StarCom21 hits Chicagoland

[N9JIG]

JKDrouillard was the first to report a StarCom21 control channel in the Chicago area on 866.9625. It reports as SY140, BEEoo, T010F. As he reports that freq was part of the ISP EDACS system and another CARMA members report that 3 channel from both the North and South EDACS systems have been devoid of voice or data traffic:

South: 868.4125, 868.9375, 868.9125
North: 866.4625, 867.3875, 866.9625

These are the most likely candidates of course for StarCom21 testing and initial implemtation in the area. Eventually all 20 of the EDACS channels will be part of the StarCom21 system.

I have just heard someone keying up on TG 30330, the MABAS Statewide channel. Expect to hear a bunch of keyups on various Mutual Aid talkgroups as people experiment with the StarCom21 radios that were distributed earlier this year.

 

[K9JLR]

I've heard lots of testing in Western Il this past week as well, with one of the Stations IDing as simply "1". The traffic has been pretty regular during the daytime, with several stations driving around testing during the evenings. I've heard an ITTF station (IL Terrorism Task Force??) identify itself during the testing as well on the Blyton tower.

 

[KD4YGG]

Rich

Good info - have updated the database

Is anyone running PRO96COM up north???

 

[N9JIG]

I just got it going this evening. The cable I usually use to program my 2096 would not work with Pro96Com, so I tried a different one and the second one works fine.

Pro96Com reports the site as ID 115 of course (decimal version of 10F) and an alternate control channel of 854.9875. This is interesting since 854.9875 is a District 15 channel, used at Gurnee, Park Ridge and Belvidere.

Still, the only call grant I have heard was 30330 (MABAS Statewide), likely someone playing with a radio.