx RIDs. Any chance it could have been 189301?

Negative sir...wrote it down and logged it. "Countryside 4968 on ISPERN"..

 

[myrz3]

Forgive me if this has been asked. Why when I append my little county to my favorites from starcom21 does it add all the sites from all over the state below it? I'd like to delete the sites I don't need, but I'm not sure what needs to be used and what doesn't. As of now i'm using all the sites in my favorites and have it Starcom21 set to "location control" for stephenson county. Thanks for any help! see the attachment (hope its big enough to see)

 

[mr10pt]

What I found here is to use location control "on" and adjust the range to 1 mile if you're in Stephenson Co.

 

[myrz3]

What I found here is to use location control "on" and adjust the range to 1 mile if you're in Stephenson Co.

So correct me if i'm wrong. by changing the range to 1 mile, that would be 1 mile outside my whole coverage area and not one mile from the center of my coverage area (Gps coordinates)? I'm a little confuse on what the Location is. The GPS coordinates programmed in my radio (via gps or zip code) would be the center of my location? I was thinking that by setting the range it was from the center of the latitude and longitude thats programmed in my radio. So, for starcom21 I had the location on, and range set to 30 miles thinking that I would get frequencies 30 miles from the center. But i'm guessing by your answer that it's actually 1 mile outside my whole coverage area? Sorry, I hope i'm not confusing you.

 

[werinshades]

Site 1-002 (Cook County) is now showing a NAC of 142.

 

[ILjim]

Getting some interesting affiliations on Site 1-002 since it starting transmitting in Phase 2, like Waukegan PD. Also, Markham PD Dispatch TG 34420 is now Phase 2...

 

[ILjim]

Getting some interesting affiliations on Site 1-002 since it starting transmitting in Phase 2, like Waukegan PD. Also, Markham PD Dispatch TG 34420 is now Phase 2...

Also getting Evergreen Park PD 3 TG 36968 in Phase 2

 

[mr10pt]

So correct me if i'm wrong. by changing the range to 1 mile, that would be 1 mile outside my whole coverage area and not one mile from the center of my coverage area (Gps coordinates)? I'm a little confuse on what the Location is. The GPS coordinates programmed in my radio (via gps or zip code) would be the center of my location? I was thinking that by setting the range it was from the center of the latitude and longitude thats programmed in my radio. So, for starcom21 I had the location on, and range set to 30 miles thinking that I would get frequencies 30 miles from the center. But i'm guessing by your answer that it's actually 1 mile outside my whole coverage area? Sorry, I hope i'm not confusing you.

By having an extended range, you are "giving permission" for the other sites/towers to access their frequencies. To start, I would recommend range setting low (1-10 miles) This will take out the statewide sites out of your immediate area. Simulcast systems are unique. I will try to find a response sent to me and email it to you. I can hear departments 30 miles away on the same system with a stock antenna crystal clear. You'll have to monitor what sites they're talking on then through Sentinel (if that's what you are using), set avoids for the non active sites that keep appearing. It sounds difficult at first but not too bad to resolve. If departments are on the same system, keep them on the same favorites list by issuing number tags so you (the scanner) don't have to keep accessing the same system and virtual start scanning all over again. This will speed up your scan speed. For distant departments, you may have to increase range.

 

[werinshades]

Getting some interesting affiliations on Site 1-002 since it starting transmitting in Phase 2, like Waukegan PD. Also, Markham PD Dispatch TG 34420 is now Phase 2...

Also getting Evergreen Park PD 3 TG 36968 in Phase 2

Yes, the capacity was needed for this site so Phase 2 will be a plus. Many of the departments that recently switched had Phase 2 capable radios, but since the site wasn't transmitting Phase 2, it defaulted to Phase 1. Evergreen Park 3 was using some Phase 2 on the Christ Hospital site, but that was intermittent too. ISP & IDOT still have Phase 1 radios affiliating with the site so that's why their talkgroups are still coming up as such.

 

[Chicago2210]

Yes, the capacity was needed for this site so Phase 2 will be a plus. Many of the departments that recently switched had Phase 2 capable radios, but since the site wasn't transmitting Phase 2, it defaulted to Phase 1. Evergreen Park 3 was using some Phase 2 on the Christ Hospital site, but that was intermittent too. ISP & IDOT still have Phase 1 radios affiliating with the site so that's why their talkgroups are still coming up as such.

And Metra PD

 

[myrz3]

By having an extended range, you are "giving permission" for the other sites/towers to access their frequencies. To start, I would recommend range setting low (1-10 miles) This will take out the statewide sites out of your immediate area. Simulcast systems are unique. I will try to find a response sent to me and email it to you. I can hear departments 30 miles away on the same system with a stock antenna crystal clear. You'll have to monitor what sites they're talking on then through Sentinel (if that's what you are using), set avoids for the non active sites that keep appearing. It sounds difficult at first but not too bad to resolve. If departments are on the same system, keep them on the same favorites list by issuing number tags so you (the scanner) don't have to keep accessing the same system and virtual start scanning all over again. This will speed up your scan speed. For distant departments, you may have to increase range.

Wow! super grateful for your help. thanks for taking the time explaining! it's much more clearer to me now. I'm was using Sentinel to append my favorites, but i'm using the trial of ARC536pro and loving it to make my custom favorites. I haven't got into appending trunk systems yet, but i will be soon. I'm definetly going to purchace Arc536pro because it is so much easier and flexiable making custom favorites.