StarCom21 2021 Official Thread

[Mike901]

Happy new year folks. On my apx7000 my SC21 comes in great, but the VHF pretty bad. The programming appears ok, but any suggestions would be appreciated. I’ve tried different antennas with the same results. specifically having difficulty even hearing fire dispatch on repeaters.
Thank You in advance.

 

[fredwombat]

Anyone know if Ducomm changed any to the 1 west group? I have been listening for years, now can't pick anything up.

 

[ltginrage]

Anyone know if Ducomm changed any to the 1 west group? I have been listening for years, now can't pick anything up.

What scanner are you using?

 

[eaf1956]

Hey everyone I'm needing some help, I'm located in Henderson, Ky and was wanting to monitor Starcom. Not sure if I can pick it up or not but was trying to find the closest tower to put into my SDS200. Can anyone help me out?

I seriously doubt you can get StarCom from Henderson. Maybe with a 1000' tower and a YAGI. But, good luck anyway!

 

[jx87jx]

Anyone know if Ducomm changed any to the 1 west group? I have been listening for years, now can't pick anything up.

DC 1 West is TDMA Phase 2 talkgroup. It may revert back to FDMA Phase 1 every once in awhile but unless you have a P25 Phase 2 scanner the your out of luck.

 

[eaf1956]

btlacer, PM a member EAF1956. He's in Evansville and probably your best resource. BTW, love your state park there on your side of the river

He would need to be a lot closer to Illinois than Henderson, KY. Or a huge tower with a YAGI maybe. But, I doubt STARCOM would be picked up by an SDS 200 even with an antenna on top of the TV stations tower.

 

[eaf1956]

This is the Hardin Co, ILL tower map for STARCOM, Morganfield, KY maybe Henderson no way.

 

[eaf1956]

This is the Equality map of coverage, no way it would be received in Henderson.

 

[eaf1956]

Carmi in White Co no way either. Like I said STARCOM from Henderson nope!

 

[usswood]

With a pretty good beam up 10ft or higher, he probably could get Carmi late at night, early a.m. when RF is real low!

 

[Patch42]

I learned the hard way you need to be careful with those coverage maps. Systems/departments with multiple sites will have a single radial map, which is what I think the ones above are, despite the fact the multiple sites would produce multiple radial patterns. I don't know the area in question but looking through the database shows two sites for the White county where Carmi is, one at Phillipstown and one at Herald. Neither of these sites extends quite to Henderson, but they both get considerably closer than shown on the map for Carmi above. Both of the sites show range stopping about five miles short of Henderson, which seems close enough there might be a chance of reception with the right antenna at the right height.

 

[tommypickles]

I have been able to access StarCom from Grand Rapids Michigan with a mobile.
I have also picked up Indiana Safe-T systems sites here in Livingston Co. Ill as well as 800 from Michigan.Not all the time but when conditions are right I do believe anything is possible.

 

[jx87jx]

I have been able to access StarCom from Grand Rapids Michigan with a mobile.
I have also picked up Indiana Safe-T systems sites here in Livingston Co. Ill as well as 800 from Michigan.Not all the time but when conditions are right I do believe anything is possible.

Lake Michigan acts as a good RF reflector.

 

[mr10pt]

I learned the hard way you need to be careful with those coverage maps. Systems/departments with multiple sites will have a single radial map, which is what I think the ones above are, despite the fact the multiple sites would produce multiple radial patterns. I don't know the area in question but looking through the database shows two sites for the White county where Carmi is, one at Phillipstown and one at Herald. Neither of these sites extends quite to Henderson, but they both get considerably closer than shown on the map for Carmi above. Both of the sites show range stopping about five miles short of Henderson, which seems close enough there might be a chance of reception with the right antenna at the right height.

Doesn't hurt to try. Can always remove programming if it does not work. Keep us posted on your attempt. Shared results may help others in the same situation. Of note, at my location, not everything is carried over into StarComm. Example, busiest fire depts (per capita) are "tone" dispatched over StarComm while lesser township depts are still toned on conventional channels and not necessarily carried through the simulcast repeaters. They are then picked up on SC to the designated channel assigned by SC dispatch when they respond.

 

[fredwombat]

DC 1 West is TDMA Phase 2 talkgroup. It may revert back to FDMA Phase 1 every once in awhile but unless you have a P25 Phase 2 scanner the your out of luck.

That is some serious $$$ to upgrade

 

[jx87jx]

That is some serious $$$ to upgrade

When Ducomm switched over to SC21, all agencies were issued DEDRIS APX portables and mobiles witch are all P25 TDMA capable. Eventually all the talkgroups will be TDMA if they aren’t currently are. Fire might be the exception due to mutual aid agencies

 

[jx87jx]

Also... Only a matter of time before many of the dispatch talkgroups go encrypted. Kane County, Cook County, Lake County and etc. have already done so.

More and more people are putting live streams of these talkgroups online. Gives these agencies more reason to go encrypted. It’s very cheap these days to enable it.

 

[Bri112233445]

I've been watching / monitoring the Kane County tower site. No new traffic or unidentified talk groups has been seen/heard. Apparently the project is delayed.

Good, Gives us more time to listen before we lose all contact on what happens in aurora!

 

[VASCAR2]

In reference to trying to hear Starcom 21 in Henderson it is difficult to communicate using SC21 mobile more than five or six miles in neighboring states in my experience. All the sites along the border use directional antennas facing into Illinois. The site in Phillipstown is a directional tower facing straight west. Grayville Illinois has poor service on SC21 due to the fact Grayville is northeast of the Phillipstown site. The site at Mt Carmel is right next to the river and used a directional antenna aimed north.

There is a site on Illinois Route 141 at New Haven (Herald Site) and the directional antenna faces straight west. These directional antennas seem to transmit in about a 120 degree arc. The plans for SC21 indicate very minimal signal outside the borders of Illinois.

I’ve been to Moline in the Quad Cities and couldn’t get SC21 reception on my BCD325 downtown because of all the directional antennas. I get great reception on Safe-T, Iowa ISICS, SARA and WISCOM system in Illinois compared to trying to listen to SC21 on the other side of the border.

The RR Data base list a site in Hardin County in the vicinity of Cave in Rock but I never been able to find it and don’t think it exist.

 

[ltginrage]

For the metro Chicagoland people, there are 12 starcom sites in Cook County
1-002 - Cook South - Simulcast
1-030 - Cook Southwest (Oak Lawn Regional Emergency Communications)
1-049 - Cook North / NWCD - Simulcast
1-050 - James R. Thompson Center
5-001 - Cook - North Simulcast
5-002 - Cook - South Simulcast
5-003 - Schaumburg - IntelliRepeater
5-004 - Northfield - IntelliRepeater
5-005 - Maywood - IntelliRepeater
5-006 - Bridgeview - IntelliRepeater
5-007 - Oak Forest - IntelliRepeater
5-017 - Chicago - 26th and California

I have 6 of the 12 sites in my scanner. (1-002, 1-030, 1-049, 5-001, 5-002, 5-017). I would choose not to program the IntelliRepeaters & 1-050 because of the range of them. In your opinion, which ones should I program in and which ones should I leave out?