Starcomm and ISPERN

[markspoo]

Good afternoon.
While listening to the Rockford incident today I could hear Dist 2, 15 just fine from my location in Addison on a HP 436.
The dispatcher asked that units switch to ISPERN. So I switched to ISPERN and heard nothing. After going back to scanning I heard a district 15 officer say that he was listening to District 16 ISPERN.
So this is my question. Are the ISPERN talk groups somehow linked, how is ISPERN heard on Starcomm if an officer (suburban or county) is calling on VHF ISPERN Channel.
Any help would be appreciated.

 

[nick223]

I was listening to it on D-6 ISPERN just fine.

 

[RoninJoliet]

I listened to the whole shooting match today on D6-ISPERN=13032, ....Will Co patch of ISPERN TG15503 was also on, most of the time 155.475 had nothing as also TG9051 had nothing....

 

[JD21960]

You're not going to hear ISPERN 3,4,5 counties away. It's a patch, that's how it can be heard on a Starcom21 Talkgroup. Your best bet in that situation might be Dist15 ISPERN because they cover all the way out to the Wisconsin State-Line. But you won't hear Dist16 ISPERN. It doesn't affiliate with the towers around here. IN long distance cases like those? Broadcastify (local) feeds will have to do

 

[melvin1987]

Every so often they broadcast Ispern messages on DOJ 171.6875 which was the last time I heard in D16.

 

[VASCAR2]

If I remember correctly the ISPERN VHF 155.475 frequency is not continually patched the the StarCom21 District Talk Group. If there is an incident where units are on VHF ISPERN dispatchers can patch the VHF ISPERN to the District Starcom 21 ISPERN Talk Group. One nice feature is if there are VHF mobile or portable units talking and are patched to SC 21 ISPERN TG you hear all the VHF mobile and portables. During pursuits I could select neighboring District ISPERN TG and hear all the VHF & 800 ISPERN traffic whereas on VHF ISPERN you could only hear the base stations.

As others mentioned the actual sites/towers carrying the traffic is determined by radio affiliation. Had a distant unit in your area selected the District 16 ISPERN TG you could have heard the traffic.

 

[jburgess]

Every Illinois State Police District has there own talkgroup ID for ISPERN.

 

[AC9BX]

Yep, the ISPERN patching thing is a little hairy. The dispatcher's output generally goes over both VHF and Starcom. The units calling in will be on one or the other. County and city (Chicago 460) patches add to the mess. With the consolidation of dispatching it's not uncommon to hear a message going out on the wrong area, say, they call out district 5 but it's on the district Chicago talk group, and then give incorrect call signs for the VHF locations. You'll hear them say a wrong district, back up and correct it. As for Starcom, ISPERN isn't Statewide. You'll generally only hear the nearest districts. But, being a location aware system, if someone is out of their district and in yours you may hear them on the system you monitor but on the group for where they normally would be. Here on the Will County site I regularly hear 2, Chicago (3/4), 5, 15, and the last time I tried 6 (I don't normally listen to 6).
Funny is when there's a chase you may hear dist. 5 cover it even though the units are in 2 or Chicago. Dist 5 site performs notably better. Topography is good. Even at ground level you can see remarkably far.