StarCom21 questions

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pjaudinet

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I know there is a SC21 thread, but figured if I posted there, it would just get lost in the noise. I am Okawville, IL in Washington county. I have numerous conventional channels that work great in this area. I use a WS1040 and get broadcasts from all around the area (Washington, Clinton, St Clair counties). However, I have roughly 400 StarCom21 talk groups loaded that I took directly from this site and imported via ARC500 software into my scanner. I get chatter on one of them. It is a Belleville IL public works talk group.

My question: is anyone in my area (or anywhere) using the talk groups for StarCom21 from this site in a WS1040 and getting broadcasts? Trying to figure out if I have something wrong in the radio or the talk group programming. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
 

ltginrage

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My question: is anyone in my area (or anywhere) using the talk groups for StarCom21 from this site in a WS1040 and getting broadcasts? Trying to figure out if I have something wrong in the radio or the talk group programming. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
ISP is using SC21 daily along with the conventional ISPERN channel. Mostly you'll want to monitor District 11 channels (11-A, 11ISPERN will be the primarily used channels, if your lucky you'll hear 11-B, 11-C, 11-C2C, 11-DET-A, 11-DET-B). Also depedning on which site your monitoring, you would be able to hear D18 also.
 

pjaudinet

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Thank you for your reply. I think I am going to cut down the number of talk groups to those you recommend and see what happens with that.
 

west-pac

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Thank you for your reply. I think I am going to cut down the number of talk groups to those you recommend and see what happens with that.

Just run your scanner in Wildcard format. You don't need to program ANY talkgroups, and you'll hear EVERY TG that comes across the site you're listening to. Once you switch to Wildcard, if the site comes alive, then you'll know your issue was the TG programming.
 

ltginrage

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Thank you for your reply. I think I am going to cut down the number of talk groups to those you recommend and see what happens with that.
Correction: Washington County is District 13 using Channels 13-A, 13-B, 13ISPERN (13-C, 13-C2C, 13-DET-A/B/C will rarely be used. Depending what site you monitor you can get D18 also.
 

pjaudinet

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Just run your scanner in Wildcard format. You don't need to program ANY talkgroups, and you'll hear EVERY TG that comes across the site you're listening to. Once you switch to Wildcard, if the site comes alive, then you'll know your issue was the TG programming.
So, not to sound dumb here, but how would I do that? I am not seeing a reference to "Wildcard" in the ARC software or my scanner manual.
 

pjaudinet

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My StarCom21 load

Type: P25 Auto
Alpha Tag: STARCOM21Statewide
Frequencies:
774.531250
774.837500
775.281250
852.437500
852.962500
851.925000
852.450000
852.975000
851.225000
851.562500
852.162500
Lockout: off
Attenuator: Off
Narrow FM: on
Audioboost: off
Dwell: 0
Digital AGC: on
SuperTrack: On
Multi-site: Roam
Threshold High: 95
Threshold Low: 75
T-Tables: Default
4095 0 851.006250 006.250
4096 8191 4096 762.006250 006.250
8192 12287 8192 851.012500 012.500
12288 16383 12288 762.006250 012.500
20480 24575 20480 450.000000 006.250
Fleetmap: Type 2
 

west-pac

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So, not to sound dumb here, but how would I do that? I am not seeing a reference to "Wildcard" in the ARC software or my scanner manual.

I don't recall. It's been a long time since I've set up my GRE/Radio Shack/Whistler scanners. Someone who plays with them more frequently may know. If you asked or searched in the Whistler forum I'm sure you would have an immediate response.
 

pjaudinet

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I don't recall. It's been a long time since I've set up my GRE/Radio Shack/Whistler scanners. Someone who plays with them more frequently may know. If you asked or searched in the Whistler forum I'm sure you would have an immediate response.
Thanks! I will chase it down
 

Awesomeman92

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If the programming works the same as it used to instead of putting in a TG ID you put in a *. That's how it was for the Pro 197 anyway, it's probably the same in the new versions of ARCanything.
 

pjaudinet

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Alright, I win the idiot award this week. Went and looked at the frequency tables in ARC and then compared it to the site nearest to me...yeah, the control frequency wasn't even loaded. DUH! Hence, no StarCom21. So I am now getting the "T" indicator on my display and then a talkgroup will come up (usually D11Dispatch A or D13Dispatch A). Now the problem is I am not getting any audio. Control channel is good. Talkgroups are good. No Audio. Help please. Of course I will being trying to fix this but please, if you can throw me a solution, that would be great. Thanks!
 
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kb9hgi

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Well your all lucky to listen to Starcom. I live in Quincy, IL and have a ST-2 up 30ft on side of my tower and also a discone and several Uniden scanners including the Sd-200 and I can not hear any starcom at my house. A scanner buddy of mine lives about a mile from me and hears several towers but he says when ISP in out in my neck of the woods their radios don't work they have to use cell phones. So I gave up on starcom and i thought it was on my end.
 

lu81fitter

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Well your all lucky to listen to Starcom. I live in Quincy, IL and have a ST-2 up 30ft on side of my tower and also a discone and several Uniden scanners including the Sd-200 and I can not hear any starcom at my house. A scanner buddy of mine lives about a mile from me and hears several towers but he says when ISP in out in my neck of the woods their radios don't work they have to use cell phones. So I gave up on starcom and i thought it was on my end.

The database shows that there are 3 STARCOM towers in Adams County. You can't get any of them? :oops:
 

Awesomeman92

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The database shows that there are 3 STARCOM towers in Adams County. You can't get any of them? :oops:
That's not entirely surprising. I always remember having problems when I was driving in Quincy, especially closer to the river. IIRC coverage around 172 and Broadway was good enough but the farther west you went the spottier it got (which makes sense since you're dropping in elevation headed towards the river). This is likely why Adams County or Quincy haven't switched full time to SC21 and don't appear to have any plans to use it for anything more than interop.
Well your all lucky to listen to Starcom. I live in Quincy, IL and have a ST-2 up 30ft on side of my tower and also a discone and several Uniden scanners including the Sd-200 and I can not hear any starcom at my house. A scanner buddy of mine lives about a mile from me and hears several towers but he says when ISP in out in my neck of the woods their radios don't work they have to use cell phones. So I gave up on starcom and i thought it was on my end.
Out of curiosity, can you hear any MOSWIN towers?
 
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